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In the past 6 years of flipping houses (4 with my pops and 2 on my own), I have my fair share of stories about the loser contractors I have dealt with.
The losers that you run into in southern Illinois are bountiful. If you want to hire one solid guy who shows up and does the work correctly without charging up the a$$, you MUST go through 10-15 other guys first. The odds of finding someone that doesn't fall apart, scam you, jerk you around, and every other dirt bag move is very rare.
It would be a disservice to all the new and current forum users if I do not post the lessons I have learned on how NOT to run your businesses.
I will start with two and add more as I think of them.
ENJOY
The losers that you run into in southern Illinois are bountiful. If you want to hire one solid guy who shows up and does the work correctly without charging up the a$$, you MUST go through 10-15 other guys first. The odds of finding someone that doesn't fall apart, scam you, jerk you around, and every other dirt bag move is very rare.
It would be a disservice to all the new and current forum users if I do not post the lessons I have learned on how NOT to run your businesses.
I will start with two and add more as I think of them.
ENJOY
- Chase Chump Change, Forget The Big Bucks.
- I hired a dude from East St. Louis on Craigslist to install cheap Menards laminate flooring. The space was 650 square feet, he didn’t have insurance but did provide 4 solid references which I called up and they confirmed his work. $1.50/sqft as a quote was given.
- The first half of the flooring was great, to say the least. It was surprising how well it was tucked underneath walls and set up perfectly for trim pieces. The second half, however, was a nightmare. Jagged cuts, ugly lines, spacing so large I had to pump half a tube of gray caulk to cover it.
- Turns on when you pay a loser and he knows you have money, he’ll rush for his next chance to get a few hundred bucks to blow on his bitches.
- I gave him the benefit of the doubt. (I went through 3 losers before him that could barely operate). So I made a deal, if he puts up the baseboard trim and door trim, and it is done right, I’ll move on from the floor. (These are cheap a$$ houses, so it doesn’t need to be “perfect” but good enough was better than his shitty second half).
- Now he rushed, even more, to get some money for his hoes and be East St Louis rich…
- $185 is what he wanted so badly. I ended up having to redo ALL of the trim he put up because of how badly it was done. The house needed so much more done to it and if he played his cards right, he could have EASILY made $5k-$10k working for me.
- LESSON: Focus on where you can make the most money. If you’re chasing the hundred-dollar deals when you could be chasing the ten-thousand-dollar deals, you’re a loser. If you worry about spending $1000 to buy something that can buy back your time or bring in more money, you’re a loser. If you lose focus on quality and delivering on your word just to make quick money, you’re a loser.
- Do It Right The First Time.
- Hired this guy, let's call him Andy that did a few houses with my pops 3-4 years ago. He was an on-and-off drunk going through a brutal divorce with 2 girls. I reached out for my one property closer to Springfield in hopes of getting the roof and siding done. Went through 6-8 guys/companies that were quoting jackass prices.
- Contacted Andy to see what he was up to (and if he was square). We talked in person and he seemed straight, got out of the divorce, and was able to get custody of his 2 girls. He ended up working for a roofing company. It seemed like he was doing alright.
- Don’t be naive like me… One rule in southern Illinois my pops taught that I forgot on this one was, “At some point, they all break down and go back to their same bullshit.” I still see his grin.
- Jake put on the new roof, soffits, fascia, siding, corners, and skylights within the roof. Soffits, fascia… good. Everything else… not so good. There were gaps in the siding, the roof was still slanted, half the skylights were blocked by the framing, and a few other hundreds of things.
- My biggest mistake on this one: I paid him in full for the work… $10k just based on his pictures. Another dumbass move. I was F*cking furious when I came down to see there was garbage everywhere, nails on the ground all around the house. I rented a 20-yard dumpster and half of it ended up on the ground or the driveway.
- I started off cordial. Asking him to come to fix the areas needing fixing. It was simple shit that I could do, but didn’t have time to do… maybe I’m a bad guy for wanting to pay other people to do their work. Well, his cocky, arrogant response was only due to ONE reason… He had his money (Lesson 1). So, I did what was necessary. I threatened to put a lien on his house (a trick I learned from my pops) and report him to the Illinois roofing association that he was roofing without a license. I needed this place buttoned up before winter.
- I won’t go deeper and deeper, but this dude has come back to the house 3-4 times to redo certain areas 3-4 times EACH. 3-4 TIMES he has come back to do the roof and other items. He is just throwing money/time away continuously doing things incorrectly.
- And the excuses piling up about his car, his daughter’s school, his ex-wife, his left pinky toe, him turning into a woman… not the last one but you get the point.
- Lesson: Whatever your business is, e-commerce, web design, SMMA, lawn mowing, etc. Complete your tasks correctly the first time. Design the website right. Ship the correct orders. Launch the right Facebook/Google ads. Mow the lawn correctly. If you mess up, admit you were wrong and do it right the second time. If you can’t, admit that and offer a refund or something. Don’t be a loser who is too stupid and arrogant to learn or admit they suck.
Remember, business is simple and complicated. You can choose to make it more complicated by:- Not making mistakes and learning from them
- Ignoring complaints/issues
- Being a jackass
- Not finding ways to improve your systems for delivering your service/product.
- Being a jackass
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