Reliability & The Drywall Contractor

Let’s take a step forward to understand the average drywall contractor and why she/he behaves the way she/he does.

Barriers to entry for Drywall Trade

Unfortunately, many drywall contractors just as contractors within many trade are unreliable, as there are few barriers to entry in many of the trades. This paired with the effort to make a profit can sometimes affect the consumer in a negative manner. Take for example, the situation of a small drywall repair. A drywall contractor has to remain profitable to stay in business and keep his men employed. If he is constantly sending his team around to fix small jobs, he’s paying them to drive around the city rather than to drywall, plaster/ mud. And while we’d like to say that driving to and from a job site is part of many jobs, there’s no controlling how much time an employee will take and whether or not he or show will make unnecessary stops along the way, which again, the contractor is paying for. This reduces profits, of course.

Patches are not a priority for Regular Drywall Contractors

So when your average drywall contractor is called to fix a small patch in a wall and he says that he could maybe show up after his job on Thursday, but never shows, it’s that he is dealing with problems on bigger jobs. These are the jobs that keep his team employed, and he pushes the small job aside. Now if the drywall contractor cares about the customer, he will at least have the decency to call the small job and postpone or cancel, rather than making the customer wait for nothing. But remember when we said that there’s a low barrier to entry to enter many trades? This means that no expensive schooling was needed, no big certifications or licenses needed to be purchased, which means that anybody can get in. And while you have some very sophisticated and well educated men and women in the trades, many are not. They simply woke up one day and decided they were going to work in the trades as it pays well and there’s no one to tell them they can’t do it.

What does all this mean?

It simply means you have to find the right contractor. A Drywall contractor that specializes in what you’re looking for. In this case, a drywall contractor that specializes in smaller jobs. Hopefully an Ottawa Drywall Contractor that is educated and cares about his customers enough to call if he will be late. Otherwise, even if you find a reputable contractor to do the work, the fact remains the he will always put the big jobs, that put food on the table for his team and his family, before your small repair, which he feels he is doing out of the goodness of his heart… if he has time.

Good questions to ask your wall contractor

-How long have you been in business?
-Are you insured?
-Are your men covered by Workman’s Comp?
-Do you have the man-power to get this job done within x amount of time?
-How many employees do you have?
-Do you have references I can call?
-Why are you the right contractor for the job?
-Describe to me how you will fix my current problem

Some of these questions may make the contractor squirm a little bit as she/he may not be used to such interrogations and educated questions, but you need to see if she/he knows which steps she/he will take in order to get the job done. Remember however, that just because she/he may not answer to your satisfaction, does not necessarily mean that he or she doesn’t know the craft inside and out. Remember when we said there are low barriers to entry? This means that many folks in the trades may not be “people-persons” and are more comfortable with their hands than they are people. Take this into consideration in your screening process and remember that these aren’t Harvard graduates. While some are extremely well educated, some are not.

But of course, if you’d like to skip all these steps and work with seasoned Drywall Contractors in Ottawa give us a call. We are the best at what we do. Of course, we’re extremely biased. ;)

Resources: Anaximander Directory