I've contacted several contractors. Many promised to call me back...then never do...and ghost me.
So far 2-3 Contractors said they would show up...and never do.

I'm expected to wait around for their asses...and yet they NEVER FUCKING SHOW. Then they ghost me and stop replying to my texts or calls. WTF!?

I swear...I'm going to start sending these assholes a bill for wasting my fucking time! If Doctors can do it...why shouldn't I?

I fucking HATE Contractors in Arizona. It's like Arizona has a law that requires Contractors to be unprofessional inconsiderate assholes!!!

FUCK THESE PRICKS!!!

Agree.  Same experience as you.  I don't get it.


...except for the insulation guy.  They are good to go.

And shoddy workmanship when they do show up.

LOL, yeah, and I've recently experienced one that was a dazzling pussy...

I'm pretty low profile about my 2A hobby, nothing overt in the house. Had a contractor come over to look over a potential job, and I was showing him some material that was going to be used to re-do a kitchen island. We were in the garage, and I happened to have an empty rifle case leaning against the wall. The dude looked at it, looked at me, and said, "I don't feel safe in here." I said, "Cool, have a nice day." And he left.

Some people's kids....

Look for only ROC contractors ,and check with the ROC and the BBB and see if they have any beefs against them. This will be a good start to finding a good contractor . Nothing is foolproof ,but it puts the odds in your favor.

Be thankful for the ones that didn't show.  In hindsight, I wish the guy that did this didn't show.  This is from inside a shower they attempted to get right 3 times before bringing in the legit pro who wouldn't touch it without going back to the studs and bare slab.  He then had the nerve to complain that he unexpectedly had to spend extra on the job for this.  I told him to say that was unexpected would be like saying you unexpectedly were hit by a car while trying to cross a main highway at rush hour.  He and the guys he brought in all started to cringe when I would ask "is that finished" or "is that supposed to be done like that".

Arizona is no exception; shit contractors are the norm.

My sister loves to bring up how terrible the big bad Trump man is for not paying contractors.

Given my experience with contractors, I don't blame Trump one bit.

Lots of contractors overpromise, under deliver. Don't blame Trump for not paying contractors if the contractors did a half assed job or didn't deliver what they promised.

You ain't lying.

After six months of trying to get a concrete pad poured, I did it myself.  In New Frickin Mexico.

Lazy asses everywhere.

I cant even get a guy to show up to my house to fix stucco.

Well dayum dude.  An empty rifle case means THERE IS A RIFLE ON THE LOOSE!!!!!   it could show up any second and then what.  he barely escaped with his life.  

I think we all have the same experience with contractors.

I did have one that surprised me. I was having my house repainted. They guy came out when he said he would to look over the job and give me a quote. Told me he would start the job on Saturday at 8 am. Saturday comes around and they guy shows up at 7am. Starts power washing the stucco and prepping. By afternoon he’s almost finished with the whole house. Says he’ll be back on Monday to finish. Monday comes and he shows up at 6am. Finishes the job by 10. Some of the best work I’ve ever seen.

Bought a new house and wanted it repainted. Called the painter I had just used. Got the same service all over again. He even painted my outdoor kitchen and fireplace for free.

Let us know who it is .

Fucking gross. We hit up friends and Next Door for recommendations before even considering a project. We have handful of contractors that we trust.

even the good ones struggle with time management.  I mean we all struggle with time management, but contractors really struggle with it.

A lot of them don't understand the value of their time, I knew one guy who took on a big project in Miami, AZ and he lived in Casa Grande.

I usually ask my real estate agent for referrals.  Agents always have go-to workers they trust when they need something done to close a deal or to upgrade/flip a house.

The couple decent ones I know are absolutely slammed, months out.

What kind of contractor are you looking for?  Any contractor that isn't booked out months and isn't a dozen quotes behind, isn't any good.  It is a terrible time to have any work done, but there are good contractors out there.  Most good to decent contractors have more work than they can handle.  

I work for a contractor that does custom homes and I design/sell the landscaping & pools.  We also do the landscape & pools for several other custom home builders.  We are as busy as can be and I am still working on quotes from late Feb.  We are not the cheapest and we aren't the best, but we are very fairly priced and do great work.  We are responsive and will fix any problem that comes up doing the process.  With that said, I have turned down 3 or 4 projects in the last month.  But I do try to call everyone back and will 150% show up if I set an appointment.  I may have to reschedule, but I will show up.

With that said, there is something about your project that isn't interesting to the various contractors you have had out.  Right now, for example, many pool builders aren't super interested in a remodel as they can start with a new home.  So remodel jobs get passed over or get a big markup.  I passed on a very large remodel that I normally would have jumped at because she wanted the pool swim ready by summer (won't happen) and didn't want to do it correctly.  Most contractors want the low fruit because there is so much to be had right now.  It's bad for the industry as a whole, because it won't always stay this busy, but it is how things are.

Again, what kind of contractor are you looking for?  And does it have to happen right now?  If you can wait a year or two, you will be most likely happier with the way it goes.  I built a pool last year for myself, and it was a painful process.  I had one contractor just send me a bill for some work this did 14 months ago that I already paid them cash for.  I actually quit the pool contractor I was working for since I was treated so poorly throughout the process in addition to being told how little he was making in a record sales year while driving either his F350 or brand new Range Rover to the office.

We need some backhoe work done, and in our little town the going rate is $100/hour.
But they are all booked for months, and I need the work done this month.
So I started offering $200/hour and it appears the third one I offered it to will do it in a week or so.

Ask around when you see work being done.  Ask the home owner if they are happy with the work.  I just had a neighbor knock to see who did my block work.

I have had flat work, block, and excavation done by very professional people, all non-licensed.

Good price, perfect work.

It seems the licensed contractors mostly wouldn't show up, or would come in double or triple the others.  It is only worse after the covid-lazy.

Try getting your house painted right now.  The good ones are too damn busy.  The lazy ones will rip you off.

We need a pool repair in our HOA, so I have heard a lot of things about the market.  Recently, we were told that CA and other transplants were happily paying triple the normal rate for new pools in PHX, and fucking up the entire market.  Is that true? @ihon

We were told that the contractors are making so much bank on back yard pools, that they have no interest in repairing/replacing our 30 year old Olympic sized pool.

No, transplants are not paying double or triple.  They are paying the going rate and the Phoenix market is catching up to where it needed to be.  It was, up until 2 years ago, lower than any place else in the SW market (CA, NV, NM, etc.) by a large margin.  With demand up, prices are more realistic.

Basically what is happening is that supply is low and demand is high.  There are extreme material and labor shortages.  Demand is up, with everyone selling 150-250% the rate they were 2 years ago.  So prices are up.  Material cost of everything from rebar to tile to travertine has gone up with very little notice.  So many companies are also charging a higher rate to cover for price changes.  You contract for a pool and decking/tile doesn't get installed for 4-6 months.  If it goes up in cost, who pays the difference?  Clients, who sign a contract, don't want to pay it and contractors won't/can't eat the cost.  So you get charged a higher percentage up front to cover the loss.  I know for the last 2 years, one phase (excavation, rebar, plumbing, elec., shot-crete, etc.) has been either a break even or loss on many of my projects.  

Worst yet, business owners want sales people to share in the loss, even though I have no control of timeframes or when material gets ordered.  I left a company as I got tired of hearing how much we didn't make while the owner rolled up in his new Range Rover that the dealership did a $5K brake job on.  This was after record sales.  So I'll take my skills to somebody that will reward me.  I've already make more in bonuses in 45 days than I made all of last year.  So with certain companies, the sales people are charging more as they are getting squeezed by the clients & business owners.

Remodels are a pain in the ass.  They take longer, everything is harder to do, and nobody wants to pay for work the gets exposed through the project.  HOAs are a pain to deal with.  They want a quote and you don't hear back for 30-120 days because they need to vote on it.  Then they want you to provided cut sheets on specs of thing you install.  When you chip out the pool and find a broken pipe or exposed rebar, they want you to cover it.  But they don't want to pay the premium up front.

Good to know, my retirement plan involves buying a used backhoe and playing Bob the Builder to get out of the house.

Not everyone in the home industries is a clueless shit bag.

My A/C refused to turn on after I switched from heating to cooling this spring.   I called an A/C repair place and they scheduled me for a week out, which was yesterday.  They said the tech would be there between 8-10 a.m.  I got a text at 7:45 with a picture of the tech and his name, saying the guy was on his way.  He showed up 15 minutes later and found a shorted contact that caused a fuse to blow.  He replaced the contact and the fuse and was done in less than an hour.  The bill was $118. Everything is cool now.  Too bad everybody's experiences aren't as pleasant.

Not related to pools, but I do work in Az, Nv & Ca, (West Coast basically) and I see on a frequent basis that AZ contractors around PHX charge more to their residential customers than CA commercial customers get charged...like 25%-40% more. I've done jobs for commercial businesses on the Ca coast that I've seen Phx residents pay more for, for the exact same work & parts (HVAC/R). So, it may be a case of just plain getting over-charged & hustled.

Didn’t feel like installing my laundry room wash sink, so I thought I would give a local outfit some business.

1st estimate = $380
2nd estimate = $520

I stopped there as it was apparent their time was worth more than I was willing to pay, so off to Lowes I went.

$65 in the parts I needed (went fancy on the hot & cold valves) and a Sat morning installing it and it turned out better than what they would have probably done with cheaper parts.