I don't know about other places but it's extremely hard to find a reliable handyman in Las Vegas. Most handymen are self-employed and work their own hours. Promises of I'll be there at 8 a.m. tomorrow are very few and far between....and if they do make that promise, the promise is quickly broken with excuses like 'my car broke down', 'my kids are sick', 'I have no money for gas' (yes, I did get that one once!)...and 'lets reschedule for next week.' In the meantime you've taken time out of your day to be available and now you have to reschedule everything. It's frustrating to say the least.
I recently had a fun experience with one of my listings...I called three handymen to give me estimates...two scheduled for one day, the other scheduled for the next day. Handyman #1 calls at the last minute and said his job scheduled for before mine was taking longer than he expected and he had no time available until next week. I said forget it...I say to myself -oh, well I've still got two to pick from. Handyman #2 shows up on time (what a novelty!), writes me up an estimate for the work, and I tell him I'll get back to him. In my opinion, the estimate is too high...but let's see what handyman #3 comes up with...the next morning I'm back at my listing ready to meet handyman #3...he calls and I'm thinking, 'ut oh, he's going to cancel' but he doesn't and just wanted to let me know he's on his way. Nice, I like this...he shows about 10 minutes later...but guess who's with him?? Handyman #2! Handyman #3 is obviously in charge and #2 plays dumb. I'm at a loss so let them do their thing of measuring, figuring, etc. and then handyman #2 takes off like a 'bat out of h*ll' and leaves #3 with me who then proceeds to write estimate, I tell him I will get back to him. The estimate given was $500 less than #2's estimate from the day before! I feel like I'm being taken on a ride! I don't have time to play these games....all three of these 'handymen' are on my 'forget them' list. What's a Realtor to do?
What do you think...was I right in not hiring #3 over this? I'm thinking #2 came in to give me a high estimate so that I would take #3's estimate! What are the chances of this happening? Should I have told #3 that I was on to this? Should I have confronted #2 immediately when I saw him with #3? Is this a case of Dumb and Dumber, or am I the dummy?
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