Home and Garden Show was a waste of my time

One of the local communities has an annual home and garden show every April, and walking through the exhibits is usually an enjoyable way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  I can't say that that day was not enjoyable, but I was there on a mission which seems to have failed.

We have four projects planned for this year, and they all will require writing fairly substantial checks.  There will be a major kitchen remodel, hardwood flooring installation, landscape work including re-grading and a paver or stamped concrete patio, and a triple concrete driveway.  Our purpose in going to the home and garden show was to try to do some pre-screening of contractors and ask them to contact us to schedule a sales appointment.  We asked about a dozen exhibitors to contact us.  And, now the results:

After seventeen days of waiting, one contractor called and left a message.  I returned the call within a half hour and left a message asking him to call me again.  It's been two weeks today since I left that message.  Still waiting. 

A second contractor emailed me that he was going to be in a city about twenty-five miles from me the following Wednesday evening, and wanted to stop by then.  It was apparent that he thought I live somewhere else.  Anyway, I returned his email saying it would be OK, but it might be more convenient for him to stop by when he was planning on being in the area.  I also suggested that I could schedule a daytime appointment if it fit better into his schedule.  Still waiting.

Out of a dozen contractors, those were the only two who made any attempt to contact us.  Keep in mind that we spoke with each of these bozos and told them we wanted to spend money on what they were selling.  We were not cold or warm leads, rather live people with checkbook in hand.  Are they all too busy to contract new business?  Yeah, sure.  Maybe the flooring and remodeling guys have too much work, but the landscapers and the concrete guys?  It's still colder than a mother-in-law's kiss in Minnesota, and the only activity for a landscaper is maybe selling firewood, and there isn't much concrete being poured either. 

It seems that life moves at a much slower pace in the home improvement and landscaping world than in the real estate world.  I expect that I'll hear from a few of those guys sometime between now and eternity, but I will not be the hot lead who supplied my name and contact information a while ago.  It's a good reminder though, that whenever someone leaves a phone number they probably expect a call.  If you leave your phone number on my website, I promise to call you promptly, and no more than one time unless you ask me to call you again.