Are contractors bad emailers, or is it my request?

This is only my 2nd time seeking consultation/work from a general contractor, the first time was quick and easy.  However now, I’ve tried contacting about 6 to do a walkthrough and get estimates for some work, and they either dont respond to emails, or say they’ll get back, but don’t actually followup or set dates.  Wondering if they are inherently less into emailing, and I should be phoning, or its the job that maybe is not big enough? Basically our apartment got flooded from work being done above.  Water mitigation is done, now need to do the actual repairs.  It’s walls, ceiling, floors, and electrical that need repair, and we want to pay the difference (i.e. above what insurance should cover) to do some upgrades/remodeling of our own while we’re at it.  The damage is in about half of a ~1500sq ft apartment.  Is this job just too small for some of the better more in demand contractors, or am I going about it the wrong way (i.e. should phone vs email)?

FranklinMrShanklin

in Driveways, Patios, Sidewalks and Steps 11 years and 11 months ago

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FranklinMrShanklin | 11 years and 11 months ago

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Thanks everyone for the helpful responses and contractor recco.  Guess I’ll stick to the old fashioned rotary phone and rolodex.

irqgbfqcbpop | 11 years and 11 months ago

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Emailing contractors is a bad idea with most of them. I used CRJ on a previous job and they were great. They were good with email. Ask for Relva 347-715-5956.

sugarbowl | 11 years and 11 months ago

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Sometimes GC’s are as others have mentioned on the field and not able to respond right away, but with the technology out there they should respond within a day or two, when my GC wasnt responding I did have to give him a call…sometimes it goes to the spam box and many times they have so many clients that unless you give them a refresh they tend to forget….call them…you have to be annoying

curated | 11 years and 11 months ago

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Any larger and reputable GC should respond via email within at most 24 hours. With the technology available to communicate today I would take it as a bad sign if they don’t answer emails. Does not inspire confidence that communication during the project will be smooth.

Augustiner | 11 years and 11 months ago

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I couldn´t work with a GC that isn´t responsive on all levels.
It´s ok for single trades to be not internet savvy, but definitely not for the GC who you are communicating with almost every day.

But the reason for the lame response might be a different one:
the job you offer is maybe not interesting enough compared to others on the market.
Possible reason: the word insurance might be a turnoff. You say “what insurance should cover” that means that currently you can´t offer a job that pays money for sure.

bkk | 11 years and 11 months ago

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I’ve found the same thing… it’s almost as if you have to pursue them.  If they come with good recs then usually they are worth pursuing, as they tend to be the right mix of the quality to cost (at least for me anyway).

slopemope | 11 years and 11 months ago

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getting the return phone call is hard enough.  email – forget it.  they’ll probabally double the estimate for you assuming that they use email.  better just get someone who will show up and finish a simple job.

hooky | 11 years and 11 months ago

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Unless they are a huge operation then yes- they are in the field and don’t email much. It’s the nature of contracting. The smaller they are, the less overhead, the less extraneous costs will be filtered down to you.

mousta | 11 years and 11 months ago

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I’ve pretty much given up on email when communicating with most tradespeople. Lack of response is never a good sign but I find most of them to be bad at responding to emails. They are on the road a lot and aren’t necessarily tethered to their email even if they have smartphones. Some have office workers who respond to emails quickly (Gateway plumbing comes to mind). Stick to the phone.

guikazoid | 11 years and 11 months ago

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We had the same problem w/ contractors.  They NEVER respond to emails.  I guess a lot of them are old school and not leveraging technology.  Anyhow, we had a lot of work done in our cellar.  We used George Haliotis (georgio.x@gmail.com or 917-589-4208).  Vet him and see if he can meet your needs.