One of the properties I own is a small house. It’s an investment property I rent out.
I need to have some work done on it.
Pete, the boyfriend of a good friend of my wifes recommended “Bob”. Bob owns his own contracting company. He did an estimate on the work that was very reasonable.
I did a check on Bob. No small claims actions in court, no complaints at the BBB. In fact, there isn’t much on record about Bob at all. He’s legit [licensing, permits, etc.] but even legit companies have more info on them just that they are licensed. Especially ones in business as long as Bob has been.
I tell Bob that I’d like to have him do the work, but I need a few references of his work.
Bob get’s pissy! “Uh, Pete is my reference. The only reason I quoted you that price is because you’re Petes friend and I did it as a favor to him!!”
First of all, Pete is not my friend. I only know him because he has been fucking my wifes friend for the last year.
Secondly, so what?? I want more than 1 reference before someone starts digging holes in my concrete. I don’t care who that 1 reference is, I need more.
Bob said he’d email me some, but was real, REAL shitty about it. It no longer matters as I will not use him. His attitude strikes me as a HUGE RED flag. You do this type of work but don’t want to show it off? Take a hike!
But now Pete and my wifes friend say I insulted Bob as he was going to do the work at cost as a favor.
You shouldn’t do business with him irrelevant of how his references turned out. Doing business with friends, relatives, friends-of-relatives and relatives-of-friends is virtually always a bad idea.
Well, not ALWAYS, but generally speaking - yes, it’s usually a bad idea to do business with people you have a personal relationship with, directly or indirectly.
Seems weird that he’d get pissy about references. Is he an immigrant? The only legitimate reason I can think of is a cultural misunderstanding (in some cultures it would be considering insulting to ask for a reference when you’ve already been referred by an acquaintance).
Eeehhh, I’m not going to say you did the right thing. You did an acceptable thing, sure, but it’s not that wierd that he got pissy. I’d be mad if a friend asked me to do a job for cheap and I said ok, only to be turned away. To him, it doesn’t seem like a business deal, it seems like a favor. From his angle, you looked a gift horse in the mouth. If they have a cliche about it, then there must be something to it.
Contractor here. Nah, you’re fine. He should be used to trotting out his references, and the old ‘he’s cutting you a deal’ because some friend of his is fucking some friend of yours is BS.
Right now, in the state of construction we find ourselves in, he cut you a deal because he needed the work. A lot of these old timers still don’t get it. Being a prick isn’t going to get you anywhere but bankrupt. The days of picking and choosing, ignoring and blowing off customers is gone. Even if he cuts his rates, it isn’t going to be enough to save him.
If that was his attitude towards a simple reference request, imagine the fun you would have had if something had gone wrong on the job, or you weren’t happy with the work, and tried to settle it.
You did the right thing. You don’t need that kind of hassle. Contractors should give references cheerfully, and with pride. Unless, of course, their references suck.
You did the smart thing and his response is indeed a red flag - you are well out of the situation.
How did you make the reference request? As in, approximately what did you say and how - an email, on the phone? I’m just curious if there is more to the story than we know (there would have to be a LOT more to excuse his behavior, though - asking for references is perfectly reasonable under any circumstances).
Also, did Bob do any work for Pete? Or are they just drinking buddies? If Bob built an addition on Pete’s house and Pete was happy with the result, that’s one thing. But from the OP we can’t be sure you even have that.
There’s a bit missing from the OP. You don’t say how it came about that he quoted?
If I got asked to quote on something through friends and wasn’t particularly looking for work but I quoted and actually did give a good price as a favour, and then got asked to give references (ie more unpaid work to get the job, on which I’ve cut my margin already) as if I’d come looking for the work in the first place, I’d be unimpressed.
Rereading the OP and thinking about what Princhester just asked - did the OP even know the price he was being quoted was “a favor” before he asked for references? Perhaps, but from the actual wording of the story, this only came out when Bob got upset.
Having hired my share of bad contractors, you were in the right. You are entering into a business relationship with the contractor, you have every right to ask for references. Whether he is a friend of a friend of a friend is not important.
I missed the edit window, but I wanted to add that in my experience when a person is being difficult during the initial phase of a business deal, it is only going to get worse over time. If this is how he is acting during the courtship, imagine what the wedding night is going to be like.
Pete is a contractor too, but does not do the type of work Bob does. He learned of the work I needed done through casual talk with my wifes friend. He gave me Bobs card and said he did good work.
I called Bob and said I got his name/card from Pete and had some work I wanted an estimate on.
Bob is not the only person I got an estimate from.
pkbites, throw me in for another “you did the right thing” vote. And consider yourself saved from whatever nightmare this “Bob” would have put you through.
I want more than 1 reference before someone starts digging holes in my concrete. I don’t care who that 1 reference is, I need more.