Good Contractors Must Battle Perception

Holy hacksaw batman! General Contractors got 3350 more Complaints than Insurance companies last year! Roofing Contractors got 451 more Complaints than Mail Order Companies!

According to the 2007 Better Business Bureau’s Annual Inquiry, Complaint and Services Summary for the United States, General American Contractors have the 4th highest Inquiries with 1,230,723 out of 52,167,879. They rank 15 out of 587 in Complaints.

These statistics clearly state that homeowners think contractors are worse than 98% of all other industries including Insurance Companies (30 out of 587).

Others in the top 10 Inquiry (Requested Industry Reports) list include:

Roofing Contractors rank 1st in inquiries and 24th in complaints.

Movers rank 4th in inquiries and 16th in complaints.

Home Builders rank 7th in inquiries and 25th in complaints.

Construction and Remodeling Services rank 8th in inquiries and 28th in complaints.

Plumbing Contractors rank 10th in inquiries and 32nd in complaints.

If you haven’t noticed, let me tell you that contractors have a perception problem and perception hurts all of us.

There are obviously those bad contractors that racked up enough actual Complaints to fill 11 spots in the worst 50 industries in the country (out of over 3,600). You could easily say “So what! I’m not one of those guys. I never got a complaint”. But what’s more important is that we fill 6 of the top 10 spots for Inquiries. That means that the contractors mentioned above are perceived as the top 10 worse out of over 3,600 industries!

That hurts ALL contractors! Especially when you estimate how many people call ALL of you a “General Contractor” or “Home Builder” or Construction Bid and Remolding Service” no matter what your specific trade.

During a recession economy, only the good bird will get the worm. More than ever, homeowners on tight budgets are checking to make sure you’re a good, trusted contractor before they hire you.

If you have been in business for 40 years you probably don’t have to worry about any of this in your community. But without that time and reputation you need to do something to show you are a true professional. Only those who do will survive these tough times.

Here are some things you can do to set you apart:

• Obviously a service like TrueBlueContractors.com is specifically designed to address this problem for a few hundred dollars a year. A certification and web presence will separate you from the rest. As an added benefit, TrueBlueContractors.com spends tens of thousands of dollars in local advertising to bring its members business.

• Build a bio. If you’re on a real tight budget, sit down and build a bio on yourself and you company. A bio is like a resume. Write a paragraph about you, where you went to school, your experience, and any organizations you belong to. On the same page write a second paragraph about your company, what you do, how long in business, any special jobs you have done, etc.

• Get recommendations. Having an ex-customer write a recommendation letter is gold. That’s how the guys 40 years in the business got there… only back then it was by word of mouth.

• Don’t stop advertising. One of the first things to get cut when work drops off is your advertising and marketing budget. Obviously advertising and marketing is designed to bring work in. Stopping when you need it the most is the worse thing you can do. Finding a more efficient way to advertise or market is always smart. Notice I didn’t say “cheaper”. You want to make sure every dollar you spend get in front of a homeowner looking for a contractors.

Good luck and hold on! Happy holidays!