Amazon Launches Home Services - Your thoughts?

j a_2

Its taken many of us years to build a reputation...some good and some not so good...the good ones are busy.. Like the regulars on this site....Often up front we are rated on our pricing....Me, I say never ever lower your price, because you cant help but lower your standards..That may happen to the amazon creatures,but not us

vaporvac

I think I didn't explain myself very well in my above comment. I've since asked many people about this and other store-offered services. These are all friends who look for quality before price. To a person, they all thought going with Sears, HD or lowe's and Angie's list would give them a BETTER quality install. They assume the installelrs would be vetted, and they themselves would have BETTER recourse in the event of a problem. They thought Amazon would probably be the same. They thought is was more of a crap shoot going with a mom&pop company, even if recommended.
Plus, for very busy professionals, who don't want to take the time, it's CONVENIENT to just say, "Yeah, I'll buy it and you'll install it today." No additional phone calls or thought. I think this is the problem. I'm not sure the feeling on HVAC, HW or steam system. I think I opened their eyes a bit to how the system works.

RobG

How do they expect it to work? If they list five contractors to replace an expansion tank, who is the consumer going to go with? The lowest priced one! The other four have only wasted their time on working up and entering all of their pricing into the system and will never reap any reward, only to have arbitrary pricing out there for all the world to see.

j a_2

Still a bit confused as to ur point....

RobG

The point is that it may work for appliance replacement but it won't work for the HVAC community!

Harvey Ramer

RobG said:

The point is that it may work for appliance replacement but it won't work for the HVAC community!

It won't keep them from trying. And once they have a large portion of the market wrapped up, their service prices will skyrocket. It has to be this way. As JohnNY said, there isn't enough money to go around. The cooperation is taking a cut from the contractor and taking all the profit from the equipment sale. The customer will never purchase all the components needed for an install, which means extra trips to the job. Most of us know what we have to charge in this business. The kinds of deals like this mean one thing, either the price has to go up dramatically or you are out of business.

Fred

The saving grace is that those who have a good plumber, HVAC company, Steam Pro, whatever will never go looking at an Amaon or a google. AND, I suspect those who are fortunate enough to find a good one on Amazon or Google won't go back to them once they know who to call to get the job done right.
Those who have the misfortune to get a bad contractor won't go back either, unless they are stupid!
Seems like a relatively short term venture to me.

GW

On another forum it was mentioned that it is a good thing to get a new customer, actually lose some $ to get a new customer to do some simple easy task (install a thermostat etc). This other forum is business focused, like this forum is hands on and systems focused. Technical questions are rare.

I must admit, if you're on growth mode, this idea isn't so blasphemous. If you're on holding paterm this arrangement is not good.

What is still a huge question is what they expect to offer via "click for service". It seems impossible (at this time) to offer anything but simple tasks, but I'm guessing amazon will push the envelope.

Plus, no one knows the ins and outs, like no normal contractor is going to install a boiler through Amazon. So, once you're in their system can you install a boiler or furnace on your own?????

Times are a changing

How many people remember what a Harley Davidson dealership looked like 35 years ago? How about the local auto parts store? Yep, it's like apples and oranges. It will take many years, maybe decades, but I'm thinking the way we do business won't be the same down the road.

j a_2

I know the rules/codes/laws differ depending on your location…But I must say here in Mass. its a very tight ship….The codes/laws that are in place are there to protect the customer from the shady contractors…A few years back I did warranty work for a major water heater co…They dispatched me to do repair work, you can only imagine the crap I saw, but the good thing was unless there was a permit filed by a lic. plumber the warranty was null and void…Truth be told, approx. 75 percent of the heaters were installed by the unlicensed / unskilled / uninsured….Hence the warranty was void..

Rich_49

ja ,

As witnessed here on many an occasion the laws and codes do little to protect the end user . Even licensed guys and inspectors really have no clue what they are looking at . The end user still suffers . Maybe an Amazon has the resources to make sure all their contractors licenses are in good standing . I would also point out that some of the worst disasters I have seen here in the last 2 years were direct products of the MASS SAVES Program . How tight is any ship navigating through ICEBERG rich waters ?

j a_2

Rich....I have no idea why u would say lic. Guys and inspecters have no clue....I beg to differ the laws are in place to protect the end user. That'

Rich_49

Because they Don't ja !
Please explain to me why the same couple dozen guys on here volunteer their time to so many folks in Mass and everywhere then . Just so you are aware of my thoughts . Codes are minimum requirements , not enough tradesmen and inspectors know enough of the code and code is the worst possible job one can perform without the inspector necessarily failing the job .
Please explain to me how a job with a mixing valve for domestic water could fail inspection . Here is a hint . Because the inspector would rather I have supplied 130* water to the fixtures than the 110* That I did in a home with 2 handled faucets .
Care to debate the effectiveness of codes and the ability of the trades and inspectors to enforce them ? We can start another discussion for that .
Look up Paretos law and apply it to our industry .

GW

Some licensed plumbers do horrendous work, shameful.

EricAune

Hey guys & Gals,

I know this thread was burried but I thought I'd pull it back up. Amazon isn't even the latest addition to enter the home services game. Soon your Google listings/rankings will be effected greatly as they enter into the market offering with a similar yet modified search result for, let's say, "plumber in NYC" or "boiler not working...Rhode Island".

Every industry changes everyday. Online services change so fast you'll never see them coming. I'm keeping my eye on the Amazon and Google services as time moves on. I've been gifted a decent amount of feedback from guy/gals listing on Amazon and its not been all negative. My opinion [even though you didn't ask] would be open to the idea enough to at least understand it. Your competitors are going to [or are] use it. Lead generation services have been around for quite some time, they're just changing and getting super powerful.

mechanical-hub.com/instant-lead-generation

Also, thanks Rich. I appreciate that you shared the link to The Hub!

Erin Holohan Haskell

Great point and article. Thanks for sharing, @EricAune.