Cheap, Fast and Good

Steve Ebels

You know the old saying......pick any two. The local Cheap and Fast guy's luck just ran out. I have lost countless bids to him over the years. His reputation goes like this, "Get _____ ______ Heating, He's always cheaper than anyone else".

I heard from one of his former employees, (a kid I always thought a lot of) that he is being sued for a carbon monoxide incident where the whole family wound up seriously ill and one of the little ones has suffered permanent brain damage. Don't know a lot of details but the kid said there was something messed up with the combustion air and venting. Can't say as I didn't think it would catch up to him someday.

Tony_8

Unfortunately...

it's the family that's truly going to suffer. He's only losing money and may (should ?) find another form of income.

Too sad...

pugdog

cann't be done

You can not have it cheap and good, and you can not have it fast and good

Mad Dog

Actually, my town has 2 mutts like them........

They break all the rules and usually get away with it. I've seen a lot of scary stuff. Once again PEOPLE DO NOT LEARN UNTIL THEY GET REALLY SCREWED OR HURT. It's tough when people think YOU are the crook because your price is higher than the mutts. I get get my share of dirty looks in town..it hurts, but I know I am walking on the path of truth. They will have to learn the hard way. The biggest lesson I have had to learn is to not let it get to me. Mad Dog

Steve Ebels

Dog

I have a hard time with not letting it get to me also. Sometimes I just steam when I lose a job to a guy like that. I do my best to install a system or replacement in the best possible fashion and it really bugs me to see someone come in and butcher a job in order to build it to a price instead of a quality.

I also have a hard time the other way too. I lay awake at night thinking about the best way to do this or that. What's the best equipment? How can we get the pipe from point A to point B? You know what I'm talking about. More than once I've gotten up out of the sack and drove to a job site in the middle of the night to double check a capped gas line or flue pipe or vent. Maybe just to see if some other tradesman turned on a valve that wasn't ready......... Some days you wonder???????

The guy who is getting sued spent nothing that I know of on training his employees. He hired them all as subcontractors to save himself payroll taxes. He carried insurance on his business but not his people. Didn't pay workman's comp because they are all sub's. He just cut every corner that he could and the sad part is that the customer doesn't know any different because all they see is a bunch of pipes and duct and a number on the bottom of the paper.

Greg Swob

Gave some advice today...

I bumped into a competitor - extremely low-ball-bidder. It seems he just bought the old worn out service vehicle I used to drive and said "we can't afford the new stuff like you guys, so we have to buy your old ones". Of course, he was saying it tongue in cheek. I suggested he increases his prices by 30% - "you'll still get a ton of work, you can give your guys a raise and some benefits finally, drive newer vehicles, and can afford training for your guys- they want it and your customers deserve it, you know..." I was not speaking tongue in cheek. May as well have been talking to the old Ford pickup truck instead - it would have probably understood my message more clearly. One of our local low bidders is rumored to be closing shop at first of the year - can't make a go of it any longer. If we can get this other guy out of business or if he does as I suggested, the pricing gap will close up dramatically in our area. Greg

Dave DeFord

Does the local prosecutor....

know what happened. It seems to me that most quotes that I have seem all state that the job will be completed in compliance with local codes etc. Obviously this one was not. There may be criminal liability here. Not that I want anything bad to happen to your friend but the other guy seems to deserve it.
There is also a good deal of case law and statute in most states that says that if a sub is probhibited from doing work for other people (or on his own), doesn't supply his own tools or truck doesn't purchase his own goods (furnaces, boilers etc.) doesn't make decisions, just takes direction that the sub is not really a sub but is an employee. Don't know what state you're in but if you like this guy maybe he can make the boss pay because it sounds like the boss is the one that is really the person at fault here. It also might be worth dropping a dime on the guy to the IRS as they have their own ideas as to what a subs and employees are and a written agreement doesn't make a whole lot of difference to them.
Just some thoughts as to how to make your incompetent competition's life miserable if that's what you want to do.

Dave Palmer_3

replaced

a boiler at a customers and noticed the hot water boiler next to it was cycling on and off all day without calling for heat. I checked it out and the tt was jumped out. I asked the owner how long it was like that and he said since it was installed 20 years ago so they would have instant heat!!!!!!!!!! I wonder how many therms of gas(and dollars) has gone up the chimney in 20 years just to maintain a temp. of 170*. But the guy who put it in was afriend and was reasonable. I rewired the boiler today. Dave

Dennis - Reliable Services

I have the solution and revenge to the Mutts of the world

when a customer who you know is a bum or time waster or a ripoff artist calls, I say that I am booked and refer him to Mutt Inc.