(sorry for this long silence with no post - work and life are catching up with me)

I’ve been debating for a while as to whether I should post the names and my opinions of the contractors that I’ve worked with on the house. I have ultimately decided not to; and for multiple reasons.

First, there are too many lawyers in California and I don’t want to have to constantly think about what is appropriate or not.

Secondly, YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary. Contractors are usually small shops, often just one individual working with subcontractors. And you cannot expect from them the same stability and consistence you’d get from a larger shop. No matter how good the boss is - if he loses his skilled employees he’ll have to hire someone else. Fast. Because he has to honor his commitments. This just happened with our electrician - two of his three employees left to start their own company; with a week notice (he was lucky on that one though - the remaining employee was able to bring in his brother within a few days). Hard to maintain high standards during such events.

And even outside of such dramatic events, quality tends to vary greatly from one day to another, from one customer to another, from one type of job to another. For instance, I recently hired a contractor to complete a job - it was the third time I was working with him and I had been very pleased the first two times: great guy, very reliable, honest etc. I would have referred him to anyone without even thinking about it for a second. But this third time, things have drastically changed, to a point that I cannot trust a single thing of what he’s telling me. What has changed? I don’t know. Hormonal inbalance? Problems handling a successful business? You tell me. All I know is that I’d rather not endorse or give bad publicity to anyone on a large scale.

This said, I’ve been quite happy with most of the contractors I’ve worked with (I consider myself very lucky) and if you need references don’t hesitate to email me. Leave a comment here with your email address - I will not publish it, but will gladly reply to it as time permits.