Punctuality is the politeness of kings...

When we signed for this house March 7th 2013, the landlord told us that Pedro, his landscaping guy, would come and finish to clean up the driveway later that week. We started moving stuff in the following week and his junk was still there. When we moved in on the 22nd, Pedro had not yet picked it up and we had to get the landlord to call him...
 
There were also a few minor things which needed fixing around the house and our maintenance guy - let's call him Jack - was supposed to drop by as soon as he got the piece that he needed to fix the stove, possibly even before we moved in, certainly not much later.
 
After months of trying to get ahold of him, Jack finally showed up in late September, and fixed one thing. But apparently he didn't have the piece for the stove so he ordered it and said he'd be back the next day or contact us... Never to be heard of him again, much to the dismay of the landlord who considered him a good friend.
 
The patio door still needed fixing, and since he'd lost his maintenance guy, the landlord finally found another entrepreneur to do the work. Let's call him Frank. They were supposed to get back in touch to schedule repairs for his other house here but Frank vanished. Back to square one in his search of a maintenance guy.
 
As for Pedro the landscaping guy… A few months after we’d moved in, we asked him to come do some work. On the designated day, he showed up at 8 pm instead of noon and rescheduled for the next day. The next day, he was sensibly late but at least he showed up.
 
A few months later still, the second time we had work for him, he postponed at the last minute 3 times in a row, rescheduling to a different day every time. He finally showed up - late...
 
So last month, our landlord was in town and dropped by to say hi,  I mentioned we were trying to get in touch with Pedro to take care of the weeds. He said he'd get him to call us. Pedro never called.
 
When the landlord visited us again at the end of the month and saw that nothing had been done, he called Pedro who lied and tried to tell him that he'd come but we didn't answer the door! Actually, he never called to schedule an appointment, and I'm here all the time, anyway... Landlord told him that I was standing right in front of him and didn’t agree with his version. 
 
While they were on the phone, every time they'd agree on a potential date and the landlord was about to confirm and get a formal commitment, Pedro would back off and suggest another date. He just didn't want to commit. He eventually did, after much back and forth.
 
When the scheduled day arrived, he called, late, saying he was sick and couldn't come. 
 
I got in touch w/ our landlord and said that if he didn't mind we'd try to find someone else.
 
Well so far, since last friday, the two landscapers I've contacted via text and e-mail failed to reply…
 
I just can't believe how inconsiderate people are.  I'd have all of them deported to Canada for a while so that they at least learn to say they're sorry... ;)
 

 
 

 
;)

The key issue here is that the landlord seems to be the employer. He has little incentive to hire top quality people so long as he is getting his rent. Generally the kind of contractors who behave like this have to work for bottom dollar, or if they can get more from someone else, have an incentive to work for that someone instead of you until there is no more work available at good rates, at which time they may show up at your place to finish the job they promised. If you were the employer, you could ditch the sub-par help.
 
This has nothing to do with politeness. 

I'm going through this kind of thing right now with the landlord's plumber who's supposed to be coming over to replace a valve on the heating pipe. I've been making arrangements to come home every afternoon at 1:30pm to let him in. Twice he just hasn't shown at all - no phone call, no nothing. I'll get a text four hours later saying "sorry, was dealing with a housing inspector on a code violation, can we do tomorrow"? On the third day, he shows up an hour and a half late. I tell him sorry, I have to go back out to work now. And the guy flips out on me! "Listen buddy you want me to do this work or not? I come all this way..."
 
This being New York, I'm reluctant to leave anyone alone in my apartment while I'm out, especially with some of the shady characters my landlord's hired in the past. The funny thing is, I've been on rent strike for four months because this repair has been ignored. The deal is, you complete the repair, you get the thousands of dollars I owe you. And they still can't get it together!

The herd is culled on a weekly basis. Canada is about to try and eliminate all underground contractors. It could be illegal very soon to used uncertified tradespeople. My Industrial Electrician ticket I've held since 1984 will become void as soon as the bill passes. The government will now provide all valid licenses and collect a tidy annual fee to keep it.
 
I won't legally be able to change a light switch. I wonder what classification I will need to make tube guitar amps? Carpenter, engineer, electrician, Dr. of thermionic emission???

Oh I love visiting there...but I don't think I have the where-with-all to actually live there. Financially, physically or emotionally.

Rain

sharke

yorolpal
New York sounds so forlorn.

Strangely enough, despite all the violence, crime and corruption there's nowhere else I'd rather be. 

And it's the only place we really miss - from time to time. If we could, we'd spend the summer in NY and the rest of the year here in Vegas.

Wouldn't you rather do the opposite? That humidity....

I've got a comment about this, but not right now...  I'll get back to you later with it. 

sharke
The winter is quite simply the best part of the year! One of the great joys of life. 

Coming from way up north, I've accumulated more than enough of such joys during the first 40 years of my life to last me two lifetimes. I got back in touch with people from my little hometown on FB recently - they still have humongous storms every week - one again yesterday. The kind of weather that won't let you see 3 feet ahead. On many streets, the houses are completely hidden behind walls of snow.
 
Between that and sitting barefoot and shirtless in the backyard w/ my cup of tea and a book, I wouldn't hesitate. 

If David Gilmour says so...

 
+1
 
 
I never really minded Winter when I lived in Northern MN.  To me it was just a normal seasonal change of the year.  I actually miss not having well defined seasons.

It seems to me, that an individual who takes a chance to start a business, and who ..
 
1. does competent work
2. charges a reasonable fee for that work
3. shows up on the date and at the time agreed upon (within 10 minutes or so)
4. calls the customer to say they're running late BEFORE the scheduled time of meeting
 
will have a thriving business in no time at all.  Customers appreciate that and since many people in business fail one or more of the 4 things listed..... when they find a business who do all 4 things, they will tell friends and neighbors and hire you again.
 
If I know I'm going to be more then 15 minutes late to an agreed meeting I place a simple phone call to that customer about 10 minutes before the scheduled meeting time to let them know I'm on the way and running a bit behind. Unless it's a commercial job site where that sort of thing doesn't matter as much, I try my best to be where I say I will be when I'm expected there. With GPS mapping, even the jobs that are 2 or more hours away can be planned properly so as to arrive within that expected time frame.
 
On my personal dealings with other contractors..... I expect them to be here when they say. I expect them to return my calls in a timely manner. I expect them to work on the project until it's completed. If they are not able or willing to do those things, they are fired, and I get someone who is willing.  I can generally handle most things by myself since I know a lot about construction...... but on the things I don't want to work on, yeah... it's my rules or you are pounding sand. I'm not a tyrant.... I'm laid back and easy going, and can generally work on a flexible schedule with tradesmen..... but they do need to be there when we nail down that date and time. 

Ok, I'm here now, but I'm going to have to postpone my reply until later.  

Winter back home. Actually, that's spring back home - these were taken 2 days ago...
 

 
 

 
And a few days before (03/25)
 

 
Meanwhile, 2 days ago here in Vegas...
 

 
And the only snow storm of the year, early December - pic taken by a friend, because it didn't reach us here.
 

 
 
 

Rain
 
 
Meanwhile, 2 days ago here in Vegas...
 

 
And the only snow storm of the year, early December - pic taken by a friend, because it didn't reach us here.
 

 
 
 

Yeah, I'm with you there. Being from somewhere that in recent years has only seemed to have had two seasons....... June 15th and winter........... I can confirm that being cold and /or wet is very much overrrated.

craigb
Sorry, too late to reply today.  I'll see if I can put you on the schedule for tomorrow...

Wait! You dropped your pin!
 

 
;)