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. 

Hmmm.... 15 Years in Florida was enough to cure my aversion to shoveling. I've lived the rest of my live in the North East and tolerate it. Spent about 2 years in Toronto and the snow their is much better than the slush in Pennsylvania. Now I'm in New Hampshire... The summers are wonderful here, the winters are tolerable. Also, the attitude of People, especially contractors is much better here than anywhere else I've lived. Overall, I'd rate the courtesy of People here in New Hampshire over New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Florida and Canada.

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

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

Again? 
 
 
 

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.
 

 
 
 

I got emails from my family in MN that they got hit as well a couple of days ago. 
 
If I could have the best of both worlds, I would do Summer and Fall in MN and spend my Winter's in TX.  That's the hope and plan for retirement...I still have 15-17 yrs to go, though.  The only way that you know it's Winter in TX....everything is suddenly brown....and it's no longer over 100 degree's.

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.

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

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!
 

 
;)

Well, this morning I resorted to calling Eduardo, the last of the guys who had been recommended to me. I'd kept him as a last option because w/ my own strange accent, I'm not comfortable speaking on the phone w/ someone who's got an even more pronounced accent. E-mails and texting are always preferable, but this gentlemen didn't offer those options.
 
Parenthesis - Am I the only one who thinks that when we traded our good old landlines and regular phones for wireless and cellular phones, we definitely lost quite a bit in the process? In terms of audio quality and intelligibility, that wonderful technology is nowhere near the standards of 30 years ago as I seem to remember them. Now imagine what it is when this French-Canadian and Pedro try to understand each other on their cell phones... That's twice as much language barrier to begin with and cell phones only seems to multiply the guess work... 
 
At any rate, I was a bit worried - and to a certain extent, rightfully so because, honestly, I barely could understand his greeting message, though I thought I guessed the word "landscaping" at one point.
 
 
Anyway, I left my name, number and said he'd been referred by a friend and that we were interested in his services. 
 
But I was apparently worrying for no reason because Eduardo did not call back. :/