Monthly Archives: September 2010

So, fascinating expereince the last two weeks.

As I mentioned, I’ve been working on a plumbing problem at my house; the main line broke near the water meter and I needed the whole reun replaced.  It was just too expensive to continue to dig and patch.

So, I obtained estimates from 4 plumbers and chose 1 of ’em.

Now, with the plumbing project complete, I am working on repairing/replacing the gutters on my house.

Same song, different verse.  Obtain 3 estimates and pick 1.

Lemme’ tell you that there is an incredible difference between the customer service in gutter guys and plumbers.

While the plumbers were late, ill prepared and in 2 of 3 cases failed to deliver a quote on time, the gutter folks were not only on time, they called to confirm.  They were polite and engaging.  Further, the quotes, when not delivered on the spot, were on time professionally done with photes and diagrams.  All neatly done on a PDF.

I got to wondering why this was.  My conclusion?

Plumbers are licensed.  Gutter guys aren’t.

Licensing is just another method to keep new competition from entering the market.