At times it can be almost impossible to hire anyone to do any maintenance, repair, or construction work on your home. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal lists 4 strategies for securing the services of your local professional repair person, plumber, or carpenter, and another for breaking up.
- Enter the “friend zone.” If there is a repair person in your circle, devote some time to cultivating the friendship. Don’t even bring up your needs until you’ve gotten together a few times. Then ask for a reference.
- Use an intermediary. Ask a friend who is already using the person’s services to make an introduction, but don’t bring up your needs until you have cemented the relationship.
- Plan to pay in cash. Once you have got their attention, promise cash on delivery. You might want to take a small home loan to do this, but this will guarantee attention the next time you need it.
- Make them feel special. If they do a good job leave a glowing review on their Facebook page, website, and their Angi listing. Refer your friends. Your calls will be answered.
If, after all that hard wooing, you realize that repair person is awful at their job, better to end things quickly and use the strategies for find a new repair person.
