SVreX said:
...I also can’t compete with YouTube videos. There is a difference between asking questions, and challenging my experience based on some BS somebody saw on some idiot’s YouTube channel.
That’s a good way to get me to raise my price.
What if that guy on YouTube has more experience than you? Or their speciality is in something you don't know as much about?
That's quickly becoming a problem in the trades - arrogant contractors who claim they know more than everyone else, charging stupid high prices, and not standing behind their work. The average layman has right to be skeptical.
Paul, I'm not doubting your experience, knowledge or quality. People pay you to make sure that other people do a good job. I'm doubting the current state of the trades. All the good contractors are busying working on long-term, high paying projects, and residential customers are forced to deal with not so good contractors.
Case in point: I know indirectly of a very wealthy client who hired a HVAC company to install a new gas HVAC system in her very expensive remodelled home. She wanted the best, and hired a company that served other very rich homeowners in the area. This is a woman who doesn't cheap out. Anyway, the system was installed, and somehow the intake was messed up, it was burning dirty, and pumping carbon monoixed into the house. Alarms go off, fire company comes, says Co2 measurements are off the charts, and they are lucky to be alive.
Anyway, she contacts the company and says "hey we paid you $80k (my guess, it might have been more than that) for this system and it nearly killed us. Rip it all out and start over." They fought it, saying it wasn't a big deal and would be easy to fix. She retorts "rip it all out, or I will put your entire company into bankruptcy." - This lady has the resources to do that.
She didn't want them to fix a mistake that almost killed her, she wanted to teach them a lesson. Not every small-time homeowners can do that with their contractors.
It just goes to show that sometimes spending all the money and getting the best contractors still doesn't result in the best quality work, and even really good contractors have a hard time admitting to mistakes.