Other contractors bad mouthing you?

[DKinWA]

Have any of you ever found out from a customer that another contractor was bad mouthing your work after you left the job site? I just found out from a customer that a contractor working next door to them was bad mouthing my work. Basically they were saying the road I roughed out wasn't built right and needed more work. This is from a contractor that just built a two lane highway off ramp that's supposed to be the neighbors driveway.

The road I built is about 12'X500' through a fairly flat field and follows the contours of the field like my customer wanted. All I did was take out the sod and about 3" of topsoil so I could add 6" of gravel to bring it back up to roughly grass height. Now the customer is starting to second guess my work and his ideas and is worried about water and crowning the road. I had actually taken this into account and had planned to outslope the road slightly and not build up the lower spots to prevent ponding. If I crown the road I'm going to force water to pond where I don't want it and essentially create more problems. The plan was to build a road that fit in with the surroundings and not some DOT highway project.

I realize he's probably mad because some new guy on the block took some of his business. It's kind of ironic since so many of my customers tell me I'm the only one that would return their call. Other customers tell me they hired me because I listened to what they wanted and made a genuine effort to make their ideas a reality. Sorry for the rant, but this is really p!ssing me off tonight.

To get back on topic, has this kind of thing happened to you and how did you deal with it? I know what I want to do, but I don't think it's legal

 

[cat320]

Well one thing I do know if you did the job right there is nothing for him to say .I would call him and probably confront him on what he said ,but then you will get I never said that your customer be unsatified with your work and so on.Some times better let it be and know that you did a good job and express the way that you did it to your customer.

 

[DKinWA]

I talked to another contractor that I know and he said there's nothing wrong with what I plan to do for the road. His initial comment was "it's a driveway for crying out loud not a highway project". He also mentioned that he's never put more than about 3" of gravel down and never had a problem. I told him I was planning on 6" and he said it should handle any contruction vehicles and then some. To top it off, I found out from my customer that another neighbor stopped by and said she liked the driveway.

I hope to run into the other contractor and strike up a conversation and get a feel for what's going on. For all I know, it's just a turf battle and he feels I'm taking away his work. The guy does nice work from what I've seen and I've even sent folks his direction with bigger projects than I could handle. I'm not so sure I'd send folks his way now though

 

[Steve Frazier]

If you are confident in your work, I wouldn't worry about it at all.

I wouldn't confront the other contractor either, what would be gained? Spend your time building your reputation rather than questioning his.

 

[Dirtguru]

I have done a fair amount of private property roadbuilding and reconditioning in recent years due to an influx of wealthy retiree's moving into the area. I found that a lot of people want something for nothing. If it is an extensive project what I do is give them a bid for a road that will last with a brief explanation as to why a road should be built this way and references to forest road construction specs and Oregon Department of Forestry "best managment practices'' regarding road construction. If the customer chooses this route I garauntee the road for two years. I make it clear up front that I won't do it any other way, If I like them sometimes I will give them an option bid which does not include stormproofing and other things so they have something to compare other cheap bids too. The customers that chose to do it right the first time have had no problems. Every one of the others has called back within three years asking for help.

When I first started out on my own a few of my competitors badmouthed my work, said I was too cheap on my federal contracts and I tried to do to much with to little and would work myself to death. There all gone now but I'm still here:beatsme You can't please every customer but you can always do the best job you possibly can. Don't let your competitors cause you to second guess your work.

A Chapman

 

[DKinWA]

Thanks for the replys everyone. I decided I'll just let it go and concentrate on keeping my customers happy. After talking to others that hire a lot of contractors, it seems that this isn't unusual in this field around here. Apparently some contractors feel they need to bad mouth other contractors to look good to potential customers. I wasn't brought up this way and I just can't imagine bad mouthing another contractor to their customer. Oh well, no one ever said changing careers was easy

 

[digger242j]

Well, if the other guy was so wonderful, he'd be a member here, wouldn't he?

 

[DKinWA]

Maybe I should extend an invite to join HeavyEquipmentForums.com. Thats it, I'll just leave a card on his dozer with the url :laugh

 

[Steve Frazier]

You're laughing, but check this thread .....

 

[huffmanmb]

My dad and I started doing small projects here on the Oly Peninsula when I was in grade school. We got crap cause we had smaller compact equipment and were taking on some pretty good sized jobs. If they werent bad mouthing our equipment they were critiqing our finished product. The funny part was, we ended up cleaning up after some of these "experts" almost now on a continous basis. Now we went fulltime this last year and became general contractors, and have an average of two to three months of work under contract. Nothing like a kid, his dad, and their "tonka toys" as they were called, taking on seasoned road builders...



1998 S/A International 4700
1976 T/A Mack R600
2004 Deere 110TLB
1996 Misubishi MX45 Trackhoe
M-500 Huber Road Grader
Mauldin 5 ton Compactor
2 Tired Tonka Operators

 

[Bob Horrell]

huffmanmb,
I see you have a 2004 Deere 110TLB. How do you like it? I have one as well. Got it in mid January and already have 400 hrs. on it. A great little machine that constantly amazes me as to what it can do. Most fuel efficient machine I have ever operated and that helps a lot with todays fuel prices.

 

[huffmanmb]

The deere took a while to get, we ordered in april, and it showed up at the beginning of July. We had a hydraulic glitch at 154 hours, that could not be fixed so they swaped out the base tractor and loader. What I love is the attachment versatility with the skidsteer style hookups in the front, and the hyd 3pt package we purchased for the rear. The digging power with the hoe is unreal. We do a lot of underground ditching, and the production rate is great. I did some stump removal last month and can out lift and out rip my 13K mini excavator. It was a great upgrade from our B20 Kubota. Three times the money with the attachments, but the benefits out weigh the cost. The fuel savings is a plus also like you said, 15 gallons goes along way. :usa

 

[triaxle]

OK you're right on the money about difficulties communicating with residential
customers. Often they provide non-technical, impercise descriptions of the work. Often they are unaware of the apprporiate steps to be taken in any project, don't have plans, tell every contractor bidding the job something different and worst of all, they are the boss.

With regard to roadbuilding, many customers do not understand the parts of a road or their function. The Romans figured most of what it takes several thousand years ago and roadbuilders and most roadbuilding techniques date back to their methods.
A crowned roadbed is superior to a flat roadbed. If there are puddle problems, thats likely the location for an outdrain or a crossdrain. Draining the road surface and getting that water away from the road asap is the goal.

If the customer is advised of how a road is supposed to work and then decides what parts of the plan he wants to eliminate or reduce, then the result is what he asked for. I am not suggesting you shove a DOT road down every job because jeep trails, farm roads, driveways, mountain access roads and many other non DOT road projects feed the baby, too.

The best defense against other contractors bad rapping you is to look at your site when you're working. If the site was someone elses and you drove by, what would you question?
If there are grey areas, talk to your employer and try to get a productive dialogue going. If someone else questions something you have done, let it be something you have discussed with the boss. That way the person who is trying to bad rap you is actually questioning the judgement of the boss.

Sadly, more people in this business sell their product by trying to bad rap the competition than try to sell on performance or value.
The only response to this tactic I have found is to say that I pass inspections by county and state agencies with regularity and those projects are a matter of public record. If they want to consider the opinion of a contractor on another lot as more accurate than an inspector's opinion, they will.

Good luck with this, it is maddening to do precisely as instructed and then be second guessed.

 

[LaLaMan]

I highly recommend to go on the Reed COnstruction Data and fill out a subscription the EVERY mag they have. The construction industry is the same for the Electrical contractor as it is for the Excavator in many ways, and their mags do very good articles that cover areas like this.