Why is it so hard to get contractor quotes?
Securing bids for simple repairs requires calling multiple companies and leaving voicemails just to find one willing to respond. This endless chasing turns routine maintenance coordination into a massive time sink that can eat up entire afternoons and feel like a full-time job.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Making multiple phone calls and leaving voicemails
- 2Hiring smaller, solo operators instead of larger landscaping companies.
- 3Approaching maintenance crews already working at neighbors' properties.
- 4Hiring a professional company for mowing and a local teenager for garden bed weeding.
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I manage about 40 doors and the part that always eats my afternoon is chasing down contractors for simple quotes, it's a time sink that never ends.”source ↗
“Maintenance coordination is its own full time job some weeks. Getting three bids for a roof repair shouldn't take six phone calls and two voicemails but here we are.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 69Why are contractor and window replacement quotes so absurdly high?
- 3What order do I hire contractors for roof and siding repairs?
- 2How to stop chasing contractor W-9 forms before payment
- 5Contractors asking for admin access but not knowing basic IT
- 5How to find and hire reliable contractors after property damage
- 3Home insurance threatening cancellation over mandatory property repair list