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Hi Mr. Davis:

We happened to drive by your house on Collier and noticed that one of our competitors was performing work there.

If it’s not too much trouble, would you be so kind as to let us know what we could have done to earn your business?

We are always looking for ways to improve out services so that more work comes our way!

Thanks so much,

“Competitor A”*

*(Name Changed)

-At the start of the job-

Dear “Competitor A”

Choosing Larry Teves at Craftsman was a long process for me.  I received bids from you, “Competitor B” and Larry as well as a couple of general contractors. When discussing the job with the general contractors who weren’t specialists, it became clear that the job was not something I wanted to give to someone who had not done this before.  

Once I settled on going with a company with a lot of foundation experience, choosing became a chore because there really are a lot of companies in the area that do a lot of this work.  As you know, there are tons of houses in the area with 90 year old, bad foundations.  The houses that people want to save get done.

A couple of people I know used Craftsman before.  They were happy with the work and the scheduling.  That wasn’t enough for me to choose them.

Larry was the only one of the three I settled on who spent a lot of time talking to me about the specifics of the project.  I told every one of the contractors that I’ve done some major projects myself.  While that was true, I didn’t have a sense of how detailed this job would be.  I probably spent an hour on the phone with Larry over two weeks and met with him at the house for an hour before it dawned on me that this was a job that I couldn’t be the General on because I didn’t have the know-how.  But beyond that, Larry told me in great detail how the project would be completed.  He told me how they leveled the floors.  How they supported the structure throughout.  When I could do interior plaster work.  Larry also came up with a lot of paint and trim ideas.  He really is enthusiastic about the whole rehab as a project and not just the foundation job.  Over the last three weeks I’ve met with him a number of times and his enthusiasm continues – he’s got good ideas as the total rehab goes forward.  

“Competitor A” and “Competitor B” showed up and gave me written bids.  When I asked specifics, I didn’t get specific answers.  I got general answers.  Like I asked “How can you take the stem wall out without dropping the house?”  Your answer, while 100% true, didn’t tell me anything.  You said, “We will support it.” That didn’t give me a picture of how that would be done – on jacks, beams and a crane?  I didn’t know.  I had to see the project clearly both to convince myself that I couldn’t orchestrate it myself and to convince myself that I had a contractor who really understood what I wanted out of the project.  

Both “Competitor A” and “Competitor B” told me that leveling would be iffy.  I read a lot of stuff on the Internet that talked about crowning floors and how hard it would be to level an old house.  I brought that up with you and “Competitor B” and both told me that it might not be as level as I wanted it.  Larry, on the other hand, expressed a lot of confidence and again, he told me HOW he combats crowning, if there is any, and said that he can usually get a floor pretty darned level.  The initial leveling has been very good, even as they move the jacks around while framing.  I understand there’s no guarantee on level and that the house will shift while I live in it.  But there was a lot more confidence that I’d be happy with the leveling from Larry.

I checked out all the contractors with BBB and other means before I asked for bids.  I was confident that everyone I got bids from was competent.  

But the reason I picked Craftsman/Teves was that his attitude and helpfulness on the whole house rehab was much more inclusive.  As the project progresses, I’m more convinced that picking him as the contractor was the right choice for me.

Sincerely, Mr. Davis