When Are The Hack Companies Finally Going To Close Down????

Any Season

Thank you

mahlere

Don't feel bad George...every day I have to send out C&D orders to other electrical contractors that use the phrase "Electrical Service"....we were the first to use it, and now they all use it...

Patrick

Just got off the phone with my lawyer, we are getting ready to file suit against all siding contractors that use the term "install vinyl siding" in their proposals. Enoughs enough, its time to start cracking down. Oh yea, and all you copy cats that put "clean job site and dispose of all debris" Yea we're commin after you NEXT!

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Originally Posted by Celtic
Like I said...I'm sure you are very good at what you do ~ whatever that is and where ever it happens.

Mike Finley

The turds and minds of mush of the contracting world show themselves again, as soon as the discussion turns away from "who caulks a toilet", or "what's the best drill?" and turns to business.

Sue his ass George, put the lawyer on him and see how funny this sh*t all really is to everyone of these internet beer muscle heads when push comes to shove. I can't stand assholes who think marketing means control-C / Control-V.

And I applaud you for taking a stand. I do find it f**King totally ironic how somebody who starts a thread about hack companies in the construction industry gets busted for being one.

BMAN

Why does George have spiders on his website? Is he into some weird Halloween thing?

Any Season

I actually have a degree in marketing from UNH and I have a very good marketing plan. I don't feel like I have to explain myself but since you are the king of giving your uninformed 2 cents on this site, check your email Mike. George, if you have a problem with me feel free to give me a call or email me. All that said, I let Mike get back to bashing other 'lesser' contractors on here.

mahlere

i love when finley disapproves...

Ed the Roofer

Are They Hacks, Or Just Untrained Businessmen?

More on the actual topic, I feel that both a great economy and a poor one, will bring out the proliferation of so-called hack contractors.

Not all of them are hacks, but are beginners and unfamiliar with the true costs of doing business properly.

They tend to price their jobs for slightly more than previous wages and not for company profit and sustainability.

Has anyone ever considered taking such a contractor out to lunch and possibly even offer some business mentorship?

What could it hurt, if they were to believe what information you had to dispense to them?

The worst thing that I see happening out of that scenario, is that they actually take some of your advice and learn to price for profit and not for wages. Then there is not such a large disparity in prices, yet there will still remain one for some time while they gain the confidence and grow and learn how to actually run a business rather than keep themselves employed.

If that is the definition of many "Hacks" out there, then I was one for several years minimum, before someone else offered me such advice. Yes, one of my own current competitors co-owners took me off to the side and showed the prices that they were getting, which was about double of what I had been charging during my early years.

In a good economy, I see some employees see the field of "Greens" that seem to be rolling in, and they justifiably want a piece of the pie.

In a poor economy, it may be just a matter of survival, for without working for themselves, they may not have any job and could not support their families.

There are no economic times where the so called "hacks" are forced out of business.

Don't be so quick to disparage someone who just doesn't know what he doesn't know yet.

Ed

Any Season

Ed,
Thanks for getting this back on track. I am with you, if this guy I speak of jsut needed some direction that would be one thing. Believe it or not the reputable painters in my area actually have a good network and we all work as much as a group as contractors can. Also I am the first to offer help to someone jsut starting out bc I was there only a few years ago. The person I originally spoke about though goes to such extremes as to bid the same work as us then, and I have seen this myself in the parking lot at the BM store, switch labels from high end stuff absolute bottom of the barrel paints. I have had to fix upwards of 30 of his previous jobs, which if I had no prior knowledge I would guess were painted by a child. So it is not an issue of just poor business skills...Its a combo. Plus just from speaking w/ other painters this guy is getting work at what most of us would be paying out just for labor, and he has like 15 guys, so I am mostly baffled bc mathematically it shouldn't work but it does.

Ed the Roofer

I realized that my comments would be of no solution to your current contractor issue.

He seems to be the epitomy of the definition of a "Hack", in the very truest sense of the word.

If you or any of your acquantance painting contractors ever see him changing labels again, I would even consider folowing him to the home he is working on and somehow notifying the homeowner of the "Fraud" that is in the process of occurring. It would be very easy to document, from the invoice from the paint store.

Those kind of contractors, well....., you can only hope that enough people actualy catch on tho his shenanigans.

Another option is dropping a dime on him with the department of labor, since the prices do not work out, he either is using illegal immigrant labor or missclassified 1099 subcontactors instead of properly paid employees. That would be my best guess in this description.

In Illinois, they just passed legislation, which if enforced, would actually offer a bounty to the person who turns in such documented practices. Time wil tel, whether or not that legislation has any teeth to it.

Ed

Mike Finley

So help me get this right -- in the email you sent me your defense is you didn't plagiarized it from George's site, you actually plagiarized if from another site that had already plagiarized it from George?

My apologies.

Any Season

Mike, let me make this very very clear for you. I RAN A FRANCHISE OF COLLEGE PRO FOR 4 YEARS WHEN I WAS IN COLLEGE. IN THAT TIME I GOT A DEGREE AND WENT THROUGH THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT TRAINING THAT YOU SEEM TO THINK I LACK. I WAS ALSO GIVEN ALL KINDS OF MATERIALS AS PART OF BEING A FRANCHISE. THAT INCLUDED THE SIMPLE PAINTING PROCESSES THAT I USE EVERY DAY AND I PRETTY MUCH USED THE SAME TEMPLATES I USED WHEN I RAN THAT. SINCE YOU REFUSE TO PAY ATTENTION, I NEVER SAID I COPIED SOMETHING THAT SOMEONE ELSE COPIED FROM GEORGE WHOEVER. I SAID EXACTLY WHAT I JUST REPEATED AND THAT I HAVE NO IDEA WHO GEORGE Z IS OR THAT HE EVEN EXISTED UNTIL THIS MORNING. ALSO IT IS MY SUGGESTION THAT HE COPIED EITHER COLLEGE PRO OR SHERWIN WILLIAMS BECAUSE THAT IS WHERE I GOT MY INFO FROM WORD FOR WORD! You are rediculous though and I can't understand why you get the reception that you do on here. Your posts are ALWAYS caustic and pull whatever thread you get yourself involved in completely off topic. You are ignorance and false entitlement defined.

George Z

Prove it

BS is BS
But in the web, that copy has been in my website first.
Definitely way before yours.

http://www.archive.org/index.php

Check the archives.

You can say whatever you want about S.W. being the original,
or that sacred painting institution College Pro you worked for had it first?
in my wording, in my order?

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George Z

The actual topic was that Hacks are hurting this contractor.

But this contractor is using copy off my website and is risking
hurting another contractor (Duplicate content is bad for Google)

Very much related.

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George Z

Yes.
The almost word for word wording.
Even the exact order is not.
It can hurt both websites on Google.
Changing it a bit, is better for the websites.

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Celtic

I don't understand:


How is similar...even exact copy...hurting contractors 10 hours apart AND in different countries?

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George Z

I beg to differ. I think you will change it.
I have had good luck with Domains By Proxy before.
They are very responsive.
This is an easy one. Copyscape and the Internet Archives is proof enough.
I don't even have to file a DMCA report.
They will take it down.

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George Z

We are obviously in different markets.
Google has been known to penalize sites that have duplicate content.
Many get away with it,
but there are sites that this happened to.
This could set you back months and even years in search results.
Considering the risk involved and the potential to hurt my website,
instead of trying to figure out who did what first (mine is in the internet archives)
why not change couple of words and sentences instead
and keep your fellow contractor happy.

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mahlere

i understand what George is saying regarding google and SEO....however, his argument is "I posted a decent painting contractors SOP before you did, so you change it"

but I would be interested to know where the SOP really came from...my guess is not from George Z...

SelfContract

Let the fun competition begins.....