I agree "The ha-ha look at this loser" is getting old. CL is a bit like the old time circus: clowns, freaks, hawkers, and a bunch of people milling about... It is the same thing w/ CL everywhere... people preying off the desperation of others and wanting something for nothing... but in some sense that is basic human nature. It shouldn't be surprising or shocking... and occasionally it is amusing

 

A fun Nazi.... LOL. That's gonna land in someones signature line.

I'm glad someone else is tired of the CL threads.

 

You had me at Hall and Oates... :tooth:

 

It's entertainment. Better then having to watch 'Dancing with the Stars' with the wife...

 

I occasionally browse through CL. Hit the tools, musical merchandise, jokes forum, I love the rants and raves and best of...
But as for looking for work??
Why would I try to appeal to potential customers who are already shopping at the bargain basement?
Good call Mac. Lets leave the CL hacks alone.
Eventually the HO will get tired of dealing with them and call a pro anyway. And if they don't, I don't want to work for them.

 

CL ads suck. With the exception of our intrepid freemason, no one has anything good to say about CL. Do we really need thread after thread after thread bemoaning the losers who post ads there? Or is it that entertaining and I'm just being a fun Nazi again?

Mac

Well Mac, as I've posted before, CL may suck for someone in Cali, Oregon, Paducah, KY, Littleton, CO, etc., however, I do know for a fact that it works here in the Chicagoland area. People can poo poo CL all they want. There's plenty of us here in the Chicagoland area doing upper fives & low sixes off of CL and laughing all the way to the bank:laughing:

In addition, when advertising on CL, the newspaper, the phonebook, your website, etc., you will get your share of goofs calling. What matters is how you screen them.

 

People can poo poo CL all they want. There's plenty of us here in the Chicagoland area doing upper fives & low sixes off of CL and laughing all the way to the bank:laughing:

I actually don't look at CL - no poo pooing here. I was just echoing the overall sentiment here regarding CL...that it sucks. For you and the others who use it and make money from it, that's awesome. I have no problem w/ that at all.

I'm just getting a little tired of the multiple threads that go up here - "look at this loser", "haha what a joke", "can you believe this?" that blast CL ads. Seems a bit like pokin' fun at the retarded kid - too easy of a target.
Obviously some folks see it as entertainment, this is a thread for those of us that don't.

Thought I'd share my frustration and see if others felt the same. I try to do what I can to keep the tone of this forum as one of professionals talking w/ each other about their work. If too many threads degenerate into nothing more than trash talkin', the tone of the forum degenerates too. I'm obviously not talking about all of us lifting our pinkies whist we sip our tea...just tryin' to find some middle ground.


Mac

 

I have nothing to contribute to this thread, just want everyone to look at my new signature!

 

I am always amused by someone that tells me they need to get back on CL sense time are slowing down. It just shows me what caliber that one is, takes the threat away if you are my competitor. So I encourage my competers to keep doing it. all the while I am schedualing a meeting with the contractor you drive by daily. I will never forget when talking to a competor thats a CL. I was new to the area about 2 years, my competor for over 10. He talked about what he was doing yada yada yada. He then expressed how he would like to start biding for, we'll call it smith construction. 10 sucking years and no contact. To his surprise, I was already working on 2 project with that company and I have only been in the area for 2 years.
.
So a blast out to my competor KEEP UP WITH THE CRAIGSLIST. Cause im taking all the meat and gravy. leaving you a micro dinner.
.
yours

.
mine

 

Never trust a man that likes his steak so well done...

 

Here's a radical idea:

Don't read the threads about CL ads.

 

That is the method I use to deal with it.

If I see CL in the post title....I move on along, nothing for me there.

I will admit to browsing the for sale adds on there occasionally, I picked up an attachment for my skidsteer loaders for about 1/3 the price of new, and it had only been used a few times. I was a happy excavator! arty:

 

You might've missed the part where I was worried about the tone of the forum.

And, yeah, these days I read a lot of threads I don't particularly want to in an effort to root out troublemakers, spammers, HOs and the occasional godless heathen (just kidding about that last one!) Just part of the new job description...

Mac

 

You might've missed the part where I was worried about the tone of the forum.



Mac

I see your point Mac. I agree with the "tone" issue. The more of these I see....it makes me wonder what the poster's end game is.

This place (CT) is not about finding crappy adds on CL and bringing them to the attention of the rest of the world. Quite frankly that is not what I come here to see, and I doubt many others are interested in that either.




But I could be wrong.

 

Hello and New to CTalk.

Hello. Any suggestions for using this site to input my experience with Hardie Board or Remodeling for residential projects?

Thanks for any of your valuable advice.

 

Hello. Any suggestions for using this site to input my experience with Hardie Board or Remodeling for residential projects?

Thanks for any of your valuable advice.

Yea, try any category except for the "posting CL ads" thread. :thumbsup:

 

You sure posted in the right thread

 

:laughing:

 

Never heard of Craigslist until I moved to the south. Down here many people use it to seek contractors. Never knew that. Once we shifted from building homes to more of a remodel, additions and service work type of company (due to the market) we started advertising on CL.

I've generated close to $100,000 in work this year from CL alone. :thumbsup:

On the downside, I've also generated about $300,000 in estimates from CL customers. :sad:

 

Im drivin down there this instant!!!!

and they got some pretty cool stuff for free.

http://cnj.craigslist.org/zip/1482176305.html

dayum deleted by author

They must have given away the free styrofoam cooler they advertised. Or it blew away in yesterdays wind.

 

Seems like everyday there are two or three new threads about some CL posting - everyone jumps on board trashing the CL ad, how the wages are so low and they're just HOs looking for the lowest price, yada, yada...

Isn't that like going to the record store and looking through the discount bins and talking trash about those bums Hall and Oats?

You're looking at CL ads - what do you expect? I just don't understand why this is a continuing topic here. One can only shocked by someone offering minimum wage for so long before the horse is dead and beaten...

CL ads suck. With the exception of our intrepid freemason, no one has anything good to say about CL. Do we really need thread after thread after thread bemoaning the losers who post ads there? Or is it that entertaining and I'm just being a fun Nazi again?

Mac

Mac, I agree with you about the retarded kid analogy. However these ads are for the most part so ridiculous and posted by those with no clue whatsoever about our trades.

Just an idea, we are all human and sometimes need a little humor so what about a section devoted solely to ridiculous and/or funny ads in the "off-topic section". You guys can move them there if someone has a brain f@rt and posts them to general discussion.

Just an idea.

 

If not CL then where else? Its not like you have 20 places people go to that is open like CL.

Yahoo, MSN and AOL all have had their own directories for years but no visitors. The good thing about CL is that they have millions of viewers.

 

I bought two identical pieces of recreational equipment (new,$500 each) at pretty good prices on CL. The first was $200... I was in a hurry and paid too much. The second (I had more patience this time), I got for $75.

And we also got 500 grapefruit for free fron CL...... although we DID have to pick them. Took a little over an hour, and we met a really nice lady in the process.

I give away toilets, sinks, faucets and cabinets free on there all the time.

 

didn't have to diss Hall and Oats:w00t:

 

diss who?

 

Bought my last truck and my Jeep from CL ads. Both have turned out to be very good investments.

 

argh. ya'll are nit pickin' the hell outta this thread.
CT ads cover a HUGE WIDE array of things - from jobs to personal ads to buying and sellin' stuff, yada, yada, yada. My OP was about a narrow sub-genre of CL ads...the goofy-ass "help wanted" ads that people pick out and post here. That's it.

I'm not talkin' about the ads Brickie sees that net him 6 figure jobs.
I'm not talkin' about the ads where you guys buy and sell stuff successfully.

The only ads I was takin' about are the goofy-ass "help wanted" ads that people post here on a daily basis to make fun of. Yes, I said CL ads suck. However, that comment was made AFTER I specified which ads I was referring to. My only reason for this thread was hopefully to slow down the amount of threads started where guys post some dumb-ass CL help wanted ad and other guys pile on saying how dumb the ad is. That's it.

Mac

 

as long as it wasn't Wam


do the jitterbug........:thumbup:

 

I discovered Craigslist about the same time as this forum.

I quickly learned to shy away from answering ads on Craigslist, its entertaining to read them at times, but they're not worth pursuing. I do have good luck advertising in there. Very few people listing themselves as licensed and insured. Most, but not all people going to CL are on the cheap.

I've had decent results, but I suspect it depends a lot on area. I live in an area close to college towns, and that seems to be the where the calls come from.

On a tangent, guess who else advertises on Craigslist... Service Magic When I first discovered CL, I would click on the links to see who else was advertising, and I'd get linked back to SM.

Soooo.... If you don't like CL but are using SM... you may be paying $$ for leads that are coming off a free site...

Might be smarter to list yourself on CL.... right? :blink:

I've been kicking CL, SM, and salesman to death since joining this site, guess maybe for New Years, I'll move on to fresh topics... Funny thing is, the same topics come up with new posters, kind of hard to resist the urge.

 

I have emailed a lot of "insured" guys from my personal email acting like I am in need of a job to be done. Perhaps one out 6 will reply with their actual license information, the next 2 will say they are personally insured through state farm or american family and the next 3 dont even reply because they arent reallw insured.

 

How is craigslist differnt from any other addvenue. Yellow pages flyers business cards etc will all generate calls and yes most will be shoppers. But it is a way to make contact with a potential customer but in your inital phone call its up to you to vet out the lowballers and dreamers. You do not just jump in your truck and rush out to do an estimate in after 30 seconds of talking on the phone with a new customer.

I usually ask how much they have to spend on a bath remodel, if they say $1 then I will tell them the min amount would be $3 if they think the $3 is too much then you can end it right there. Its a bit more invloved then that but it cheaper to take 20 min on the phone than driving out to a HO to find out that they can only afford beer when your prices are for champaine.


The type of add you use in CL might have something to do with your repsonses too. If you put a simple

"Contrator for hire call 555-5555"

you will get no calls or stupid calls. if you make a add with detials information testimonials PICTURES of your actual work. The response would be better. Some of you guys have done really nice work promote it with CL posting, showing that $50,000 bath you did. Or even better show a $10,000 bath remodel a $20,000 anda $50,000 remodel so people can see the diferance in levels of finish. If the CL postings are still free in your area some areas are pay per post but if its FREE use it to your advantage.

I buy and sell stuff on CL here in Van all the time and I pick up some smoking deals from time to time. And I have goten some reall good jobs out it as well.