The Contractor Blog Page | Finally Ready

The Contractor Blog Page is finally updated the categories, the posting rules, the registration & the log-in is all done and ready for you to post your blog!

All are welcomed to post

• You don’t have to be a professional blogger
• First time blogger? That’s ok we don’t judge.

The Contractor Blog Page

Thank You,

MyContractorList.com who we are…

A nationwide website where you can find local contractors. A website dedicated to professional contractors, subcontractors, home-improvement and the construction industry.

We are more than a contractor listing site, more than a contractor or business directory, more than a contractor network… Homeowners searching for contractors, we have made it easy, search or post by your detailed needs, get results instantly. Contractors you have the ability to search or post for subcontractors in detailed ways like never before…

Get a chance follow or join us,

lets network together…

The Customers always right. | Really?

I have always heard the expression that the customers always right. That’s just not true especially when it comes to home-improvement, remodeling & construction projects.

If a homeowner, property management company or whoever hires you to build, repair or install something, chances are they don’t know how to do it or don’t want to do it. They called you, it dosn’t matter the reason for the call, what matters is you are supposed to be the professional.

To view the rest of this please go to our blog page

To view other blogs we have go to MyContractorList.com | Blog Homepage 

 

Thank You,

Online Social Networking | Worth the time? | or just Spam

Everybody is into the online social networking sites right now, I get it. Its free! BUT is it worth all of the time it takes? In the end, is it just good ole spam repackaged?

Advantages:

1. free to post.
2. free advertisement.
3. say all you won’t to about your business.
4. make contacts with others in your industry.
5. find new clients.
6. get your name out there.
7. get people to call or view your site.

Disadvantages:

1. free to post.
2. free advertisement.
3. you along with every-one’s become overwhelmed with so much business information that it all runs together.
4. constantly being contacted or updated about, something new in your industry, over & over & over again.
5. do you really find new clients?
6. does anyone really know your name?
7. does anyone even read your updates, view your site or call you for work?

We have dropped most of the social networks we where a part of, like most people we thought we had seen an advantage to marketing our services through a free social media. Why wouldn’t this be perfect, after all its free? We would have the opportunity to network with others in our industry, others who are like minded, this presented a great opportunity for all of us to be of benefit to each other. It is now my belief that social networks sites should be for socializing only. After months of networking on the myspaces, facebooks & twitters of the online world and believe me we where like so many others out there we where on a lot of networks. Some every one’s heard of and some no-ones heard of, my point is I’m not picking on the MySpace, Facebook or Twitter I just used them as a general example.

This is what we found out,

To view the rest of this blog please visit this blog on our site at MyContractorList.com/blog 

Promote by Blogging

Promote by Blogging

---

At MyContractorList.com we have our blog page open to the public, meaning anyone in the home-improvement or construction industry who blogs or wants to promote there business through blogging can do so now in our blog page.

 

 

What can we offer?

• If you blog about anything remodeling or construction industry related, connected your blog with a name that says it all, its in our name, MyContractorList.com
• Our website, talk forum, social network connections & blogs, they are all remodeling & construction industry related.
• We offer many valuable options for anyone looking for contractors, looking for home-improvement or construction industry advice (Talk Forum), for anyone looking for suppliers, subcontractors, employees and now we want to offer these same people the opportunity to view blogs by contractors, painters, plumbers, roofers, product blogs, how to blogs…
• a place where those same people can view your thoughts and opinions on any construction industry related topics…

All industry related blogs and bloggers are welcomed to join.

1. view posting rules
2. sign up
3. start blogging / promoting your business through blogging.
4. tell everyone your blog is posted at MyContractorList.com in the blog page.
5. and if you are a member or one of our tools include you MyContractorList.com profile address in your blog… like ours http://mycontractorlist.com/contractorprofile.php?id=343 now everyone can view your profile also just put it in your closing like we did….See below

 

stop by and see us at www.mycontractorlist.com/blog  

 

 

 

View my profile

 

Thank You,

 

 

 

The Homepage has changed, Now What?

If you have been watching our site grow then you a fully aware that MyContractorList.com has been through many changes in the past few months. We went online in November 20, 2008 and since then have-been on a mad dash to make the site easier to navigate and pleasing to the eye. The function is the same but looks are not there better.

We just made our latest change to the homepage and we believe it will remain for sometime —-we hope. We have our Welcome to MyContractorList.com intro at the top with a clear message of where the tool buttons are and a quick glimpse of some of the things members and non members can do on our site.

Our intentions for the new site intro screen isn’t for advertising purposes, it’s our way of Welcoming you to the site, keeping all new visitors and present members informed and up to date.

New Features

Search options;

You no longer have to be log-in to do a search for a contractor or supplier however for the full benefit of any of our tools you will have to become a member. This new search option gives you the same results as if you where logged-in to the Homeowner Tools, and performed a Find a Contractor or Find a Supplier search, you will still need to log-in to post for a contractor, post in the talk forum or to post your blog in this blog page.

Post your Blog;

The ability to post your blogs in our blog page. This option is available now but hopefully by the end of next week it will also be fully functional. All of our members will have the ability to log-in and post their blogs. Our delay has-been for our members to be able to log-in in from their homepage and also have access to the blog page. We don’t want you to have to have multiple log-in names and passwords here – Just one log-in name and password.

Advertising

We have updated our advertising page and we are now ready to take on additional advertisers. We have made it a simple 3 step process for anyone who wants to advertise banner or text ads with us. All advertiser will, however have to have a separate user name and password to view their ad statics. We have advertising space all over the site, our goal was to find a balance between advertiser and viewer and not to be annoying with the ads but present them in a informative way.

I am at the present time at or near 90% satisfied with the look and function of the site. We of course still have things to complete and things to ad but we are ready. With that in mind and the economy hopefully on the rebound we will slowly begin to start marketing the site to the main stream public.

We have also implemented a banner exchange program. We are not participating in a banner exchange program run by other advertising agencies, at least not at this time. Our concerns with some exchange programs is your just not sure where your banner ad is, and for now we would prefer to exchange more on, a one on one basics.

Promotions

If you have an organization or event that you believe our site or service may be of some benefit, be it a membership of one of our tools or advertising please contact us we would love to participate.

One of the things we hope to complete in the next week is the ability to offer many different discount codes for membership. So lets say we want to do a radio promotion and give 25% off of a paid 1 year membership or if we get the opportunity to participate in a “Get America back to work” campaign or something like that we can offer a 6 month or 10 month free membership. This is a very time consuming process. For us to make any type of changes to the site like this, we have so many different individual tools memberships to make the changes to and test so hopefully we will have this option available to us by the end of next week.

Thank You,

You can now set up your own Ads

We are now accepting banner and text ads.

We have made it very simple for everyone, and you don’t have to deal with us.

How it works:

1. Click on the Price List Button (top right of advertise with us page)
2. Select package | page(s) and position(s) and ad size you are interested in.
3. Pay for your select package(s) with PayPal
4. Upload your ad for approval (or you may submit ad later you will receive an email with a link)
5. Allow up to 72 hours for approval (we need to verify its not porn or anything offensive…)
6. After approval, your ad(s) will place, on our site, base on the package you purchased.
7. We will not contact you unless there is a problem with your ad.

*Ad Format must be in GIF, JPG, PNG or FLASH (.swf)

 

Text ads are even easier,

 

Text Ad | Advantages

• we offer them by the month.
• 3 month packages are also available.
• no ad designer needed
• no files to upload
• just type in your text and your done!

* these packages can be easily found at the bottom of the price list page.

You can view your ad statics, by clicking on the Login button for advertisers only at the top right of the advertise with us page.
Please go to the advertise with us page for more information
http://mycontractorlist.com/advertise.php

Thank You,

.

Can you breach your contract for a cheaper contractor or subcontractor?

I ran across this case and it was of some interest. I know everyday contractors & subcontractors of every trade negotiate a dollar amount for services TO BE rendered. Everyday in every trade especially these days every bid and every contract price is challenged by another contractor/subcontractor trying keep food on the table.

Most times when there is a change order or material upgrade after the fact (after contract is signed) someone is going to get screwed or feel like they got screwed.

~Dose this mean you have to take it or can you fight for what you think is right?

This case back in 2005 contractors where underbidding each other(whats new?) and in the end the winner of the contract needed more money to complete the job (big surprise) but in his defense there where some change orders and upgrades…

What I have posted is the American Subcontractors Association, Inc. NEWS RELEASE

To view the court documents of the case http://www.courts.state.md.us/opinions/coa/2009/153a08.pdf

Tell me what you Think… and think before you sign a contract and then find someone else even cheaper… and then decide to hire them…it just might cost you after all…

 ——————————————————————

ASA Legal Victory Helps Keep Prime Contractors From ‘Shopping’ Maryland Subcontractors’ Contracts

FOR RELEASE | September 9, 2009 

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Construction subcontractors in Maryland worried that their contracts could be terminated by prime contractors seeking to replace them with cheaper subcontractors have a new legal precedent to challenge such “shopping” of their contracts, thanks to the American Subcontractors Association and its two chapters with members in Maryland, the D.C. Metropolitan Subcontractors Association and ASA of Baltimore. ASA and the chapters jointly filed an amici curiae (friends of the court) brief asking the Maryland Court of Appeals to keep subcontracts from being made “illusory and meaningless” by terminations made only for the financial gain of prime contractors, and the appeals court agreed that terminations cannot be made on “a whim.”  

In the case of Questar Builders, Inc. v. CB Flooring, Inc, Questar Builders cited a “termination for convenience” contract provision when terminating subcontractor CB Flooring to pursue a deal with another subcontractor offering a lower price for the same work. In an Aug. 25, 2009, decision, the Maryland Court of Appeals told Questar Builders that the “contention that it was entitled to terminate the Subcontract for any reason whatsoever goes too far and is inconsistent with the terms of the Subcontract. To be sure, a right to terminate in the absence of the other party’s breach does not equate necessarily with the right to terminate based on a whim. We shall not read into the Subcontract such unfettered power.”  

Questar Builders and CB Flooring signed a $1.1 million subcontract agreement for carpet and flooring work at a luxury midrise and townhome apartment development in Owings Mills, Md. Months after the subcontract was signed, but before CB Flooring started work on-site, the project’s interior designer distributed drawings reflecting carpet that was different and more expensive than the original contract. When CB Flooring signaled to Questar that it planned to submit a change order to meet the new specifications at a higher price, Questar proceeded to negotiate a contract for $1,000 less than CB Flooring’s price for the work with another subcontractor that had submitted a bid on the original contract. Questar terminated CB Flooring citing the contractual right to terminate “for convenience,” and used the other subcontractor for the project.  

 A trial court awarded more than $243,000 in damages to CB Flooring, and Questar appealed.  

In February 2009, ASA and its chapters asked the Maryland Court of Appeals to preserve the integrity of construction subcontracts by rejecting opportunistic terminations of subcontractors: “A holding carving … an exception to the reach of the good faith and fair dealing covenant would not only poison business relationships and eliminate business certainty, but also do great damage to the ability of subcontractors to rely on their signed contracts as a reliable indicator of future work and expected revenues.” 

The appeals court agreed that terminations for convenience are subject to factors other than the prime contractor’s mere desire to end the subcontract: “Questar’s right to terminate the Subcontract for convenience … did not permit it to evade either its obligation to make a good faith (albeit unilateral) determination as to whether CB Flooring was entitled to an equitable adjustment to the Subcontract price.”  

ASA tapped its Subcontractors Legal Defense Fund to pay the fees associated with its filing in this case. The SLDF supports ASA’s critical legal activities to protect the interests of all subcontractors, and is funded solely by contributions. SLDF funds are invested in precedent-setting cases across the country. To learn more about this case and the SLDF, visit www.sldf.net.  

The Columbus, Ohio-based law firm of Kegler, Brown, Hill and Ritter prepared ASA’s brief in this case.  

Founded in 1966, ASA amplifies the voice of, and leads, trade contractors to improve the business environment for the construction industry and to serve as a steward for the community. ASA’s vision is to be the united voice dedicated to improving the business environment in the construction industry. The ideals and beliefs of ASA are ethical and equitable business practices, quality construction, a safe and healthy work environment, and integrity and membership diversity. 

 

So what do you think?

Did the contractor have the right to go out and find a subcontractor that could do the job in his budget? Even after a sign contract, but with new changes?

You may also view and comment on our site blog at  www.mycontractorlist.com/blog

 

1 company, many names, why?

I have been looking around online at companies or websites with some similarities too MyContractorList.com not exactly like MyContractorList.com we have our own unique features and capabilities but you may say in the same neighborhood.

After some time searching and reviewing these other websites, I must admit it did take me a minute or two to realize it but I did,

could it be this site and the last one I looked at, are own by the same company?

After the lite bulb went off I started looking closer and I found that many, many of the “find a contractor” type of websites are all connected to the same contractor data base. When I say many, many I mean is for one company I found 9 different named websites with a different look, different feel of the websites some really nice, other sites just simply and plain. But what they all had in common was when you go to submit your information to search for a contractor they all redirect you to the same search functions, the same guidance for the process, what you have is 1 company many different names but 1 contractor data base. If you are a contractor and want to become a  service provider of any of these site you can, but are you already listed in their data base?

There are many, websites out there like this, not just the one with 9 other named websites pointing back to the main site (that I found) but it got me thinking.

Why 1 company, many names? I’m not sure but,

Reason 1

I know when a company would get  a bad reputation in their city their large city, they would or could changed their company name and keep on doing business, with the happy customers still as clients and the unhappy, many never making the connection. You can’t do this in a small town very successfully but on the world wide web… Think about it you could have many unhappy customers, unhappy contractors but with the many different names and most transactions done by email, you could be speaking with the very same customer service representative that didn’t help you before when you had concerns with the other company, you could even be complaining to him or her about the last company and their customer service representative but you don’t know that, to you its a different company name, a different company, different contractors, different customer service representatives. You just don’t know.

Reason 2

They have so many homeowners and/or contractors in a certain area so mad at them they had to build a website just for that area only, but continue to use the same database, same contractors, same representatives, same basic procedures. Most people search in their area not the open web, when looking for a local contractor and for this reason they may not make the connection. But if you have to do this every-time you make an entire state or region mad, how many website will you end up with pointing back to you.

Reason 3

They buy up all of these little companies, but instead of closing down the site, changing the website name or making it obvious to you that the site has-been bought out by this other company they just don’t tell you instead they point your information or request back to the main site the parent site. This has-been going on in corporate America for decades.

Reason 4

To make more money. If you dominated the web search engines with all of these different names and if people are already mad at one of your names they just pick your other name and never know it. Even worse, contractors who are not Internet savoy may and do join these companies paying a membership fee & lead fees to the same company never knowing it. I have heard and read about these problems happening to contractors.

This is how it works

1. The main company the Parent Company charges you to become a member and charges you a lead fee for every lead generated,
2. You join a  different named company (without ever knowing) pay a new membership fee and lead fees for every lead they generate
3. Some join a third different named company never knowing its owned by the first company (the parent company) and pay another membership fee and lead fees.
4. and this process continues for some not all but many times over and over.

The leads fees: What happens is one of the company’s gets a lead for this example we will use the parent company.

1. The parent company receives a request for service.
2. The parent company sends the information to their contractors and charge a lead fee.
3. Then the parent company sends the information to each of their other companies that served the request area.
4. They the other companies send the information to their contractors and charge a lead fee.
5. Many, many times I have heard about and read about contractors paying for the same leads THIS IS WHY! you belong to the same company YOU JUST DON”T KNOW IT. You, maybe paying different membership fees and diffent lead fee prices but all goes to the same company!
6. Many contractors just think the homeowner contacted everyone in the world. Who they going to complain to about getting the same lead as they received from the other company they don’t know each other do they? Chances are THEY DO!
7. Most of these companies operate these procedures out of the same office the parent office.

Is this legal yes, is it right NO! Dose everyone do this no, just some. I’m not even going to say the ones who do this do it excatly like this, especially with so many complaints I’m sure they have changed some of their procedures, but this is what I have observed and heard.

Pay attention, you maybe paying the same lead fee to the same company many times over and never know it 

  

MyContractorList.com

1. 1 name
2. 1 company
3. no lead fees

You will know it is us when you see us in the search engines, You will never have to guess, hope or wonder, 

Almost all of the search results on us show our name first like this; 

MyContractorList.com | A Network of Contractors & Their Company …

MyContractorlist.com, We can be described in many ways as a listing service, a contractor directory, a place to find local contractors, subcontractors, …
Homeowner Tools – Contractor Tools – Terms of Service
www.mycontractorlist.com/ – Cached – Similar

MyContractorList.com | Blog Page

The MyContractorList.com blog page is for all members who want to post their home-improvement, contracting and construction related blogs for the …
www.mycontractorlist.com/blog/ – Cached – Similar

 

Hide more results from www.mycontractorlist.com

MyContractorList.com | Feature of the Month

This is a free feature and based on the number of votes a company, contractor or persons receives. This is a monthly feature a new contractor, …
www.mycontractorlist.com/featureofthemonth.php – Cached – Similar

MyContractorList.com | A Network of Contractors & Their Company …

Companies, Advertisers, or Individuals whom join MyContractorList.com and post and/or advertise a product directly to the Talk Forum, …
www.mycontractorlist.com/terms.php – Cached – Similar

MyContractorlist.com | Talk Forum

Welcome to the MyContractorList.com | Talk Forum Discussing construction & home improvement related topics. You may review post and comments from our …
www.mycontractorlist.com/forum/index.php – Cached – Similar

 

You get the idea,

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Working on MyContractorList.com

I have been working on many, many new updates for the site this past couple of weeks. The main functions the site was design to do are still in place, you know the meat and potatoes of the site. Maybe to stay with the core or theme of the site, it being a construction / remodeling based website,  I will use terms like the foundation of the site is still in place and holding strong.

So don’t roll your eyes every-time I use a remodeling example to describe the  progress & changes made to the site, it is intentional.

As I was saying the foundation of the site is still in place, what I have-been working on is a two room addition, that is the the Find a Contractor Now & the Find a Supplier Now section of the site. These two additions of the site are based on the search criteria and results you would receive if you log-in as a homeowner and perform a search. With the two new additions they like and addition to your home have their own rooms or pages, there you won’t or don’t have to log-in or be a member to search for a contractor or supplier. I use the terms won’t or don’t because I haven’t launched this publicly yet, I still have a “bug” to work out but hope to make public in the coming week.

Back to the two new additions, you want have to log-in or be a member to search BUT for full access to the homeowner tool features or any other tool features you will have to log-in or become a member. Like if you want to post for a contractor or use the contractor classified ad or the talk forum you must be log-in.

The break down:

You don’t have to log-in or be a member to search

• Find a Contractor Now | same search criteria & results as the homeowner tools
• Find a Supplier Now | same search criteria & results as the homeowner tools

but if you want to post for a contractor or perform a detailed category search for a residential or commercial contractor, post in the contractor classified ads or use the talk forum you will have to become a member and log-in. If you log-in you would then perform the searches from your tool membership homepage.

Either way you get the idea for a peak at these two new additions or new features http://mycontractorlist.com/findnow.php now remember we may-still be working out a bug or two.

  

More cosmetic work

I have made many. many cosmetic changes to the site much like a bathroom makeover or kitchen remodel, its still a bathroom or kitchen and the site still has the same features, much like the bathroom or kitchen remodel we just have a new look a new paint job, so new and inviting floors with new trim, new railings, new windows, new lighting…

That would be the main site homepage, each tool homepage getting new flooring or the search pages getting a new look. The main entry with marble and then hardwood flooring the new windows would be the new buttons on the site giving you a better view of where you can go and what there is to see.  The paint would be the text titles or search result title pages, standing out nice a bright to help you know where you are at all times. The new lighting would be the way the menus or the FAQ’s high-lite for easier reading. The page navigation buttons would be the railings to help guide you through and so on and on…

  

Behind the scenes

So much work has gone on behind the scenes, things most of you will never know or even care about but they are important to make us search-able on the Google and so on. Some of the changes you may notice and appreciate is we have separated most of our pages from the main site description, giving them their own page description and making them easier to identify in a search. Like this page is MyContractorList.com | Blog or the contractor tools pages is MyContractorList.com | Contractor Tools  or MyContractorList.com | Supplier Tools you get the idea but also if you did a Google search or other searches and seen our name several times like  MyContractorList.com | some page name or MyContractorList.com | Subcontractor Tools and you are a subcontractor you may think—now that’s where I need to go or MyContractorList.com | Contractor Classified Ads you may think—Hey! I need to look at the contractor classified ads they may have something I want to buy or even sell… and so on and on.

The idea | for you to identify with MyContractorList.com and our features.

 

The point

The point is in the past few weeks I have work tirelessly to make these changes and it is a very big site. The foundation still intact the look, it looks like it has-been remodeled or maybe even a new site. I still have more to do and some features to finish going public with and some bugs to work out you know a punch list seems to never end…

but I’m not done, MyContractorList.com is a living, breathing website always growing, learning, changing, adapting & listening

 

 

so if you have suggestions or advice let me know | MyContractorList.com

 

 

Thank You