Scott,
That sounds like a GC I used to know. At the end of the day, he just threw stuff into the back of his van. Next day he'd turn up and when he opened the rear doors, all sorts of junk fell out. He didn't even bother to put lids on boxes of screws, and after a few twists and turns around country lanes (especially the way he drove!) the contents would soon be distributed around the floor.

I'm glad he moved away in the end and saved me the trouble up coming up with an excuse to "get out", because I was getting fed up with working with him. Even though I was only sub-contract, it can give people the wrong impression about one's own work.

Back to personal appearance: I think giving the right impression counts. Nobody expects you to turn up in a suit and tie to crawl through an attic, but one can still be neat and tidy.

Back when I was with British Telecom in the 1980s, there was one guy joined at the local exchange who had just left school. He had a Mohican-style hair-do, dyed in bright red and green! [Linked Image]

The engineer he was apprenticed to was kind of embarrassed about taking him anywhere. He was a nice enough young lad, but as the engineer said, "How can I send him to some little old lady's house to go and check her phone? She'll probably scream and run off to call the police!"