There are some limits to 'cheaper.'
My CraigsList used to have a slew of el cheapo electricians/ handymen....
Their prices, when quoted, were so low as to assure bankruptcy.
Six months later, 80% of the previous listers are 'gone.'
They're either working for a someone else, or have had to fold up shop. Because, free ads are, otherwise, pretty easy to justify.
===========
You know it's weird when a fellow is chasing business across 100 miles of city -- and offering free quotations.
===========
And, then, there's the warranty claims...
As a tradesman, I just can't afford to warrant the low end junk that the big box retails.
Indeed, I only want to install stuff that can't be instantly price shopped -- on the Internet or in the big box.
========
It is nice that the big boxes wildly overprice the nickel and dime extras.
During these hard times, I'm not inclined to give them any more business than I have to. Ultimately, my custom means less than nothing to them. Not withstanding their marketing blurbs, they don't have the talent to even know trade slang. They're only set up for retail buyers.
Even the biggest big box has only an aisle or two of electrical materials. This makes them a joke for anything beyond trunk slammers.
=====
Folks, we're in a Depression, the Greatest Depression. It's not politically correct to admit it, but there it is.
The best, functional, definition of a Depression is whenever real estate lending seriously contracts. When it happens on a global basis -- then you have the Greatest Depression.
Real estate lending is the actual source of modern, debt-based money. That's why the Federal Reserve Bank tracks M1 -- and lending -- like a hawk.
All lending creates money in a debt-based money system -- which is what the modern world uses. We're way past using copper, silver and gold metallic coins.
The experts all agree on this; which is why the US Government is spewing debt like crazy. The hope is that debt-backed money, US Treasury Bonds, will replace the money being destroyed by the regular paydown of mortgages -- across the entire economy.
The obvious flaw: government spending is sloppy, corruptable, and hence, not in any way as effective at economic growth as private transactions.
=======
What this means to us tradesmen: batten down the hatches. We're still in the early phases of a building contraction which will surpass all that have come before. (Because the boom was the biggest in human history -- my any metric.)
It's painful to accept, but our trade needs almost no apprentices, now or for years to come. Wireless communications is destroying the LV end of the wire running craft -- with a vengeance.
========
The focus should be on fixing DIY fiascos. In these times, every idiot under the sun is going to attempt to emulate our craft skills -- and dang near burn the house down.
