Ongoing trouble with contractors

Has anyone besides me had problems with contractors? If not, you are very lucky people or never had to hire one. I can give some examples:

I had one who came over twice to look over the job and finally gave me a price. I accepted, and he said he could start Saturday. Saturday came and went, and I called a week later on Monday, and he said he would be there Wednesday. Again, a no show. Maybe I should have asked what year he would start, as it has been three years, and I still haven't seen him.

Had another one who spent at least two hours on the phone calling different places where he could get the material he would need for my road. He had a twoweek window before his next job, so it would work out. That was three years ago. Recently, I had three landscapers to work up a bid. Two never showed, and the other one came over twice, and I haven't seen him since.

The last fiasco, my driveway was to be reworked; it now slopes toward the sidewalk. It does make a good spot for the newspaper to float in. A load of road rock was never delivered. The horn in front of the driveway was covered over with concrete but not cut back so it looked like a professional did the job. This was to be done as soon as school started. The job was never completed properly.

I've even had a contractor install the thermostat in the kitchen next to the wall oven. When I questioned the AC contractor, he said there was no stove there when he had it installed. Of course it wasn't there. They were still building the house.

I believe part of the problem is that if you ask questions or act like you know more than they do, they fail to come back. Seems they want the money but not the responsibility to do the job right.

Whatever happened to "If you do a job, do it right the first time and be proud to say 'I did that' when you drive by"?

L T Mick Kempner