random thoughts – Day 2,053 (Thursday) – dodged a bullet

In September, I had a couple home renovation companies at the house to provide estimates for a new roof and possibly siding. The rep from the first company came mid-month and began the “presentation” with a lot of talking about himself and slamming larger companies with advertising budgets. After three hours, figures finally emerged. The roof estimate was $20,000, but I could save $995 dollars if I committed right then and definitely before the weekend was out and before the regular sales guy came back from vacation. It felt shady and I did not commit. The rep and his incessant droning about himself, the price tag, and the pressure tactic had really turned me off.

The second estimate, later in the month, was from a local family-owned and operated company that has been around since 1945 and has a big enough marketing budget to do a lot of advertising. Based on the advertising and overhead comments of the first estimator, I expected the second one to be higher. A team of two company representatives arrived and after measuring and examining the current roof and siding, busted out the laptop and samples and began the sales speech.

The sales presentation opened with the younger, wide-eyed whippersnapper relaying the origin story of the company and its decades of family ownership and how they would be around for all time. Like forever forever. I was feeling a little salty that day and interrupted the shiny idealist to suggest he not be too heavily invested in that particular flavor of Kool-Aid because promises and marketing pitches sound great but aren’t forever. I relayed the still fresh and painful tale of my nine years preaching a similar promise for an employer that changed things up one day and put 125 of us out of work.

After the “this company will be here forever” speechifying, we proceeded with the materials samples, work process, and costs. As predicted, the estimate was higher. The roof estimate was $36,000 and for roof and siding it was $112,000. Because neither of these were urgent and I was still in the information gathering stage, I was not willing to commit to the work for the “good today only” discount.

Fast forward five weeks. The first local news story I saw this morning was about the second company and its sudden closure this week. News accounts note the company has been owned by a private equity firm since 2022.  

Sometimes my procrastination pays off, in this case, to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. I wonder about the sales guy with the recent home purchase, wife, and young child, and how he and his family are doing. At least we had months of advance notice at my former employer. It sounds like the renovation company closure came out of the blue and blindsided the employees and customers. I’m thankful I dodged that bullet and wasn’t one of those customers.