Steve Payne
Contractor referral model… is flawed and not sustainable
Canadian Contractor Marketing & Sales Business"The costs are too high and quality standards are not uniform," says Alec Beraskow.
Last week, we reported that the Mike Holmes group had shut down its “Holmes Referred Contractors” program. They said that they wanted to focus more on the other business activities that Holmes does – including homebuilding and Holmes Inspections.
Alex Beraskow (myreno411.com) was one of many posters who don’t believe contractor referral programs work, period. (But then, Alex is running his own program, as you can see if you go to his website.)
“The “referral model,” while attractive to some big box stores and others, is flawed and not sustainable. The costs are too high and the quality standards are not uniform. For example, 50 clients do not all have the same standards.
The best method of assessing quality along with price performance is crowd sourcing of client reviews.”
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Having just gone through an absolutely terrible experience with a “Baeumeler Approved” landscaping company, namely Aura Landscaping of St. Catharines, Ontario, I am totally opposed to these programs. The companies pay for these so-called “celebrity” endorsements, but when we submitted a six page complaint letter that included everything from falsifying invoices to substituting inferior products for those promised, and not honouring verbal and contractual promises, all “Baeumler Approved” was prepared to do, was put it in the owner’s file. This is a cash cow for “Baeumler” and customer satisfaction is not even a close second. Consequently, we will never again use any company associated with the Bauemler name. This is a program that deservedly and will inevitably self-destruct when enough consumers realize that it is a “paper tiger” that provides no client protection, nor makes any attempt to satisfy customer complaints, however well-documented and legitimate.
I couldn’t agree with you more. I recently encountered that exact same situation with a company called the city wide group. They were on Mike Holmes contractor referral list. This company lacked professionalism, integrity, knowledge. I could go on. They were the exact opposite of what Mike Holmes motto is and stands for.