Trouble finding a contractor? Join the club

COMMENTARY

“We are only taking work for new home construction or complete renovations,” the woman from the contractor’s office tells me when I ask for a bid on a patio renovation project.

“That’s it?” I ask. I

think. “I might be able to send my stucco guy out,” she says.

“I don’t want a stucco guy. I want a contractor.”

I call another contractor: “The mailbox is full and can’t take new messages.” Sigh.

I call Home Advisors, a national contractor referral service, and get disconnected three times.

After the outside of our house got professionally power cleaned last week (Please join me in singing the Halleluiah Chorus.), DC and I were in our backyard admiring our refreshed home, when we agreed that the covered patio’s overhang and balcony above could use an update. A minor renovation would greatly improve our home’s appearance from the back, we thought, so I asked the house washer if he knew a good contractor. He said he’d check around.

A couple of days later, he sent a text. “I’ve asked three guys. No one is available.” And so my futile phone calling began. I also asked the well-connected women in my book club. “Good luck finding anyone,” was the universal answer.

You would think I were asking for workers to crawl