←back to thread

America's new millionaire class: Plumbers and HVAC entrepreneurs

(www.wsj.com)
185 points hhs | 1 comments | 13 Oct 24 15:35 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
Show context
bradfa ◴[13 Oct 24 16:37 UTC] No.41829386[source]▶
Some local skilled trade companies have been recently bought out. From feedback I’ve heard from customers, quality has declined. Lots of car dealerships locally have consolidated lately and their service quality has declined while prices have shot up.

While private equity may be making some local business owners rich, they’re ruining the customer experience.

replies(2): >>41829503 #>>41833012 #
infecto ◴[13 Oct 24 16:50 UTC] No.41829503[source]▶
Which opens up the door for the next generation.
replies(3): >>41829726 #>>41829911 #>>41832720 #
tocs3 ◴[13 Oct 24 17:41 UTC] No.41829911[source]▶
I have always assumed that as service (or products) get worse consumers will start looking for alternatives. This does not seam to be happening. It might be the alternatives are run out of business and are doing something else now. Maybe consumers have a hard time finding alternatives, as in independent contractors do not show up at the top of the search or are not in the app. Maybe it just cost to much and pays to little to be an alternative. I do not see a lot of open doors.
replies(4): >>41830349 #>>41831577 #>>41832836 #>>41836812 #
1. ghaff ◴[13 Oct 24 18:34 UTC] No.41830349[source]▶
Good contractors are hard to find. My longtime one retired. For a bathroom refit a few years ago, I eventually booked through Lowe’s. He got the job done but communication was terrible and his plumber was awful. I live in a fairly small town and I can probably get decent recommendations through Facebook these days.

For recent remodeling though it turned out my housekeeper’s husband is a carpenter and I just coordinated a number of things myself.