"But I can get a handyman on Craigslist for $15 an hour"

One thing we face very often at CHORE Masters is people stating that "well I could get it cheaper on Craigslist" so I thought we could take a moment and break this situation down a little more.

Have any of you actually tried hiring honest, reliable, trustworthy workmen to come into your home from Craigslist? Most people have not. We go to Craigslist for things like $5 sofas and free moving boxes. If we have an old desk to sell we go to Craigslist.

While there are servicemen available for hire through Craigslist, it is not commonplace to hire skilled labor there.

And here is why.

We all like to do business with people we know, like, and trust. Craigslist is missing three of those elements - the knowing, the liking, and the trusting. You're flying blind with no co-pilot; you are putting complete faith in a complete stranger, with no indication that they deserve it. Because, to be a customer of these strangers, we must take a gamble (in terms of both safety and quality), the price is cheap. There is no guarantee, there is no promise, there is no peace of mind.

This world is full of junk. Junk made out of plastic that is mass-produced in China. Junk that lasts a few weeks or months then breaks. Junk that seemed like a good idea at first, but in retrospect was a waste of your time and money.

"Do it right or don't do it at all" is a mantra that I believe we should all live by. Because what is the point of doing something poorly, only to have to redo it later?

(As I step onto my soap box...) "I believe the world should be a place where people take pride in what they do. They do it right because it's the right thing to do. When they do their work they are honest, just, and kind. They never take advantage of others, especially those who are too naive or untrained to know the difference. They never cut corners, and at the end of the day, they can sleep well knowing they performed to the best of their ability."

 All that sounds great, right? "Sure," you say to yourself, "of course I want to hire someone who thinks that way. I don't want a con-artist."

Unfortunately I have a reality check for you - the workmen who stand behind their product, do it the right way, and work the hardest do not come at the same price as the cheapskate swindlers. 

You get what you pay for.

Truer words have never been spoken. "You get what you pay for" has proven to be true across the board, from products to services to information.

But here's the good news. CHORE Masters are those good guys. The guys who know that when you pay for a service, you want it done correctly. You aren't looking to pay an arm and a leg, but it needs to be done the right way. Fortunately, everything we do is done correctly by a professional.

Look - scare tactics aren't our thing. They prey on the fears and weaknesses of others. We don't want to scare you into using CHORE Masters. Instead, we want to underline the importance of honesty in our work, and what we view as an unquestionable necessity of our service providers. We all make mistakes - but you shouldn't be responsible for the mistakes of others, and we don't expect you to be. We know that there are honest folks advertising through Craigslist who are in need of work, but unfortuantely there are a lot of crooks out there, and there is no way of distinguishing between the two.

When you deal with a company with a strong brand, such as CHORE Masters, you know what comes with what you're paying for. Like at Starbucks, you know what your coffee will taste like - they know the importance of serviing a quality product every time to every customer. They have done that time and time again and people remember that.

So our message today is simply a reminder that quality is more important than quantity. What we view as the right way to do business is to ensure you that you will be satisfied with our services. We give you peace of mind knowing that you will never be taken advantage of, and that our employees care deeply that every individual is treated with courtesy and respect.

After all, the CHORE in CHORE Masters is an acronym - Caring, Helpful, On-time, Reliable, Experts.