Skip to content

Recession hasn’t hit Shuswap tradespeople

Recession? Nobody wants my money!

This letter is to the local tradespeople of the area. It would appear there is no recession in the Shuswap area, as no one seems to want to make any money from me.

A while ago I needed a roof replaced; out of the 12 companies I phoned only six bothered to return my call, four took the time to get on my roof with a measuring tape. The one and only (still shake my head over that) quoting company out of Kelowna made the sale.

Recently I found myself in need of water well services. Tough to even find the people that do this, but again multiple phone calls resulted in limited return calls.

Talked to one owner who promised a return call “within a couple days” to arrange an inspection date (four weeks ago now, with four calls from me, none back from him) has resulted in the work still waiting to be done. Having talked with various locals about the subject this is not exclusive to me, three others have had the siding/roofing and/or flooring contracts fixed by companies from Kelowna and one actually bought his own gutter company after waiting 14 months to get work done.

As a tradesman in this valley myself, I have witnessed how consumers talk with their wallets. The billboards that ask us to buy locally fail to address the issue of courtesty and fair trade (read sunshine tax) to the consumers of this area. That one ignored potential customer could make the difference between profit and pauper in the near future.

 

 

 

Bill Rendall