There is no doubt about it. The current state of customer service in general is a skeleton of what it was 10 years ago.The decline of communication in the trades is a direct byproduct of a massive supply-and-demand imbalance. Labor shortages have created a “seller’s market” where contractors are so overwhelmed by backlogs that basic professional courtesies, like returning a phone call, have become casualties of a “take it or leave it” culture. When a business has six months or more of guaranteed work lined up, the perceived necessity of nurturing a reputation through empathy and transparency often vanishes.In rural
