come on, how long does it take to check off a few boxes on a form? do you think contractors are too stupid to spend five minutes to check off a few boxes every day. That should take five minutes MAX! It would be impossible for a form to have every possibility, but it could have the more likely ones...say the ones that happen more then 10% of the time. The really rare ones could be caught by a text field that could be typed in.
Profit is in the labor rate, thats where the overhead costs should be factored in as well.
I did not say anywhere that contractors should be micromanaged or that they shouldn't be paid. There is already a contractors license for regulation.
So what risks do contractors take? If it costs more they just charge the customer, if it costs less, MORE profit.
I have seen auto mechanics with the software that does this. They spend
5-10 minutes with the customer in the beginning entering data, then as the work progresses, they check off stuff on a printout. I have also seen a home inspector do the home inspection with his laptop. After each room, he would input his findings into the computer for a few minutes. When the whole inspection was done, he printed the whole report.I take it you are just terrified that a standardized monitoring system would catch you unfairly overcharging customers. I have seen it. $500 for a permit that costs $50. Saying the work will take 3 weeks, then only showing up twice a week, and then for only 3 or 4 hours a day. How inefficient is that? Then you complain about a few minutes to fill out a form. Not to mention the contractors that hire illegal aliens and still charge the customers full price...don't worry, with the standardized form you could still do the same thing. Whatever happened to journeymen that were training under the master craftsman to make high quality work? I have seen the quality in houses now-days. The labor is picked up off the street without any real training. Thats why houses use textured walls now, the cheap construction shows too many defects for the nice flat walls of old.
I do my own work! I have seen the utter crap that other people have done. I get the work done far cheaper and with superior quality. I don't hire contractors because I am not satisfied with the quality or their usual attitude. You can call up 4 contractors for estimates. They will all say that they will be there, then only one will actually show up...not a single one of them will call you to let you know that they won't show up or that they will be late.