Too Little In It?

Maybe we're in the wrong neighborhood.  Maybe it's just too hard to sell home services, and those who could provide them have given up.  Most of my neighbors do their own home maintenance, although the odd one hires someone to mow their lawn or pressure wash their driveway.

It's curious to me how seldom anyone tries to sell me services.  I'm not an impulse buyer.  You won't sell me a vacuum cleaner going door to door.  But sometimes I've let someone clean the gutters, wash the windows, trim the hedge, or even pressure wash the walk (before I bought my own pressure washer).

The summer is almost over and no one has asked whether I have something he might do.  After all, I do have things that I've put off or don't quite know whom to ask.

I would think that someone could start a business establishing leads for small businesses or retired persons wanting to do the odd job.  If they asked me, I might say that I'm mostly my own yardman, but I wouldn't mind someone pruning the trees once in a while, or removing the thatch from the lawn and aerating it, or picking up the junk for recycling (Surrey cancelled the annual recycle week), or making minor repairs.  These are things that I might eventually get around to, but someone could also do them for me.  No one asks.

I also wonder why companies, like Sears Home Central, who have done work for me in the past, never call to ask if there is something else they might do.  After all, they re-shingled the roof and installed living room carpet.  Why don't they follow up about doors and windows or kitchen cabinets?  Why leave the initiative always to the customer?