My second example there was Roto Rooter [0], so along with the stealership [1] these aren't examples of vibrant competition allowing for new entrants. But the f

My second example there was Roto Rooter [0], so along with the stealership [1] these aren't examples of vibrant competition allowing for new entrants. But the fact they can have this outsized overhead and yet still have customers demonstrates something, even if not universal about the entire market. I think this somewhat ties into business discovery getting harder. There was a period where the Internet was making this better, but has now been seemingly completely locked down by web spammers and the surveillance-adtech industry making it into a pay to play game (aka more overhead). I'm halfheartedly in the market for contractors myself, and it seems like the best way to find leads is to sit down for lunch at a restaurant next to a main road, and write down the phone numbers on the trucks going by. At least that only requires people to spring for the fancy truck wrap, rather than the fancy website and surveillance-based advertising. [0] My aunt's drain was slow and I was too swamped to look at it, so that's who her helper ended up calling (sigh). If I had known the bill was going to come to $1200 for installing 12 feet of PVC pipe, I would have made the time. [1] Warranty recall.