I used to work as an office manager (general dogsbody) for a plumber. We used to go out & do loads of quotes & only about 5% would get done. I used to get all the flack from the customers cuz he would never speak to them. I think it was just general laziness with him. Needless to say I left after a year cuz it was driving me mad.
Talking to an architect just the other day and he says builders have got so rich off the recent booms it's hardly worth the good one's getting out of bed. He was telling me about one, mid forties, who's made more money than he'll ever be able to spend and is finding it hard work getting the motivation up for anything less than a full-on housing estate. A lot of cowboys doing the small stuff nowadays.