There's a form of reputation arbitrage where when there's a lot of demand, a reputable contractor just says yes to everyone with a project and then subcontracts out to the not-so-reputable contractors that the customer doesn't want to touch. We ran into this with our solar installer - they came with great reviews from 2 coworkers, and all their other reviews up until about a month or two before our project were great, and when we actually got folks who worked for the company out they were pretty good. But then they took our money and subcontracted it out to some roofers who drilled through our roof, even after the salesguy (who I later learned was also a subcontractor, and seemingly trying to screw the CEO) explicitly told me they wouldn't subcontract it.

I figure this is the brick & mortar equivalent of an exit scam, or a tech startup's "incredible journey". Build up lots of good will over several years and then blow it all as you collect enough money to retire and never deal with people again.