[CoastalCoder]

I noticed a similar dynamic with general contractors / handymen a few years ago.

There was a multi-year period where the demand far exceeded supply, but they didn't seem to adjust their billing rates accordingly.

I never got a clear answer as to why. The one guy I talked to seemed scarred by a very demand-limited market some years prior, so maybe he was fearful of making any changes that might leave him under-employed.

[greedo]

I had the exact opposite occur. The missus wanted a patio installed (pavers or bluestone) and the quote we got from one guy was 10k over what others were bidding. He didn't even submit any drawings/diagrams, just told us the quote. Obviously didn't want the job.

Same thing happened with a flooring guy who could have done $30k worth of work. He kept claiming he'd send us a bid but eventually ghosted us.

Tradespeople can skip doing the hard/less-profitable jobs right now while the market is hot.

[Scoundreller]

As you observed, a shrewd tradesperson never refuses work, they just give a terrible quote.

I had an aunt where the neighbour's son replaced a section of fence and just said to pay what they felt was reasonable and it was difficult for my aunt to come up with a number. Probably wasted a few hours coming up with that number, ugh.