Almost 3 weeks for bid

Argh, I am so frustrated. This contractor has really painted me into a corner. People don't believe me when I tell them just how bad contractors can be and still be super busy in this area. How do you let a customer wait 3 weeks for a bid on a simple job? I could have had it done by now.

Since our time to return the fan is getting close, I have to decide if we are going to keep this fan. I can't do that until I see his bid. I don't have anyone else I trust, so anyone else is an unkown with a high likelihood of messing it up. I told the contractor I needed his bid by tonight and he said he would have it in the morning. What part of tonight don't you understand?

I'm not so much concerned about his price relative to other contractors, but his price period. At some price point, it will be too much and we wont do the fan or will do a different model. What other contractors would charge isn't very relevant since its not comparable - he's a known quantity and is reasonably good. Other guys are unknown and have a high likelihood of screw ups and headaches for me.

I called the only other guy we know, and was not happy about how the call went. Do all contractors have ADD issues? I said 5 times that we need ventilation in the roof because we have none. 5 times. On the 5th time he said "Oh you have no roof ventilation?" Why does it take 5 times? What is hard about "I have no roof ventilation" to understand?

People often give me a hard time because I watch the contractors like a hawk. They often say "Why not just hire someone and let them figure it out?" Why? Almost nobody knows what a whole house fan is or how it works. I have to tell them how to install it. The general contractor was arguing with me about the ventilation when I need it not only for the fan (the manufacturer is VERY clear about how much ventilation is required) and to bring out house up to building code (I don't know how we didn't get dinged for this with all the inspections we had). Today's guy was telling me that his insurance will not allow him to do roofing, which is fine so I said he needed to bring in a roofer. His reply was "Oh that's easy, all you need to do is x" meaning he wanted ME to bring in a roofer. I said, no I want you to do it for coordination of schedules and specifics (after all, he is a GENERAL contractor). Oh, I have a guy but he's busy. If you have trouble getting someone, what makes you think I can get someone and get him to work around your schedule? I do not want to get in the middle, especially when I don't speak contractorease. That's why I'm hiring a general contractor, I don't want to be the general contractor on this job. Even though I've been the contractor for most of the job, when it makes more sense to bid out the whole job, that's what I do.