Private equity is also going on a tear buying up plumbers, electricians, HVAC contractors, etc. Their strategy is monopolization, but also "optimization" of the business. For example, sending out commissioned salesmen instead of technicians on service calls so that the homeowner gets a new furnace instead of a $20 repair part.
Some similar dynamics apply in that market in that if it's winter and your heater is broken, you want it fixed fast, that you have less knowledge/information than the tech/salesman. Also, you rarely hire these contractors, so they're much slower to get a bad reputation in a homeowner's mind.
A lot of PE enshitification really just amounts to monetizing dishonesty. It used to be that an independent plumbing company would have an owner in the community who had to see his neighbors every Sunday in church, whose kids were on the little league team, etc, and he cared about his reputation in the community. The PE guys swoop in from out of town, and all of this stuff is just a number in a spreadsheet that they want to go up. They then just rewire the incentives in the company so that the workers have to be dishonest in order to make a living, and the number goes up.
Some similar dynamics apply in that market in that if it's winter and your heater is broken, you want it fixed fast, that you have less knowledge/information than the tech/salesman. Also, you rarely hire these contractors, so they're much slower to get a bad reputation in a homeowner's mind.
A lot of PE enshitification really just amounts to monetizing dishonesty. It used to be that an independent plumbing company would have an owner in the community who had to see his neighbors every Sunday in church, whose kids were on the little league team, etc, and he cared about his reputation in the community. The PE guys swoop in from out of town, and all of this stuff is just a number in a spreadsheet that they want to go up. They then just rewire the incentives in the company so that the workers have to be dishonest in order to make a living, and the number goes up.