You are dead wrong. You do not know what you are talking about. You cannot simply pick up the phone book and call a contractor and pay the going rate.
You cannot even get an appointment with a contractor unless you want a whole house built even then they cannot suggest completion date because of the dramatic gap between work and workers (AT ANY RATE). Read my posts.
I don't know what the situation is in Florida, but a friend who owned a small nursing home needed some work done and called the carpenter's union. They maintain a list of retired carpenter's looking to pick up some work. They sent a man who was able to do a small remodeling jobs and worked as a handyman for her for years.