Building on the island

I've realized something about island life that I'm not sure I know how to deal with.  The fact is that getting people ie: plumbers, electricians etc to come to your house to do some work is not easy.  They often don't come, don't call, show up later unexpectedly, overcharge, and on and on.  We were told by people who have lived here for years that this was true even before we moved here.  Because PJ is a carpenter we didn't worry too much, he can do a lot himself.  But now we have seen that there are things we need help with and that we can't rely on them.  At least we haven't found the secret yet.  On the other hand, you hear islanders complain about people who get their help off-island.  What do you do?  We were of the mind to hire local and support the local economy but it's not working out for our need to get everything done. 
Dilemma.  Do we just go with the island pace and live in a half finished house for years longer than we want or do we do the unthinkable and hire someone to come over to help.  We need to think about this.  We need to keep the relationship with our community in mind always, this is such an important thing.  But we've heard even local people talk about going off island for services that they can't get here.  We're new here so it's a little different.  People won't be as forgiving and we don't want to piss anyone off at least now before we know who's who.  My many years of moving around has taught me that.  Be nice to everybody at first, don't jump into any friendship right off the bat, take your time to get to know people and then it will be easy to spot the good ones, the ones you can trust.  Then, voila, really good friends who are really good people.  In other words, tread lightly at first, bide your time until you know people and situations and the answers will come.  I think I just answered my own question.
And isn't that what we should all do in our lives anyway?  Most of the biggest mistakes I have ever made was not sitting long enough to evaluate  wisely and let the issue unfold long enough to know in my gut what to do.  Internal compass.  The best source of wisdom ever invented yet I still want to sort things out now!!  Patience.
I need to read the poem Desiderata again, one of my favourite guides to living well that ever existed. 
Ok, so its patience and observing and listening to my inner wisdom it is.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Hope