Crazy Things Customers Ask

Patrick

Just received this in an e-mail from a customer about a siding estimate I gave him:

"Is there anything we can do to reduce that price? For
example can I do anything to assist? I have a 10% coupon at home depot. They sell the certainteed impressions material. Any thoughts you have are appreciated."

He also asked how much I was going deduct since he ripped off 20' of gutter that was practically falling off the house anyways Anyone else get any crazy offers from homeowners?

dirt diggler

hhmmm

one requested that I would be finished next week


HA

hahhahahahahhahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahahhahaa

Spectatorz

A business owner I know referred some people to me about a house they want to build on a 2.5 acre piece of land in my area.
On his advice I tried to be Extra Nice to these people and agreed to do a Take-off for them in order to know the numbers and to write a Contract.
The Only Thing I asked from them was to "Please Call me in the Late Afternoons" when I would likely be available to discuss their project from my desk.
I finished the estimate and called, No Response. 5 days go by so I call the guy that sent them to me... I get a call from project owners the next morning at 8:00 am and they leave a message saying they will get ahold of me later...
Anyaways, I end up calling the people and get ahold of the husband to talk about the price. After hearing the numbers and all the guy tells me "Sounds like you have spent alot of Time on This Estimate !!! Thank You and NOW GIVE ME A LINE ITEM BREAKDOWN OF YOUR PRICE !!!"

I Really Shoulda Saw That Coming. Maybe I did See That Coming, Just Hoped for The Best.

__________________
"Success" Is The Ability To Go From Failure To Failure,
Without Losing Your ENTHUSIASM.
The Only Place that Success comes Before Work is in The Dictionary.

GregS

"Can you install the garage door opener alright? Or should I move my car out of the garage?"

"I don't want to pay you the $90, how about $75 and some pizza?"

"I bought all my own face plates and jacks from Home Depot. So please reduce your install price by the amount I paid for them"

Thewoodman

Here is one of my all time favorites.

After giving a customer a price for her project, she balks at the price and says " I suppose you are going to make a profit of this job aren't you".

I told her that my kids love it when I can afford to buy them food. So a yea I was planning on making a profit.

Mark

__________________
Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.
www.wasatchvalley.com

Chris Johnson

I was very tempted to rename my company - Can you do me a favor construction, inc. - that should just about sum up some of things I've been asked.

send_it_all

I was working at the home of one of my former customers, who owns a local pool hall where I play. While we were doing a bathroom remodel for him, he went behind my back to ask my employee to come and do some side work at the pool hall on the weekend. (which didn't bother me too much, because I wouldn't have wanted the side job) Then upon completion of the work, he pays my employee with a $25 gift certificate for the pool hall....and the employee accepted it....I got a good laugh out of that one. The funny part is that the employee used the certificate to buy alcohol. $25 worth of booze probably cost the owner about 15 cents.

send_it_all

oops

Spectatorz

I gotta Add This...

Gimme Dont Work Here !!! He Got Fired a Long Time Ago.

Do Me A Favor is Gone Too !!! He Was The First to Go.

__________________
"Success" Is The Ability To Go From Failure To Failure,
Without Losing Your ENTHUSIASM.
The Only Place that Success comes Before Work is in The Dictionary.

send_it_all

Where you at, spectatorz?

J DoubleD FLoor

Customer rips up the carpet and says well you can take off the flooring prep pricing from the estimate ... leaving all the tack strip and staples with padding in them .... UMM sure I can install directly on top of that sir
ing idiots

__________________
Quality is not expensive ... It's PRICELESS !!!
www.neoflooringco.com

PIPES

How about "While you're here Plumbing and Heating" and for those who don't pay their bills " Charity Plumbing and Heating"

The first thing I learned is "People S**k"

dirt diggler

I gotta say - ive had some pitas and crazy people


but i can't remember anyone (that i actually got past a sales call & estimate with) that faulted me for making a profit


even had a guy that asked me "are you making enough on this for yourself"

he jumped up to the top of the xmas card list just for that

Tscarborough

I had a HO (it has happened several times, actually), come in and order an address block and not understand why we didn't have their address in stock.

TempestV

We were roofing an addition that we built. The HO came over to talk to us and saw the box of coiled roofing nails. She decides that the coils of roofing nails look pretty, so she asks us if she can take one to hang on her wall.

I never thought of them as art, but to each their own.

thom

I had a woman ask me to come over and direct her while she did the work. That way, she would do the work and not have to pay anyone else (me) for it.

TempestV

did you tell her you would charge a consultant fee?

send_it_all

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!! About that consulting fee....It would have to be twice your normal hourly rate....to cover your time there and the time you are not spending with sane people.

PressurePros

I had a customer call me and ask me if I could supply a couple guys and a truck for picking up some furniture and bringing it to her daughter's house. She's a great customer and very loyal. She didn't mean anything bad by it. People just sometimes don't realize what they are asking.

__________________
Ken Fenner
Pressure Washing PA
Roof Cleaning Services PA

mdshunk

Reminds me of a sign so many auto mechanics have..


---so much per hour
---so much more per hour if you supply the parts
---so much more per hour if you watch
---so much more per hour if you help

The price climbs with each line item.

It's like I always say, "unwanted help is no help at all". I have no idea how to use unskilled labor, other than to tell them to keep out of the way.