Do You Google Clients?

Chris G

Any of you ever Google the name of a prospective client before you go do an estimate?

It helps me weed out the axe murderers a bit. No that there's that many of them around, unless you include lawyers in there. . Aww, poor lawyers.

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CookeCarpentry

No, but I sometimes google-map their address. And it's not always to get directions...

angus242

When look at larger remodeling projects I check up on them.

I used to look at home values before quoting kitchens. Sometimes the area they lived in would require higher end finishes for resale purposes. A few times I had to tell them that the finishes were too much for the homes value. A $260k house does not NEED a 48" Wolf range

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Angus

TileLady

I always use Google Earth, etc. to look at their house and neighborhood. Just so I know the type of house, etc.

I also look at all of their house deed information which is available to anybody. This way I know how many bathrooms they have, how old their house is, etc. Many times people will not even know when their house was built. It's also good to check as people want to add bathrooms. One time a sneaky woman tried to tell me she didn't need a permit. Meanwhile, I know what's on her property deed. I walked away from that one!

RCPainting

I do the same, with RRP I want to know for sure. Nowadays you can find out quite a bit with a little googling.

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Bone Saw

no, but the first thing I always do is zillow them

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Bweikel

?

"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any." -- Alice Walker

buildenterprise

http://www.zillow.com/

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Dan_Watson

Where is this information?

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robert c1

It's usually the local jurisdiction, Either the county or city.

Mine has a graphical interface where you can zoom in on the house from an overhead map then click on a bunch of links.
Pretty handy stuff, it will even show easement lines, sewer lines etc.
It even has a link to past permits pulled on the house.

Not all of them are this detailed but I've found that most places have the information online somewhere.

But yes, I try to get as much information as possible.

Heritage

ALWAYS.

But it can be very misleading. One of the last ones, after Google mapping her address revealed a $30M home on the Bridle Path. During the site visit, and after showing me the 4th bathroom (4 out of the 7 she wanted gutted/re-done)...I popped the "so how much IS your budget".

She hummed, moaned, thought and came up with $10,000

Let's just say it went south after that.

I'm more interested in their occupation, they should make it a law that all prospective clients need to have a LINKEDin account.

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AmeliaP

Yes I do - the people and the property if it is a larger project.

RemodelGA

Always. I start by googling the phone number they call in from. Then when I get their name I google that. And then their address. And then zillow their address. I also check them in our county court system.

Still doesn't weed out all the crazies though.

I never thought about checking them out on linkedin. Interesting concept

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BostonBob

I find that the new Bing maps is better than Google. I use Google for everything else.

AmeliaP

Google email names too. Sometimes surprising things pop up!

Kent Whitten

My wife does this for me. She is a pretty damn good sleuth. Sometimes it's not that hard. I called her one day and said "I found a decent company to do my finishing for me. They deliver, pick up, blah blah blah"

She sends me a link to this guys Facebook page and he's just a tad racist.

There's a few threads here about this...be careful about what you say, since THEY can Google YOU too.

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SalmonFallsCabinetry.com

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mofeenster

I usually Google customers to see if there are any bad reviews or feedback on forums knocking around.

festerized

Yup just did 30 seconds ago. I get E-mail based framing and deck projects request all the time.


I Google their name, phone number and E-mail just to see if there a contractor or not.


The next verifying step is to ask for a property survey, if a customer can’t produce it, then no estimate will be provided.


Then on to the next verifying step……