Had A Convo With A "new Builder" This Morning.. I Am Mad As Hell

nEighter

Posted this on painttalk but wanted to fume a lil on here and get you guys' perspective on the whole thing.

Okay first of all this "new builder" is an old acquaintance of mine. I worked for his dad. His dad studied and passed whatever exams that you have to take to become a "certified builder" < I have no idea what they are.. code exams maybe?? Anyway his two sons wanted to get involved also.. more to act like they are big shots, and to throw around money that daddy gives em.

Okay, about the convo.. I asked him if he has broke ground on his place yet.. (already had the talk about who he is using to paint.. I would NEVER work for this guy, would join a traveling circus as a carnie before doing anything for him.. you will see the jist of that convo with what you will read below..) he says no, the plans are needing some changing.

I used to frame houses and was curious who he decided to use.. he tells me some Advantage Framers or something to that effect and I ask how their work is.

HIM:"Oh they are great! But they are trippin on the price! "
ME: "Oh yeah?"
HIM:"Yeah they are trying to charge me alot more than they should!"
ME: "How so?"
HIM:"Well there is alot of crews with no work, they are trying to charge me like it was 6 months ago! "
ME: (clears my throat, bite my tongue.. sit for a minute to try to think of anything but to rip him a new butt to poo from) Well you like his work right?
HIM: "yeah he is good"
ME: "What is the problem then? Pricing on materials is still up.."
HIM: "Well whatever man he is tripping, if he wants my business then he is going to have to lower his price, if not someone else will do it."



I thought about it all day, stewing, fuming mad at this PUNK. Who the hell does he think he is?! Why is it that people think that they can do that to us, the trades? DAMN man I am still mad..

I didn't tell him that once we pull out of this "created crisis" that no one will want to work for him and his projects. I am just mad at how he assumes we are all expendable. And general lack of respect toward us.

SLSTech

em & forget em

Unfortunately, there are plenty of them out there & nothing we can really do about it. Trust me I get steamed at crap like this, but you have to just let it go - or it can & will start eating you up.

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ModernStyle

He will get what he pays for, so I wouldnt worry too much about it. He wont be in business very long, daddy will get tired of bailing him out and that will be the end of him.

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MALCO.New.York

Without me hurting ANY ONES ways, Ego or Manhood.

"The Times, They Are a Changin' "

Make it work or stop cryin' 'bout it!

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Willie T

But on the other hand, we have to admit that if the fortunes of economics were reversed right now, we certainly wouldn't be content to work for a lower wage that we might have been happy with six months ago.

It's all relative. And it is all basic human nature. We just happen to be wearing the wrong pair of shoes right now.

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Bill Everett - St. Petersburg, FL

Bodger

I got a call earlier this week, a room additon, bed and bath, in Brentwood. Way up in the hills, I know the area.

This dooge is stuck on:
"$120 per square foot. That's my budget, so don't even think about trying to come in higher if you're interested in bidding this"

Bidding.....WHAT? I haven't even seen the plans. He gave me his architect's number, I'm supposed to call and get a bid set.

I'm tempted to look it over, and then call him and tell him I don't have time to do it, pretty busy right now, but it looks like $85 per square foot to me. Forget the $120, that's too much.

If he sticks on that figure, he'll never get a contractor to come near him, even one that's desperate.

trptman

You can get mad at him and no one blames you but it is a supply and demand thing. there's a large supply of guys looking for work and not much demand. Strictly from an economics point of view, when then happens, price goes down.
But .....this guy seems like a jerk so, as was mentioned, when things improve he's going to find guys less than willing to work for him and he'll be screwed.
Unless you really wanted the work (which it didnt sound like you did) I guess I wouldn't worry about him. Maybe "help" him out by spreading the word around your area about his view of contractors right now.
A slow economy shouldn't be an excuse to treat people like crap.

MALCO.New.York

Yes! It called Capitalism. A form of Social Structure that DOES NOT exist.

It is a Bastidization of Socialism. "The American Way"!

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Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
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LNG24

You are thinking about this too much. Instead; THINK INSTAED: What an A$$, he is building in THIS market? Builders around here are going bankrupt month by month.

hughjazz

homebuilders are pulling much lower profits now too.

boman47k

roof-lover

It sounds to me that he was in a slick way soliciting you for work.

But knowing how a GC operates. I'll bet your prices were higher than the ones he already has.

GC is always lookin for the lowest price and just fully expecting that the quality is going to be there.

Around here GC are totally out of touch with reality.
They are so used to dealing with the illegal company.( which has nothing to do with skin color)

They jump from sub to sub with every job because the ones they used before charged too little and are out of business.

D.Foster

Thats probably the price his Arch told him so he could draw it for him. I don't think architects should throw out these numbers to clients,unless we can say how much it should cost to draw it up!!!

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ribuilder

Yes...I've worked for builders whos architects spit out number on what its going to cost to build...I know there are some good archys out there, but this one wasnt one of them. Needless to say, it was wrong wrong wrong wrong.......wrong wrong wrong wrong.............your wrong

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ribuilder

by the way..to the OP..tell that guy to go screw. when things turn around (and they will) he will have a bad reputation and YOU will still be working. When all a GC looks at is the cheapest price, then they get what they pay for. Maybe this is job security?..... When its all effed up, maybe you can go fix it later!

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nEighter

Been gone a couple days.. no he wasn't trying to get me to work for him, I wouldn't anyway. I have different conversations with him over the last couple months trying to see what all he is up to/who he is trying to screw. I guess I was just pissed that he had no concern for us trade'ies. And it was a slap in the face as he was talking to me not understanding that I was one of those he spoke about. Oh well. I can't wait for the building/economy to pick up.

EDIT: I was just pissed and yes was thinking about this too much that day.

Halo

Supply and demand, it is what it is. Little I am doing today business wise would I have entertained a year ago. I fully intend to stay busy and profitable. If that means an altering of SOP, then so be it. The last ten years were the anomoly not the norm, IMHO.