Nickel & Dime

asbestos

More rich people. Get this call about a crawlspace. House is at least 1.5M for the lot alone. I check out the situation and it is a PITA crawlspace- tiny hatches to get out of, low and part of it has a 1'x2' opening under a footing to get to, oh, and it has (d) rats. I figure things up and come up with about .90 S/F The whole time I am there she talks about how the whole front brick pation as well as numerous brick walks are all going this summer.
She calls me up says she had an estimate from another place for $800 and mine was about $1900 she said she was just hoping to get a lower price then the $800! She then wants me to give her a price on some exterior work- sure that is going to happen. I see so she should live in this waterfront house and drive BMW's and everyone else should work for jack squat.
What pisses me off is she is going to get some stupid bastard under there who does not know any better and fill his lungs up with fiberglass so she can save enough for an extra 1/2 hour at the spa.

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Mike Finley

or... the problem is really the guy willing to work for $800, isn't it?

dirt diggler

you know, call it a hunch --- but I think the other bid is a "phantom"

and by the way asbestos --- there's a big difference between "being wealthy" and "being really good at obtaining a huge amount of credit and debt at favorable interest rates" (and there's nothing wrong with that if that is how someone wishes to live their life)

Heck, if I were wealthy --- I sure as heck wouldn't be advertising that to my contractor ...

realpurty2

I have to agree. Unless you made one hell of an impression on her with your sales or qualifications, for your bid to be $1100 higher but yet she calls to haggle with you instead of yanking the other guy's arm off snatching up the contract? Sounds like she's pulled that number out of her *** trying to get you to bend. Stay your guns and get paid what your worth. If it was a $1900 job before, it still is now.

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Ken@K&R

When she calls back I would tell her it's $2,000 now

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Ken

Melissa

Some rich people are so annoying! Maybe they can't afford the BMW and the house.

Tell her that you would like to see the other guys bid to make sure it covers the same things that you are covering and stick to your guns.

dirt diggler

[QUOTE there's a big difference between "being wealthy" and "being really good at obtaining a huge amount of credit and debt at favorable interest rates" QUOTE]


must i quote myself

dirt diggler

can't seem to do the quote thing right

oh well its late im tired im gone

Melissa

Why are you quoting yourself anyway?

DaveH

Cost of crawlspace work = $ 1,900.00
Cost of pain in the A$$ = $ 2,500.00
Cost of saying "well you had better go with the cheaper contractor thanks" and walking away....= PRICELESS


There are contractors who charge $1,900.00 just to show up. Tell them you are set in stone and this your price. Tell them that when you figure a job it is to do good work and you leave all the "fat" off the table. I had a job I landed this week for a gift/clothing shop at a high end golf resort. The price was $43,000. The GC calls me up and goes thru all the questions of did I have this and that covered, and then asks if we can start tomorrow....I said we could start the next day, and he says that will be fine, but I need you to lower your price to $ 37,500. I told him I bid work to get work. If I had ana extra $5,500 in there I didn't bid it correctly. Then I said nothing. After about 20 seconds of silence he said he was sending over the contract....For $43,000!! Stand your ground, you will win the jobs that are worth winning, and the rest can settle for less...

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A buck a foot is not an estimate! It's a crap shoot!

Double-A

lol, the syntax is [command] words go here [/command]

just don't erase the [] at either end when you erase the rest.

copusbuilder

There is always someone willing to work cheap Mike.
These guys get into the job then get a pre-payment so they can get their wife a diamond ring for their anniversary. Then they are rarely seen again...unless there is still money to be had.

If it is one thing that pisses me off it is some a-hole that has no regards for your time. I want to walk into a doctors office one day and tell them I would like the doctor to look at my genital warts and then give me a price on removal. I will call him after three bids!

Hmm..maybe I could have used a better example

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AkA Richard Cranium

Double-A

Just be sure to tell them that the general idea here is to "remove the knot and leave the wood".

Mike Finley

Exactly, and that's the bigger problem, not a homeowner who gets shucked and jived by a contractor with a bid 1/2 of yours. How many people here don't shop at Wal-mart? I see no difference of any of use looking in a Sunday paper add for a product at one store for $120.00 and the same product at Wal-mart for $80 and buying it from Wal-mart.

ProWallGuy

Wrong. We use it to buy a boat, and then go fishing.
You can thank me now for NOT using that as my new signature.

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copusbuilder

Thank you!!


Just be sure to tell them that the general idea here is to "remove the knot and leave the wood".

Maybe change the wood to Redwood while they're at it


Exactly, and that's the bigger problem, not a homeowner who gets shucked and jived by a contractor with a bid 1/2 of yours. How many people here don't shop at Wal-mart? I see no difference of any of use looking in a Sunday paper add for a product at one store for $120.00 and the same product at Wal-mart for $80 and buying it from Wal-mart.

When Walmart came to our small town everybody was in an uproar because they were going to put all the small businesses out!
Well they did......But I tell people was it Walmarts fault or yours?
People have a choice but human nature is to side with greed more than logic.

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AkA Richard Cranium

Gordo

Yeah Copus,
Same thing happened here. We had a Wal-mart proposed to go up on the "green line". This is an area where an invisible line was drawn that could not be developed past. Well, all the community in that part of town was infuriated. They went to all the city hall zoning meetings saying this was not right...they can do this...blah,blah . Well the city approved the Wal-mart.....it got built.......guess who was there shopping for all the best deals

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Looks like some pros were here.

calypso

The first twenty years of my life as a concrete artist I spent starving and driving this old 54 chevy truck that had a hood that was so rusted it would periodically blow open while driving down the highway. I would do these creative archways and retaining walls for next to nothing. They were way lower in price than regular concrete work would have been because I had no self esteem when it came to estimating properly. Alot of time the customer would still think I was stiffing them. These clients were very wealth. Eventually I figured it out and always went with the highest price I could figure out when I was trying to estimate a job. I also found out that by leaving lots of quiet space in a conversation when a client is trying to get the price down helps alot. If I didn't use those quiet spaces I would end up talking myself into a job at half the price. Later I had a client that was trying to destroy my estimate and I didn't waver or try and justify it. He said,"What's gotten into you? I though you were a starving artist?". I told him I wasn't starving anymore.

Gordo

Good going!

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Looks like some pros were here.

Teetorbilt

I find out (many times) later that the low-baller actually ended up charging more that my estimate. It seems that most of them keep finding 'problems' and need more money to correct them. Some just do the $800 worth of work, leave the job unfinished and ride off into the sunset.

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