How Do You Change A DIY Person To A Full Sercvice Client?

Ivinni

The title says it all.

How do you do it?

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its not going to get better with straps, or new footings or even aroma therapy.

ScipioAfricanus

Let the DIY'er get himself into trouble then be there when he needs you, being there when he needs you is the tricky part.

Andy.

RidgeWalker

Personally I would not bother with it. You'll never do a good enough job for them in my opinion.

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Cole

I agree, I would not even want to turn the customer into a client. I have before and didnt like the outcome.

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Ivinni

What did you do to turn them?

Understanding failure can sometimes gleen new ideas for people.

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its not going to get better with straps, or new footings or even aroma therapy.

tinner666

It usually happens when I start listing tools, equipment, and criteria to do the job right. So far, only a very few have gone the DIY route after my first visit.

Some of them have jobs going on 10 years. I come in, do more, and charge for what I have to undo, with explanations. Works for me.

Of course, I try to 'qualify' the client first. Karma wrong, I no work. No aptitude, I no work. No common sense, I run.

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Ivinni

hahahahhaha

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its not going to get better with straps, or new footings or even aroma therapy.

Cole

It was when I first started out, I basically listed everything that he was going to have to do and he just said basically screw it and let me have the job. In the end, we fought over money because he thought I finished to fast and deserved a refund.

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tinner666

It's true fellows. When they realize the scope of work, many ask if I'll just give a price and do the project.

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480sparky

Thursday morning, I did a service call that took at total of 3 minutes. I still charge full price for the call, as my overhead is the same.

The HO commented about how fast I found the problem, but started b****ing about the price. I told him, "I didn't start gaining experience when I pulled into the driveway."

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IHI

We rarely do work for new DIY'ers since they're full of spunk and think they know and can handle it after they see our price, but i have no problems working with older DIY'ers since usually they've reached that point in their life they know it'd going to take them 3-4x's as long to complete it, if ever, and even if they ever did complete it, the end result is going to show how terrible their execution was, so the older folks tend to jsut say screw it, you do it, then hang on you like a bad stench trying to see all your tricks and ways of the world.....hence the great invention of the Zipwall

i know years and years ago when we specailized in windows, doors, siding every once in awhile we'd do a replacement window job and folks would freak out, we'd come in on the once every two year easy jobs, throw in 18-22 windows and be done by 4pm, i'd hand them an invoice for remaining balance due and they'd be red faced, "i paid how much for this?" if they only knew all the other jobs that were supposed to go good and fell apart, but they dont so screw'em.

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silvertree

Most remodels are done by HO's and friends. About 75% of remodel dollars.

Out of those DIY starts, 1 out of 4 get a contractor, more would, but they are afraid of getting ridiculed for failing more than what its going to cost to hire a pro.

Easy math, for every 1 billion spent on remodeling, 250 million is going to professionals, of the remaining 750 million about 180 million goes to professionals when people find out how hard it is.
Lets say I'm high and its only 100 million in DIY customers change their minds and hire pros.
Not interested in these numbers, thank you for your help.
Source is Henry Hempel Associates, a construction marketing firm.

PS. How do you think Home Depot got so big?
How do you do it?
You show them the value of a professional job vs. an amateur job. You can explain the time, tools and skills involved and the worth of their time involvement against what they think they are saving.

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tinner666

Wish I coulda put it that way when I replied earlier.

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Mike Finley

How do you turn a DIYer into a customer?

You wait about 20 years until they finally start making enough money where their work time becomes better spent doing the work they do and their free time is better spent not working.

Until then, hell no.

neolitic

I sense a difference in philosophy.

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silvertree

Mike,
You still have to qualify the people. You get a call from a DIY and couple of easy questions later you know if you'll go out to their home or not. You can charge for that visit. Your right about 20 years later when they have the money, but its no big deal. With the experience we have we can make that decision. They sound young or have an attitude I flat out tell them I get paid to look at the job, acts as a credit if we get the work. That alone gets rid of the time wasters.

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Mike Finley

I believe strongly in 3 things that home improvement contractors need to do to be successful. One is building up a cash reserve for your business. You do this simply by following the same rules in your business as you do personally, which is spend less then you make. In business it means paying your reserve before you pay yourself. Number two is to define your product, never try to be all things to all people. And finally number three is to work toward a main goal of only standing in front of ideal customers. Ideal customers are the customers who you have defined as have the qualities of your most profitable customers. Who you market to is who you will get call you.

Sure you can take every phone call in the world from every type of customer in the world or you can market toward a your defined ideal customer. A DIYer in not the majority of home improvement contractors ideal customers. Yes there will be a small percentage who will convert. However, there is no need to play the small percentages when it is simply way too easy to fill your phone log with ideal customers instead of a huge dilution of generic ones and spend your time eliminating huge amounts of them.

That's why I would not bother with DIYers, I have no desire to spend the amount of time it takes weeding through them all just to find 1 or 2 out of 100.

There are far too many good customers that are easily reachable to spend time trying to convert low percentage customers.

Why in the world would anybody waste their time unless you just don't have the ability to bring in good customers.

It's like why would I advertise on craigslist and get 100 calls where 98 of them are people who I would never sell them my product because my product isn't right for them?

Or why would I advertise in Val Pak or any other coupon clipping customer generator if that's not my ideal customer.

No different then a Roter Rooter guy advertising in Architectural digest.

Like I said, when that DIYer changes into a non DIYer, that's when I want him to call me, because only at that point is he really a potential customer of my product, until then it's just a huge time waster searching for a needle in a haystack, when there are way too many other good customers within reach to spend time with.

Chris Johnson

I usually make the comment that I shouldn't be penalized for knowing my job

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Max Nomad

Many of the DIYers I've met or talked with have this frenetic, almost defiant energy about 'em that makes me think of an alcoholic or a drug addict -- no matter what friendly free advice/warnings you might give them, all in all it won't matter because they usually have to run head first into the wall like a charging bull. They'll do it several times until they've hit rock bottom and acknowledge the need to hire a professional. The only problem is that if you don't happen to be right there for them, chances are they'll call themselves being thrifty and hire some fly-by-night Jackleg that will often just take their money, do a half-ass job, and run. The DIYer might end up happy and might end up dissatisfied and too headstrong to see the err of their ways so they'll blame the Jackleg so-called "contractor" and lump all contractors in this category. When they're still in this mindset I don't see them as worth pursuing (or converting) at all.

Every now and then you'll get a call from a DIYer who is sensible enough to know their limitations and when to hire a professional. One way or another they've learned the lessons, often with a hilariously horrific story to tell.

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davitk

On a side note I've just been asked by a friend to trim out his DIY basement project, holy crimenie it will take more than just a black hat to put makeup on this pig. Let's see....Good Friend discount + PITA surcharge + ReDo Everything That's Wrong surcharge = 275% of what it should cost. Fixed price of one million dollars