How Many Contractors Will You Compete With?

Mike Finley

For residential contractors -

kevjob

in denver sometimes up to three, elsewhere usually me and one other.

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Kevin
Basement Finishing Highlands Ranch Colorado
Littleton Colorado, Basement Remodeling
Kitchen Remodeling Denver

Mr. D

all of them.

POOLMANinCT

define compete

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......Less with the jaw & More with the paw.....

Mike Finley

compete = bid against for a customer

Poll number 2 would be how many of us find out how many other contractors the customer has gotten legitimate estimates from or will be getting estimates from

dougchips

A hard question to answer. I have been the first person in the door and also the 12th person in the door. We do not ask people how many estimates they want when we set appointments. I don't care to pre-judge people and asking them how many bids they are after is pre-judging.

I had a guy last year who had 3 window companies a night 6 nights a week showing him windows. I called him every week to find out which companies and how many more bids he was looking for. Some people must really get enjoyment out of a good window presentation. On the flip side I have sold several jobs being the first and only window company in the home.

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To get the best replacement windows, or sun rooms contact the replacement windows experts at FHI Vinyl Window Company.

POOLMANinCT

well actually, dont care........ granted i prefer a monoploy, last week a ho pulled out another package after i spent an hr with him, wouldnt show it to me either... he waved it in front of me & said "sharpen your pencil." i wished him well & told him i worked hard enough here....

id say hes biggest ahole ive sen in 5 yrs, while i was there he was calling the carpet guys mothrfers, had a .38 holster on his hip... just a nasty 73 yr old egyptian, spent 20 min screaming at his poor wife.... he called to day to say he decided to share the other proposal w/ me....... i declined his offer & recanted my proposal...

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......Less with the jaw & More with the paw.....

Grumpyplumber

I get a majority of my work as emergency service...no competition outside of who gets there first.
When bidding remodels or planned work I almost never know how many I'm against, but I have asked when I hadn't gotten the job and been told my price was high ( a good thing as far as I'm concerned).

I don't think we have much say on how many we're going to be bidding against though...how the heck would anyone know?
Hidden camera's?

Mike Finley

Well, you've got kind of a catch 22 there, you say you don't care, yet you gave a text book example of exactly why maybe you should.

Rich Turley

Get as many bids as you want, these are my numbers and reasons. The numbers don't change unless the specs change.




Rich

Mike Finley

You ask.

Grumpyplumber

"Sir...how many other estimates have you had?
How many more will you have?"

Naaaah...thats like asking sally if she wants to go on another date....just ask her when she wants to go.

POOLMANinCT

what i failed to state, is it was a text book resurfacing job. the cover of "other" proposal id'd the outfit, a teacher who dabbles in pools during the summer..... a true joke of an outfit in quality & pricing. the ho approached me while building a few homes down from him.

so am i competing with the teacher, id say no. not apple to apple in any aspect. do i know which outfits can give me a run for my money on quality price etc, of course i do. those are competitors. the forementioned scenerio, is not my idea of competing.

ray

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......Less with the jaw & More with the paw.....

Chris Johnson

Residential if I hear that they are looking at greater than 3 bids I generally spend less than an hour preparing and sending a bid, now a third of the time I get those jobs. Commercial I have seen 8-10 other bids for the same work, you need to shine on those.

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Chris

POOLMANinCT

lets take competition a step further. I would say the boat salesman is competing for "my" recreation dollars.

if they don't do the bathroom over, what are the going to buy with the $$$$$$?


ray

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......Less with the jaw & More with the paw.....

Mike Finley

But the outcome was the same. I guess I'm being ambigous about what the measuring stick is. I think you are saying that this customer was being courted by a competitor who you don't consider to be a legitimate competitor, and you consider your competitors to be companies that are on parity with yours.

However, that would be a good measuring stick if you were buying your services. The issue is the customer is the customer (hope that makes sense), if the customer thinks an 8 year old kid down the street is in the running against you, then so be it. Some customers have your personal criteria of why you believe you are legitimate as their own, but others don't.

So if you spent 3 hours of your time with a customer who doesn't have your beliefs as his own, how can those 3 hours be thought of as productive?

There are qualifiers that you can set up to eliminate customers who you will have a very low percentage of success with turning into a client of your company. In this extreme example I have given, if you set up a criteria of you will only meet with customers who don't believe an 8 year old kid down the street is worthy of inviting to bid, then if you discover that your potential customer has invited yourself and an 8 year old kid, then passing on the appointment is actually a more productive use of your estimating time.

Does that make sense? You're saying that it made no difference to you with this customer because the other bid was by someone you don't consider a legitimate competitor. However, then why be there at all then? Obviously the customer wasn't really even a potential buyer of your services. There was as much chance selling your services to this customer as just stopping somebody pumping gas at the 7-11 you passed on the way there and pitching them instead.

POOLMANinCT

understood, he saw the job signs & vehicles on is street & solicited my presence in his yard.... did I know he was a dbag??? nope, I soon learned so.
he truly believed he get 6k of quality for 2300.

btw, once he ripped the carpet guys a new ass, I cut things short......
perhaps this sockcusser
is a lousy example. I used it bc its fresh in mind & I'm a bit annoyed....

well what other trade or toy gets the bathroom $$$$$ if you don't,

ray

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......Less with the jaw & More with the paw.....

wackman

I wrote asking about indicators and qualifying awhile back and got some decent ideas out of it.

Mike, since you're posting this it must be on your mind, do you have something new you'd mind sharing?

ruskent

My compeititor is that damn realtor trying to sell everyone shore houses!

I always like to know who i am up against on bids. I always ask. If its a company that i know ALWAYS recommeneds a cheaper grade of block, i put more emphasis on the material i want to use. If its a company that takes awhile to get estimates out to the HO, i make sure to get mine out quicker then normal. etc etc


Knowing my compeititon allows me to step up my game where they are lacking game.

firemike

I agree with Rich, if you want me to do the work, here is the price, have a nice day!

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-Mike-