Need Some Advice

sdc1

Is it wrong or inproper to ask an ho when you first talk to them what is their budget is. the reason I ask is when I give the ho the bid they say oh I did not want to spend that much. My prices are in the range of other contractors in my area. I figure if I ask I might be able to let them know if we can help them or not. Any help would be great thanks.

MALCO.New.York

As a wise man once said...The only bad question is the one NOT asked.

Ask for "idea" of where the budget lies so you can design, plan and research around their NEEDS.

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Pearce Services

you should absolutely ask for the budget, and try to find out if the money is in hand. How else would you know what level of materials are going to work for them?

You should also be ready to determine why that number is what it is. Is it the amount of money they have, the equity in the property, a gut feeling, a price that their uncles cousin told them the job is worth. Knowing if the number is based on emotion, or some hard numbers will help you in knowing how elastic that number may be.

Ponce

When screening calls on potential jobs with HOs, I always ask what approximately is their budget. If they say they don't know, or it's only $30,000 and they're asking for the "moon", then I explain that I do not want to waste their time, nor do I want them wasting mine. If someone calls and states they want a pool, full landscaping, softscape, etc., and they tell me their budget is only $40,000, I tactfully explain that there is no way they will get everything they want for that. We also don't "ballpark" to an HO as we explain that we do not know what type of material they will want, etc.

Most HO's are uneducated in this process. Your best sales tool is to educate them in the law, prices, timeframe, etc. They will learn. They will respect the time you've given them, and they will eventually trust that you are the man for the job.

rbsremodeling

I ask the homeowner for their budget on every phone call/estimate or whatever i do.

Asking for their budget should not look at as a bad thing you want to see if either the homeowner is a compatible customer for you or if you need to educate them on cost of stuff

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Double-A

Michael Stone has 4 excellent questions he recommends you get the answer to from everyone that you're approaching to do work for.

1. What type and size of project are we talking about?
2. When do they want to start?
3. Who will make the buying decisions?
4. How much do they want to spend?

We work all of these questions into the first few minutes during the first phone call with the client..

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"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

bert0168

Definitely not BUT...... I think most homeowners think you are going to automatically come in at the top of their budget number. I also think that if they tell you they don't know what it is they aren't telling you what they really mean. Most homeowners go into preliminary planning with SOME idea of what they want or are willing to spend. If they were willing to divulge that info, like it has been stated here, time wouldn't be wasted or it would present you with an opportunity to educate them on actual construction costs.

I usually don't get budget numbers when I ask for them, so I generally don't do it but I wish ho's would understand that I am not seeking how much $$ I can get, only trying to save me and them time.

AtlanticWBConst

It's a question that needs to be asked. The point is: How do you ask it?
More importantly, how do you ask it, without the HO misinterpretating it, and thinking that you are digging for their gold?

The one we use (get by with) is:

You know, we have to ask you this question because, for the project that you have, you could spend $20K, or you could spend $100K, or more...
It depends on what you want in that area, how far you want to take the project. By getting an idea of your budget (telling us)...we will be able to help you work within that budget to get the remodel/addition/work done that will be best for your needs & deliver the final product that you'll be happy with....Blah, blah, blah...

Does anybody have any proven or decent methods of asking?

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- Build Well -

john elliott

This is a very good question. The problem of course is that the question will be greeted with suspicion. As others have pointed out, the assumption will be that you are hoping to learn what their top number is, and that is what you will quote.

I remember when I used to work full time for a guy who was very rich. He would absolutely not answer that question. What anyone who wanted to sell him something had to put forward a sort of mini menu of options. The reason was that he was not restricted by the cost of anything, but that he simply had no idea what unfamiliar things cost, and he needed the providers to start to give him an idea.

Many customers are like this, they just don't know how much stuff costs and don't want to seem naive or stupid if their number is either far too high or too low. Giving them some idea of the options first helps a lot

I would be most reluctant to start interrogating an HO at the time of the first contact, although I understand why others need to. Even if people eventually found they were going to have to spend twice what they were thinking, they are more likely to go with a contractor who hasn't put them on the spot, and who has made their learning process comfortable and un-embarrassing

John

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