What Do Ya Think?

Boogga

Today I had a phone call from a person I did a quote for late last year on a deck. Apparently according to him, he only started about two weeks back. He said the so called builder who he gave the job to lied about having the neccessary insurances to start the job. The council found out during their first inspection that the guy/builder did not have the insurance. Anyway he has rung me and is asking me to come and visit to reprice it and and hopefully use me as the builder to take over and complete the job.

So what do you think. My partner thinks it is trouble. I suppose to call him a the next day or so. Should I forget the bugger?

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"It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees"

rbsremodeling

I find projects like that are difficult at best. The homeowner has a bad taste in their mouth from the last guy. You might pull it off and become the hero, But chances of that happening are usually slim to none

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genecarp

why forget it? a job is a job, charge him hard, keep him on a tight leash regarding payments, this smells like opportunity to me.

additionally, RB is correct often these situations are difficult to walk into, you are going in with to unearned strikes against you, thats why the additional $ and tight leash needs to be applied..

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wyoming 1

I would feel him out we clean up other peoples messes all the time some clients do have a bad taste and are nit pickers but most we work for are at the point of "we just want it right" so now you make 20% more than your original bid plus the time it takes to tear out all the other guys stuff

Ivinni

Enough extra money that makes him bleed a little will let him know you mean business and take the starch out of him so that the only thing he is concerned with is completion of the job. Then it becomes worth it.

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

Mike Finley

The first step is to air the dirty laundry, don't let it go unspoken thinking you'll be the good guy.

Air the dirty laundry.

"So I quoted you this job last year and was at $***X.XX for doing ***. Why did you choose ***X company for the job instead of us?"

Air that out, get it out there and talked about, you need to do that no matter what, it opens up dialog and gets the customer talking which will help you learn some things that will come out that you weren't expecting A) about this job, B) About the customer, C) about your company and customer perceptions.

You'll need all of that information in order to manage this customer and this job properly.

Keep in mind you might not get this job the 2nd time around either. If he is cheap he won't stop being cheap, unless there is another more powerful motivator now that will overpower his cheapness, such as the wife yelling about getting this finally done, a dead line to meet, his embarassment of the situation being half started...

Be on your gaurd about every aspect of this job from repricing to completion.

bert0168

Great advice

rbsremodeling

I have found that even with the extra mark up the jobs usually are so demanding and mentally draining they are usually not worth it even for the perceived extra cash.

The homeowner is jaded and takes it out on you sooner or later. Usually later when you least expect it.

But if is work you need or want I think Mike gave a good plan of attack

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