Give a form, take a form - Page 2 - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

mdshunk · 10-30-2005, 11:30 AM

For those of you doing pre-1978 work (which is probably most of us), here's your receipt forms for delivering the lead pamphlet:

MinConst · 10-30-2005, 09:39 PM

Well I finally have the thing working correctly. To anyone who wants it the link will be here now.
Carl you tried so go for it.
I will explain the workings of the spreadsheet so it might be easier to understand in a readme.doc file in the zip.
I hope someone finds it usefull. I do.

jproffer · 10-30-2005, 10:48 PM

OK, here's another twist on Paul's sheet. The credit goes to him for the format/idea/concept/etc. I just made a couple changes. To use the "timeclock" feature, you have to enable macros. I think macro security has to be medium or lower to have the option to enable.

Christine · 11-02-2005, 01:22 PM

We've noticed that some of the people who did not act on house painting estimates we gave them still have not had their houses painted (some of these estimates were from a year ago). We wanted to send a type of sales letter to them to "re-introduce" ourselves and try to close a new deal with them.

--Does anyone have a sample "follow-up" or sales letter that I could maybe get some ideas from?

Also, for people who we meet with informally and casually express interest in having work done on their house, we'd like to send them a letter as well (we don't have any brochures or expensive stuff like that...yet) to perhaps get them to make the decision to do work--and have us do it, hopefully.

--Anyone got some sort of letter like that?

Thanks in advance for any help.

-Christine

MinConst · 11-02-2005, 03:16 PM

Christine,
Sherwin Williams has some mailers, fliers, etc that might work. You may have to sign up to get there but it's painless.
http://www.swcustomertools.com/
or
http://www.sherwin-williams.com/

**ProWallGuy** · 11-21-2005, 07:38 PM

An example of a contract for painting/wallcovering. Could be adjusted for just about anything I reckon.

GunnCon · 11-21-2005, 08:10 PM

...

JustaFramer · 12-07-2005, 06:08 AM

Here's a Model Disclosure required in WA for jobs over $1000 to be given to to the customer befroe job start. The Notice of Lien (can be used for any state) and release of lien. The Release may need a Lawyer to to finalize

mdshunk · 12-31-2005, 08:20 PM

Thanks for considering us to do the work in your home. We really appreciate the opportunity to serve you. We realize that you’ve probably asked several other companies to bid on this project. They may or may not explain to you what’s going to happen during the time they’re working in your home. We thought we’d take the opportunity to tell you a bit about what you can expect from us.

1. Having work such as this performed is like having "major surgery" done on your home. It’s not something you do regularly and you probably have concerns about what’s going to happen. We’ll go over the details of the actual installation with you further and in person before we start the work. Most of all, we want you to be comfortable with us.

2. First, we promise not to arrive at your home before 8 AM. We realize that you have to get your family off to school and to work. We promise to work around and respect your schedule. After all, you’re the customer.

3. When we do arrive at your home we’re not going to make a lot of noise that might disturb your neighbors. We won’t start unloading equipment and dropping it in the street. We won’t shout at each other and we won’t play loud music on the truck’s radio.

4. We also want you to know that we keep our vehicles in top shape. You won’t be hearing a loud muffler first thing in the morning. We’ll be as quiet as can be. Promise!

5. We won’t park in your driveway without your permission. We recognize that your driveway is your personal space and we respect that. If we park in the street, we’ll make certain that we don’t leave any dangerous tools or equipment lying around that might present a hazard to your children or to your neighbors’ children.

6. We’ll cover the walkway up to your home with drop cloths to protect them while we carry equipment in and out. We’ll also cover the floors and stairways in your home that we’ll be walking on as we move between our truck and your job during the day.

7. If we have to carry out old equipment or trash, we’ll wrap it in plastic first to make sure no debris winds up on your floors. We’ll take great care if we have to move any furniture out of the way to get equipment in and out of your home. And we’ll wipe our feet and make sure we don’t track in mud.

8. We will, of course, have complete liability and comprehensive insurance coverage when we show up to work at your home. If one of our employees gets injured while on your property, it will not affect your homeowner’s insurance policy. And should we accidentally damage your property (it hasn’t happened yet!) we want you to know that our insurance will cover that damage up to two million dollars. We are a responsible company.

9. Our professional licenses will be current and the technicians who work in your home will be fully bonded. None of our people will wander into parts of your home where they have no business being.

10. We have a no-tobacco policy in our company. You can rest assured that none of our people will be smoking or chewing tobacco either in your home or anywhere on your property.

11. We also have an alcohol-free policy in our company. None of our people will be drinking beer or any other alcoholic beverage during the day – whether they’re in your home or away on a lunch break.

12. We won’t use your bathroom without your permission. This, too, we recognize as your personal space. If you should decide to give our technicians permission to use your bathroom, we can assure you that they will leave it as clean as they found it.

13. And we promise not to use your hand towels. We furnish all our employees with hand cleaner and paper towels. They won’t leave a mess.

14. We won't use your kitchen or bathroom sink or your glassware to get a drink of water. Our employees will bring their own beverages with them, and they won’t leave their empty bottles lying around during the course of the job. We like to keep our work area as neat as possible.

15. We’ll be planning your job carefully to ensure that your water, heat, and electricity will be off for the shortest possible time, of course. No one likes to be inconvenienced. We recognize that, and we’ll plan accordingly.

16. And don’t be concerned about our people using your telephone. We’re a modern company and all of our trucks are equipped with two-way radios. Our technicians also carry cellular telephones and beepers. If we need to reach them, we’ll get hold of them in one of those three ways, not by calling them on your home telephone.

17. And in the same spirit, we promise that our employees will not be receiving any personal calls on your home phone during the time they’re on your job. It's your phone, not ours. We understand and respect that.

18. We won’t play music while on your job. We’re not the sort of company that shows up with a boom box. We like to work as quietly as possible. If you have small children who take naps during the day, please let us know in the morning and we’ll take care to be especially quiet during those times.

19. We will not use foul language in your home. Even if we drop something heavy on our toes! We make it our policy to treat your family members with the same respect we would expect others to show toward our family members.

20. If you have a family pet, we promise to be very careful when we go back and forth to our truck. Many of our people own dogs and cats and we know how quickly a pet can scoot out the door. We're sensitive to that and we'll take great care as we come and go.

21. When we’re done working we’ll clean up thoroughly and to your satisfaction. We’ll go over the job with you and make sure you’re happy with our work. We’ll take all our trash with us when we leave. If any debris has scrap value, we’ll ask your permission before removing it from the job. We won’t leave any of our refuse in your trashcans.

All in all, we’re going to treat you with the respect you deserve while we’re working in your home. You, after all, are the customer! Thanks again for your consideration. We look forward to serving you in a most professional way.

mdshunk · 12-31-2005, 08:40 PM

Good morning!

Here's my company's proposal. It covers everything we discussed as well as the alternates for the additional work you said you would consider. We're probably not the low bidders on your job, and I want to take a few minutes to explain why.

Most electrical contractors buy their materials from an electrical wholesaler right here in town. We all pay the same prices. Our wholesaler stocks material that falls into the "good," "better" and "best" categories. You'll recall we talked about this when we discussed your job. If one contractor's price is lower than another's, the difference is probably not coming from the cost of the material, unless, of course, the low bidder isn't dealing with a legitimate electrical wholesaler.

Some low bidders buy their material from a home center. Home centers run sales on "loss leaders" every week. Low bidders see this as a way to shave a few bucks from the cost of the material. You could go to the home center and get the same price on that "loss leader" if you wanted.

We don't buy from the home center. We prefer to get all our material at the electrical wholesaler because they carry a full line of top-quality, electrical equipment, things you can't find at the home center. We support our local wholesaler because they're essential to our ability to give you great service. When we need something special, or an oddball part in a big hurry, these guys will drop what they're doing to service us. The home center won't do that for us, nor will they do it for the low bidder. We've found it pays to develop a good relationship with a full-line supplier.

A customer we'd quoted called us recently for help. He had hired the low bidder to do the original installation, but now they had a problem with the installation. Rather than take care of their problem, the low bidder told the customer to call the home center. They tried that, but got a runaround. The contractor told the customer he didn't have time for problems, and besides, how could they expect good service when his price had been so low. We took care of that family, and we charged them a fair price. If you find our price is higher than the low bidder's, make sure they're offering you the same material we discussed. Make sure they're not cutting corners by eliminating items or substituting cheap material. Remember, a car may be a car, but a BMW is very different from a Yugo. Be a wise consumer, and keep in mind, if we're all getting our material from a legitimate source, we're all paying the same price. If there's a wild difference in our price, that difference has to be coming from someplace else.

Maybe the low bidder has simply decided to work for less profit. Maybe he figures he can make it up on volume. We see that business philosophy in a lot of places nowadays.

But the low bidder has to pay the same price for a truck as we do. And gas is no cheaper at his gas station than it is at ours. Quality tools cost money and so does liability insurance, workman's compensation, the cost of clean uniforms, drop cloths and safety equipment. These bills must be paid.

Many low bidders have no idea what their operating costs are. They've never taken a business course, and they live from job to job. As a result, many of them go out of business. If you have a problem a year or so after the installation, there's a good chance the low bidder will be gone, or operating under another name. Either way, you're stuck with the problem.

The difference between our price and the low bidder's has to be coming from someplace. Chances are it's coming from his mechanic's salary. Low bidders usually pay their mechanics less than we do. They have to. After all, they're the low bidders.

Low bidders generally have a tough time attracting skilled craftsmen. Skilled craftsmen earn good wages because they work neatly and quickly and they know exactly what they're doing. We'd send nothing less than a skilled craftsman to work in your home. Would you expect anything less?

Low bidders typically hire people with limited experience. These novice mechanics are willing to work cheaply because they have little or no training. They need on-the-job experience. Unfortunately, they want to get it on your job.

Low bidders don't allow any margin for error. If there's a problem, low bidders return to your home reluctantly and usually because you threatened them. More often than not, you wind up with a patch job, performed by an angry, surly man who resents you, even though you hired him and paid him promptly.

Low bidders usually don't have any sort of support staff. If you call with a question, you get to speak to an answering machine, at worst, or an answering service, at best. Rarely will you get someone who can answer your technical or billing questions competently and on the spot.

Since the low bidder doesn't know his real cost of doing business, he won't set aside money to replace or repair that old truck or those old tools. The result? You're home waiting for him to show up, but he's broken down on the road with no way of getting in touch with you. He has no cell phone. He has no two-way radio. He has no support staff. He's the low bidder. He can't afford these things.

The low bidder sets no money aside for the future. He lives from job to job. He often falls behind on his payments to suppliers. They cut him off and he's forced to make excuses to you. You can't have your meter, panel, hot tub, or whatever because "the manufacturer didn't ship on time," or "the truck broke down," or "there's a strike at the factory." You'll just have to wait...or you'll have to pay him the full price in advance, and in cash. And don't be surprised if he uses your money to finish his last job, rather than start your job.

The low bidder rarely takes the time to read or do research or attend educational seminars. He's too busy running around trying to make a profit by losing money on each job. He's not really interested in the latest products and technological advances. He has no time to learn new things. He thinks "plain vanilla" or "what we've been doing for years" is good enough for you. He won't take the time to show you a menu of products, nor will he consider how he can provide you with comfort in the most economical way. He'll just ask what you want, and then give you a low-ball price.

The low bidder may not have a good relationship with the local code officials. Years of cutting corners under various company names have probably made the inspectors wary of this guy. They'll go over his jobs with a fine-tooth comb and often insist he redo things. He'll resent this, and he may ask you for more money after he's started the job. He might even put you in the middle of the argument with the inspector, and perhaps even with the local utility.

And while all this is going on, your electrical system may be laying dormant. After all, if the low bidder can't afford to do the job right, he certainly can't afford to do the job twice.

We're probably not the low bidders on this job, but I assure you we have given you our best price for the value we offer. And when you need us in the years to come, we'll be there to serve.

Thanks for your consideration.

carolinahandyma · 01-05-2006, 09:08 PM

Here is the estimate form I use in my business. It's basic and it can be adapted for any trade type business. I have an Excel version that contains the formulas to do the math for you which is very handy. I couldn't figure out how to upload and Excel file but if you email me (go to buildhandymanbusiness.com) I would be happy to send you the Excel version.

Enjoy!
Chuck

**ProWallGuy** · 01-05-2006, 09:09 PM

If the excel version is 100kb or smaller, it will attach just like the word doc.
BTW, thanks for sharing.

Webs · 01-18-2006, 04:03 PM

If anyone ever needs a vehicle inspection form, let me know and I can send you a spreadsheet that I have made. We use it for buses but I can easily change it to any other kind of vehicle inspection form. I'm not sure if anyone even uses these but just in case, I thought I would put it out there for you guys.

jproffer · 01-18-2006, 06:42 PM

Ya may wanna go ahead and post it so anyone who may want it later can just get it. It will have to be "zipped", Excel doc's can't be loaded directly. If you don't have a way or don't know how to zip a file up, you can send it to me and I will post it for you.

jproffer62233@hotmail.com

Webs · 01-18-2006, 08:50 PM

I designed this spreadsheet for buses but it could easily be converted to any other type of vehicle inspection report. Like I said before, I don't know if anyone even does a pre-trip vehicle inspection but if they want to start here is the file. I know that it works well with buses because it can help prevent breakdowns and even accidents. If anyone would like help with the converting it over to something they can use, let me know.

**ProWallGuy** · 01-18-2006, 09:26 PM

Thanks for sharing!

realpurty2 · 01-20-2006, 10:48 PM

Hopefully, these will never be needed but here they are in case.

**ProWallGuy** · 01-20-2006, 10:51 PM

Proposal & invoice

realpurty2 · 01-20-2006, 10:54 PM

Simple Forms for Estimates and a Contract Transmittal Form also.

realpurty2 · 01-20-2006, 11:52 PM

Sample Contract