Newbie Here, Client has sticker shock?

Thank you all for the feedback. I do agree that communication is key; when I originally scoped out the work no red flags were raised as to my expectations about the ability of the client to pay.

I did quote a single price for the labor, in two portions, call it Option A and Option B. Since the client midway through the project decided to pursue Option B, I informed them that I would be billing for Option B as outlined in my quote. Unfortunately, at this point, it seems as though the client did not digest the price for "Option B" and assumed that I would only be billing a little bit extra on top of Option A. Materials receipts were always copied and given to the client with the invoices (no markup on materials).

These were both detailed write ups for labor cost as well as an estimate of what materials would cost that were provided from the outset before work began, in writing. Now that I look at it, my labor cost should not have been a surprise, considering that they had it in writing from the outset. The materials cost that I compiled for the client at the outset was also very accurate in terms of every little thing that I thought would be needed was listed, along with a line by line price and total materials cost.

From what I gather, the way to go next time is to quote based on one price, and not just my labor. Lesson learned. Also, from what I gather, it is REALLY not good to do a job for somebody unless they KNOW what they want and expect from their contractor.

I do a lot of T&M jobs. Probably 50% of my work right now. Communication and documentation are KEY to not having a pissed-off HO. It never fails when I'm in the middle of something and the HO asks "We want this, too. Would you mind running out to get it?". Sure, no problem. But you DO realize that it takes TIME to "Run out and get it real quick", right? Time=Money and I ain't no charity. I tell them up front that my hourly rate applies to anything and everything I do for them. That includes travel time going to and from HD to grab that light fixture they saw online and now want installed. I make a manila folder for every job where I keep copy's of the bid/contract, change orders, receipts, job notes, etc. They're great because I have everything documented, so if they squeak about anything I'm well prepared to dispute/resolve the issue on the spot. I don't let issues fester, I want them resolved quickly. Plus, when a repeat client calls I can just flip through their last job folder and can tell them I remember every single little detail from that job.

Things cost money, and without going into too much detail, I really got the impression that the client was resentful of the increased cost, almost like they wanted the work, but didn't want to pay.

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That is the attitude of many homeowners - and to be fair is my attitude when it comes time to buy myself things as well -everybody wants more and to pay less whether it is buying a vehicle or doing work on their home. Keeping the proper attitude about it is key- I work hard for my money, so does my crew- but remember so does the customer.

If you are doing a really good job, you make things look easy. The customer disappears for a day comes back and sees all this nice work done and it seems easy like"moving a couple tiles" to redo plumbing is a perfect example. All the customer can "see is the two tiles moved. Often times -when the homeowner is working during the day they come by late evening and there will be myself and one other guy looking over the job site to check on progress- that is what the customer sees- not the 7 guys that were there for 9 hours while they were gone. If you keep the right perspective it is easy to see why it looks "easy" to them and every time the customer says something like that I take it as a compliment that we are doing a good job.

I work a lot of Time and Material jobs. I actually push those as it eliminates a lot of competition if i really want to get work because if they have 2 or 3 bids instead of competing against bids i give an estimate for what it would cost but tell them if they want to work on T&M then they will be able to make changes as they go to that might save money or cost more but it will be up to them. I also actually run a real estate company that buys and flips homes - my construction company (has to be two companies on paper for a lot of reasons) always works as T&M for them of course so I am very used to that format and since I want both companies to show a profit I am both the customer and the contractor- the Manager of the real estate company and the Foreman of the construction company often are going off on each other about how they are being ripped off by the other - and at the end of the day they all still go to the same company picnics and are friends.

The key - as mentioned above many times- on T&M jobs is to keep very regular updates- and to me weekly is not near enough- and I want the work paid for every week as I go - since i take a deposit up front - each week is actually using the last weeks work as deposit on the next week. In this way when the job is "done" there is either no check or a very small check- and on occasion I am writing them a small refund check with the final invoice. I do try very hard to keep that last week of work in line with what is left so it if it is a very small amount I will write out on the invoice the cost and show a discount of $253 or whatever so that when i hand the final invoice and keys I am not collecting a check. Writing the Home owner a check for $310 when I give the final invoice and hand back keys after the inspection is even better. This is actually easy to do if you always get upfront money and bill by the week as you go and always results in that final day having a very happy homeowner without buyers remorse and no issues with nitpicking at the end as it is just adjusting that final number. It also means never getting stuck on collecting.

There are a lot of good business models that work and the bid job method is simply the most common, and as was mentioned, the easiest to have a chance at a "big payday" if things work out. Also is the easiest to get stuck on a losing job that you wish you had never bid on to begin with. The only thing you did wrong I think by the sounds was not keep the homeowner up to date on cost and payments and ended up collecting a huge check at the end- and that could well have left you screwed if the customer just said "no" at the end so if it was just some dirty looks call that a win.