[realelectrician]

Just got off the phone with a guy who needed his range hood light socket replaced, light above the sink replaced, a bifold door installed in the kitchen pantry and fix the sliding glass door it's hard to open and close without using two hands.

I told him $200. and the classic line "ok...i'll get back to you"

This was after I went out and made a whole laundry list of work he wants done on his place. He wanted a lot of stuff done from bathroom remodel to kitchen to living room laminate floor. I guess he thinks that will cost him $500 to do:blink:

I'm so sick of hearing "i'll get back to you" which is keywords I'm not paying that.

What do these people think $hi^ costs? Gas is $4 a gallon milk is almost $5 a gallon and the cost of tools and everything else. Seriously wtf?

I'm 99% sure I am changing careers I can't deal with this anymore. I rather be a 9-5 shlub that punches a time card then go through this.

I read that the skilled trades are the hardest jobs to fill and yeah I see why because there is no money in it anymore. Everyone is pinching pennies and I refuse to beat up my body, tools and waste my knowledge and skills for pennies.

End of rant.

p.s. The work I do land people tell me you do great work "you are very meticulous" blah blah blah but yet they never tell anyone else.

 

[Quad Racer]

If you're any good, find better customers and raise your prices. Do you have a website? Advertise? Buy leads? Act in a professional manner? Not being a d*ck just asking.

 

[PrestigeR&D]

Move on..


Your getting yourself all worked up over $200.00. Why?:blink:


I think there is more going on here than just this....


JMPOV,

 

[brickhook]

I think everyone on CT feels your pain. I' ve gone to bed a many of nights second guessing myself.

No matter what we do for a living, we are going to have bad days.

Hang in there, we can't get every job we figure, and we can't expect homeowners to understand, what it's taken us a lifetime to learn. That's why they hire this stuff done.

We can't let a few dead end leads get us down. Keep your head up, the next client you have might be the best client you've ever had! :thumbsup:

 

[tedanderson]

The work I do land people tell me you do great work "you are very meticulous" blah blah blah but yet they never tell anyone else.

I have a temp worker who is the exact same way. He is very meticulous, he does great work, and when I need for him to figure out the best way to do something that does not have an official SOP, he impresses me every time.

But I don't call him back very often and I will NEVER refer him to anyone else simply because he doesn't seem to understand or accept the fact that sometimes I just need the work to get done as quickly as possible. I find myself in situations where I need to meet a deadline but he wants to make it his art project.

When it comes down to it, people like good work, but they don't want you in their house for 10 days on a 2-day project. Most times they aren't even interested in what you had to do to make it happen. They just want you to get in, get your money, and get out.
:thumbsup:

 

[Quad Racer]

I have a temp worker who is the exact same way. He is very meticulous, he does great work, and when I need for him to figure out the best way to do something that does not have an official SOP, he impresses me every time.

But I don't call him back very often and I will NEVER refer him to anyone else simply because he doesn't seem to understand or accept the fact that sometimes I just need the work to get done as quickly as possible. I find myself in situations where I need to meet a deadline but he wants to make it his art project.

When it comes down to it, people like good work, but they don't want you in their house for 10 days on a 2-day project. Most times they aren't even interested in what you had to do to make it happen. They just want you to get in, get your money, and get out.
:thumbsup:

Great post there. sometimes the Mike Holmes approach doesn't appeal to the HO.

 

[jb4211]

Great post there. sometimes the Mike Holmes approach doesn't appeal to the HO.

The only appeal that Mike Holmes has to customers, is it's free. If they had to pay for the work he shows on the tv show, no way.

Someone on here has a saying, "walking the fine line between precision and perfection." Very true statement.

 

[tedanderson]

I learned from that father and son motorcycle building team on reality television that once you reach completion, if you try to perfect it, at the end of the day it will only be different. Essentially it will end up as something other than what you initially created.

 

[MikeGC]

Flip some houses or buy some rentals and work for yourself.

 

[realelectrician]

I have a temp worker who is the exact same way. He is very meticulous, he does great work, and when I need for him to figure out the best way to do something that does not have an official SOP, he impresses me every time.

But I don't call him back very often and I will NEVER refer him to anyone else simply because he doesn't seem to understand or accept the fact that sometimes I just need the work to get done as quickly as possible. I find myself in situations where I need to meet a deadline but he wants to make it his art project.

When it comes down to it, people like good work, but they don't want you in their house for 10 days on a 2-day project. Most times they aren't even interested in what you had to do to make it happen. They just want you to get in, get your money, and get out.
:thumbsup:

A guy taking 10 days on a 2 day project isn't being meticulous he doesn't know what he is doing. There are lots of guys that are meticulous and fairly quick like myself. You have builders who build custom high end homes that take a long time to complete, and you have other builders that throw **** track homes together with illegal workers done real quick that are low quality. It's all about choosing your market.

I just seem to be getting lots of cheap ass people lately.

p.s. the jobs the guy wanted me to do for the $200 didn't have anything that would involve me needing to be meticulous. So the discussion of time inside the customers home does not apply here.

 

[realelectrician]

Great post there. sometimes the Mike Holmes approach doesn't appeal to the HO.

Mike Holmes is a fictional show. 99.9% of contractors don't have unlimited budgets and don't get free materials.

 

[Quad Racer]

I've been in business long enough to fully understand about Mike Holmes believe me. Just threw it out there as an example.

 

[ReubenD]

Most cheap customers get exactly what they deserve- to be low balled, have the price jacked 2x during the job (due to a "misunderstanding") and shoddy work when it is done. Add to that that the real cheap customers are also the ones that demand perfection and will call you 4x in the next 3 years to complain about the light fixture you installed seeming to use light bulbs faster or some other mythical mystery problem and complain to the BBB even if it is perfect- They are doing you a favor if you are quoting a fair price and they blow you off completely. Good customers pay a fair price and you take care of them - the rest cost you money and you do not need that stress or expense in your life.

 

[tedanderson]

A guy taking 10 days on a 2 day project isn't being meticulous he doesn't know what he is doing.

I'm exaggerating when I say that. As an example, if I need him to run 30 feet of 2" conduit pipe down the wall, in a nasty sub-basement, all he has to do is chop up some strut, screw the pieces to the wall and clamp down the pipe. But he will go through great lengths to make sure that it's 100% level and 100% straight in relation to the other nearby walls.. and then he will make sure that each piece of strut is exactly the same size and all of the tapcon screws are on a straight line together, etc. So at the end of the day when I go back to check his work, I expect that they guy at least has the long straight section of pipe on the wall. But instead he's still fiddling around with the bends while working to make sure that when he cuts a 90 bend in half, he gets 2 perfect 45's to make his offset.

And that's what drives me crazy to the point of pulling my hair out.

 

[loneframer]

The only appeal that Mike Holmes has to customers, is it's free. If they had to pay for the work he shows on the tv show, no way.

Someone on here has a saying, "walking the fine line between precision and perfection." Very true statement.

Close.lol

 

[fjn]

I think everyone on CT feels your pain. I' ve gone to bed a many of nights second guessing myself.

No matter what we do for a living, we are going to have bad days.

Hang in there, we can't get every job we figure, and we can't expect homeowners to understand, what it's taken us a lifetime to learn. That's why they hire this stuff done.

We can't let a few dead end leads get us down. Keep your head up, the next client you have might be the best client you've ever had! :thumbsup:

Now the above is some real sound advice,and very well said.:thumbsup:

 

[huggytree]

you choose your customers....they dont choose you.....if you dont understand this you need to research it!!!

your cheap or you advertise to cheap......your getting price shoppers when you should be getting referrals...95% of my work is referral and repeat....its took about 3 years to get the referrals going, but now they come in daily.

cheap customers are not loyal customers.....they dont make good repeat customers....i also believe cheap people hang w/ cheap people.....so their referrals are garbage

change your whole business to go after high end...charge more, give perfect service and use better materials....also make a personal connection w/ every customer


i also find cheap customers expect the most....there's just nothing good about being a low end sub

 

[rselectric1]

Just got off the phone with a guy who needed his range hood light socket replaced, light above the sink replaced, a bifold door installed in the kitchen pantry and fix the sliding glass door it's hard to open and close without using two hands.

I told him $200. and the classic line "ok...i'll get back to you"

This was after I went out and made a whole laundry list of work he wants done on his place. He wanted a lot of stuff done from bathroom remodel to kitchen to living room laminate floor. I guess he thinks that will cost him $500 to do:blink:

I'm so sick of hearing "i'll get back to you" which is keywords I'm not paying that.

What do these people think $hi^ costs? Gas is $4 a gallon milk is almost $5 a gallon and the cost of tools and everything else. Seriously wtf?

I'm 99% sure I am changing careers I can't deal with this anymore. I rather be a 9-5 shlub that punches a time card then go through this.

I read that the skilled trades are the hardest jobs to fill and yeah I see why because there is no money in it anymore. Everyone is pinching pennies and I refuse to beat up my body, tools and waste my knowledge and skills for pennies.

End of rant.

p.s. The work I do land people tell me you do great work "you are very meticulous" blah blah blah but yet they never tell anyone else.

I'll echo above since everyone here at CT is all in the same general business and have to deal with this, but I do exactly what you do. Don't get discouraged. I used to, and I actually have a large blank on my schedule the next couple weeks so I am going to use that to finish some things personally that I haven't had time for in about a year.

I get those stupid calls all the time and your prices seem right in line with mine from what you said above.

I have cut down considerably the amount of wasted time on bogus, cheap ass customers by putting my service call rates on line.

PM me if you want and I'll send you the link.:thumbsup:

 

[KennMacMoragh]

I didn't read the whole thing but one of the things I learned my first couple years in business, when people say your price is too high, it's just an excuse. Very rarely is price the deciding factor, it means they didn't trust you in whatever shape or form. Present your price correctly and you'll never hear, your price is too high, again.

 

[fjn]

Present your price correctly and you'll never hear, your price is too high, again.

Much merit to the above statement.:thumbsup:




As a side note to realelectrician. There is an old saying, " wherever you go,you will take yourself with you".


Your approach / methods may need tweaking .