Got a quote last week

[Industrial Toys]

As a business person. If a prospective customer tried to tell me, in those terms, what my services were worth, or what is involved, I would end the sales call right there. That is a customer I probably don't want. Funny, how whenever someone usually does that, it's usually a very self centered view of the work involved and heavily in their favour. As someone said, if it's so easy, do it yourself. Why are you calling a professional?

 

[Bearsixty7]

Cat_Driver, I like the way you handled the whole thing. I am right there with you on fair bids, good attitude, good negotiating and paying the bonus. :thumbsup: :drink:

I recently had a water line leak under the house slab (Slab foundations are how most homes are built here in TX), This would be the 3rd one in the last few years (house built in 2004). I called the same few companies I did the previous time and choose the same company I did last time. I had already determined what section of line had failed and where in the walls they would need to access the lines to tap in and terminate the bad ends, drywall hadn't been redone yet even. SO they show up, same 2 guys, I explain it all and they have to do the same quick process to verify my diagnosis. He gives me a quote for the work and I said "What? wait a minute, here's all that has to be done, open the 2 sheetrock patched areas taped in place currently, blah blah, I said it's maybe 30 minutes of work, no slab removal. etc. and I'm a repeat customer. Me and my brother would fix it if we had the PEX tools".

He does some figuring on his tablet and says "Ok, if there are no issues we can do it for this xx" which was about 1/3 the original price. I said ok. Well since they had already rerouted 2 sections before, it became an even easier job, they just had to connect the 2 loops in the attic (Pex hose) and terminate the one place in the wall. They finished and he came back and said he was able to lower the price even more. WOO-HOO! I think he felt a little guilty of the original high quote.

 

[4570Man]

Cat_Driver, I like the way you handled the whole thing. I am right there with you on fair bids, good attitude, good negotiating and paying the bonus. :thumbsup: :drink:

I recently had a water line leak under the house slab (Slab foundations are how most homes are built here in TX), This would be the 3rd one in the last few years (house built in 2004). I called the same few companies I did the previous time and choose the same company I did last time. I had already determined what section of line had failed and where in the walls they would need to access the lines to tap in and terminate the bad ends, drywall hadn't been redone yet even. SO they show up, same 2 guys, I explain it all and they have to do the same quick process to verify my diagnosis. He gives me a quote for the work and I said "What? wait a minute, here's all that has to be done, open the 2 sheetrock patched areas taped in place currently, blah blah, I said it's maybe 30 minutes of work, no slab removal. etc. and I'm a repeat customer. Me an my brother would fix it if we had the PEX tools".

He does some figuring on his tablet and says "Ok, if there are no issues we can do it for this xx" which was about 1/3 the original price. I said ok. Well since they had already rerouted 2 sections before, it became an even easier job, they just had to connect the 2 loops in the attic (Pex hose) and terminate the one place in the wall. They finished and he came back and said he was able to lower the price even more. WOO-HOO! I think he felt a little guilty of the original high quote.

Why don’t you buy the pex tools. The manual ones intended for such limited use are pretty cheap.

 

[Bearsixty7]

Why don’t you buy the pex tools. The manual ones intended for such limited use are pretty cheap.

Thought about it, there were a couple more specialized tools I'd have needed, plus if there are any more leaks it will require under slab detection and demolition (Even more specialized tools) plus the repair.

3 of the 4 leaks have been under slab for the outside bibs, they are all now rerouted. The copper tubing looked really bad in spots, like it was 50 years old. They surmised that something corrosive was spilled on the roll of copper tubing in transport or here during construction and the contractors just installed it any way. The other leak was under the garage and was at a beam and that combined with the soil movement most likely caused that pinhole leak.

 

[PILOON]

My daughter had a 24 inch pine about 10 feet from the house. Had to be 40 ft high and the branches were around her TV antenna.
2 guys came with an array of ropes, climbing irons and would swing from tree to tree and cut from the top down section by section lowering each by rope and pully.
They put on quite a show !
The TV antenna was never damaged!
I paid them the price they quoted!
$200.

 

[Industrial Toys]

That's like fifty bucks, REAL money. Maybe out of work circus olay performers getting their COVID cheques, making a little money on the side.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

I once knew the owner of a hobby store... when the internet shopping really became the craze, he realized the customer service was the answer, along with reasonable prices. He told me that he would rather have 25 customers come in, get what they needed, and he would make a dollar from each one. He knew they would be back, being happy customers. He said it would be much, much harder to get an extra $24 from one customer if he raised his prices....

About a year later, he and his wife (who was also there every day) decided it was time to retire. They sold the business and inventory at a very reasonable price to an "infrequent " customer. The first thing the new owners did was raise all the prices..... within 6 months, they were out of business. They took a successful business of almost 20 years and ran it under, solely because of greed and attitude. They would blatantly tell customers to "go get it off the internet if you want it cheaper" .... the customers did just that!

 

[two_bit_score]

Maybe it's just me, but in negotiations, there's a point where one of you ticks off the other so no deal can ever be reached. That tipping can be almost anything when you or the other person is giving up cash for a product or service. It's happened to me on both ends of a deal, selling and buying. Most often it has to do with either insulting or being insulted or perceived to be insulted or insulting.

I've refused to sell to many people because of their attitude and their way of negotiating a deal.

For me, it's rarely about the money if I and the seller or buyer are close enough I'll call it a day and do the deal. It really wasn't about the $100.00 because I did feel the $500.00 would have been acceptable, it was 100% attitude.

Turns out I got another bid and that was for $100.00. Not a typo ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS. He would start the next day. Mind you temp all weel have been between 115 and 119 degrees here. I said OK how about you give me a price to trim 1,800 feed of 10-12' oleander bush and cut it down to two feet. HE said $300.00 for everything tree and trimming.

Since he didn't speak any English all this was done via Google translate. I repeated EVERYTHING for $300.00, he said YES!. I said NO I will not pay you $300.00 I will pay you $500.00 for the work. Of course, he was stunned, but then so was I. He wasn't an Illegal because he works for a local nursery and here in Ca. you need to prove you here legally. He showed me his paycheck when I asked him to verify.

7am the next day he was on time and hit it HARD. He was a tiny guy but worked as an army of men. He would cut and trim I would remove the trimmings with the tractor. This went on till about 2pm, he left for lunch. He came back at 5 pm worked to 8 pm. Remember 115, 118 degrees. This went on for three more days until the finale of cutting the tree down.

At one point his chainsaw broke down, and he never skipped a beat and was using a hand saw.


The job was complete way way way beyond my expectations. The deal was you cut and trim and I remove and clean up. I paid him what we agreed on and as he was walking away because I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop and he says " NO I MEANT $3,000.00" I called him back and gave him a hefty bonus.

I even told my wife, it's so hot even the AC in the tractor can't keep me cool how is this superman working like a dog in this heat and only taking brief water breaks.

These were the oleanders before he cut them down.



These were the oleanders after he cut them to size.



Him cutting the tree down




The Temps here today



So what did you end up paying $500 or $3,000 or something in between?