Thank you Mr. lowballer

[Adrian 155]

Today:

Thank you Mr. lowballer for helping me.

With your 200.00 dollar bid for a 2660 sq. ft ( 2 story) brick resi AND 1700 sf in flatwork, you have helped do something I have never done as a businessman in almost 5 years. And that is....... say to a customer, " I don't think we will be able to do business then, Ma'am". You have actually helped me pull the weeds and helped me to streamline my qualifying process from here on out.

Thank you Mr. Lowballer, that's exactly why I need you out there, so you can listen to 20 years of babbling B.S. and sob stories to make you feel for them and their budget when I know that they are lying right through their teeth just to feel "one up" on the contractor. Crying poverty before they even get off of the phone.

Thanks Mr . Lowballer, you have thicker skin than I do, probably because I have to run a quality business. While you do sub standard work that sends more calls my way regardless. I wish you could be around next year to do the same. Sad thing is that this customer lives in my subdivision, you know, the one I'M cleaning up.She will expect the same rate next year and you will be gone. I wonder what I will tell her then..........

......any suggestions.

Thanks Mr. Lowballer, for doing your part to make my firm better locally and for the industry than you could ever hope to.

............castles built on sand...........

[Adrian 155]

.... what.... no one knows this customer...... no one knows this contractor.......

whadda I godda break a rule or a few bones to get noticed around here?

[PressurePros 248]

Nah everybbody thinks it uncool to post on TGS. I could care less and post where I feel like it. Let me be the first to congratulate you on your metamorphosis from self employment to business owner ! Good post, Adrian.

[Jeff 232]

Well Ken & I are cool where ever we post

Doesnt it feel good to be able to tell some cheap sun of a gun, no thank you. I love when they cry poor mouth , then tell you how much they will pay me. I love saying good bye to those types

[Adrian 155]

amen to that.

[mas3372 14]

I never lower my prices due to a low baller or someone crying poverty with a BMW in the driveway. As much as I hate getting a job, I love telling people that my price is my price.

[John Doherty 126]

I'm still here and I'll post what I did overthere too.

Adrian, I had one yesterday, roof job, just the front 1/2, bid $375. Client says '$375 you're crazy, xyz did it last year for $175'. I said 'if you'd called me last year it wouldn't need to be done again this year, good luck with xyz' click. I just hung up on him.

IT JUST GETS SO FRUSTRATING SOME TIMES!

[Adrian 155]

Nah everybbody thinks it uncool to post on TGS. I could care less and post where I feel like it. Let me be the first to congratulate you on your metamorphosis from self employment to business owner ! Good post, Adrian.

Thks Ken, coming from you solidifies that I am not off of my rocker by giving in to a 200 k resi that they have self appointed themselves a charity case.

There is no PITA factor for this customer and is simply not worth my time.

[Adrian 155]

Well Ken & I are cool where ever we post

Doesnt it feel good to be able to tell some cheap sun of a gun, no thank you. I love when they cry poor mouth , then tell you how much they will pay me. I love saying good bye to those types

agreed.... my time is worth more than their charity story. I will be reinventing my wording to say in such a professional way that they are just not able to qualify for my services. In other words..... you are just too cheap for me to even consider you for my time.

[Adrian 155]

I'm still here and I'll post what I did overthere too.

Adrian, I had one yesterday, roof job, just the front 1/2, bid $375. Client says '$375 you're crazy, xyz did it last year for $175'. I said 'if you'd called me last year it wouldn't need to be done again this year, good luck with xyz' click. I just hung up on him.

IT JUST GETS SO FRUSTRATING SOME TIMES!

Great response to your non- customer. It's their loss the way I see it.

I feel we all have a responsibility to keep this industry on the economic rise in order to just stay afloat sometimes.I would rather have the customer call back after the hack has done a crappy job and she has recieved yet another HOA violation and test myself to see how I will respond. OR even if I will consider her for a customer at all. But my rate is my rate and that's the only rate you will recieve.

[Adrian 155]

I never lower my prices due to a low baller or someone crying poverty with a BMW in the driveway. As much as I hate getting a job, I love telling people that my price is my price.

Some people simply live beyond their means to appear to be better off than they really are (BMW) and expect others to take the hit for it.

Yep!!!! we get very dirty in this industry and are generally viewed as a lower dirty form of life in the customers eyes and are expected to be paid less because of their judgment. Reality is that at least we are genuine and they are faking to be viewed as better people while they stuff their face with ho-ho's in front of Jerry Springer.

[Adrian 155]

Not to mention that it is their filthy smelly mold and algae that makes us dirty and smell like rotting fish.( although, that is the smell of money)

Figuratively speaking of course.

I am logo's and uniformed by the way.

Not flip flops, wife beaters and bermudas.

I'm really starting to like wood resto more than PW cheapos, which by the way is going great!!!! 7 decks last week in between the monsoons. My ( real paying)customers were thrilled over my efforts.

[Doug Dahlke 114]

I have rarely had a customer say anything about my pricing to me directly although I am sure some have experienced sticker shock. You can see it in their faces. No one has complained about the pricing after the work is done.

You are right about some people living way beyond their means. I would rather lose a few jobs than lower pricing.

[hpmsvs 14]

I mean after all we're just spraying THEIR water and a little bit of Clo Rox, right? We all went to Northern and bought the $299 PW and are working out of the back of our Saturn wagon, right?

Don't feel bad, we do commercial work exclusively and have the same problem. One of our customers saved $.01/sq. ft. last year on 15 shopping centers and the person I really felt sorry for was the contractor. He didn't have a surface cleaner and he had no idea what a bulldog the PM was. He prolly started getting calls from her 3 months after the job about all the wand marks that started showing up on the sidewalks.

Just keep your prices where you need them, keep doing quality work, and let nature take it's course.

[mobilemike 14]

....and i love it when these low ballers crank call your cell phone while your out working harder than they've ever given thought to. i don't even think of low ballers as competition. someday mr. low baller will realize that it's easier to work at Mcdonalds for 8 bucks an hour than it is to pressure wash roofs for that much.:)

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Some people just give that "xyz did it for this price last time" line to get you to come down to the price they are willing to pay in many cases.

Stood on a neighbors deck and listened to a line of bs about the job we did next door saying the customer had a bunch of problems with us and we should charge him less. Quite frankly, the customer was quite satisfied with the work and asked to be put on the list for maintenance in 2 years.

People are crafty and deceptive when it comes to money and what they are willing to part with. They get it in their own mind what they think it is worth and are blown away by the reality of what we need to charge to stay in business.

They don't really care if we do, just so long as we give them what they want, how they want it, when they want it. Too much clinging to the customer is always right adage and pushing the contractor to bend for them without respect for the monetary obligations the contractor has or the family they are trying to support.

Great strip line though Adrian, straight to the point and you get to keep your profit margins with another upstanding customer. Keep it up!

Rod!~

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

My favorite is the person who calls and says they want an estimate without telling you:

who they are

where they live

They get upset when you won't give them a phone quote, and they refuse to give you information. They ask questions the home owner doesn't normally ask straight out of the gate.

Beth :cup:

[Adrian 155]

Some people just give that "xyz did it for this price last time" line to get you to come down to the price they are willing to pay in many cases.

Stood on a neighbors deck and listened to a line of bs about the job we did next door saying the customer had a bunch of problems with us and we should charge him less. Quite frankly, the customer was quite satisfied with the work and asked to be put on the list for maintenance in 2 years.

People are crafty and deceptive when it comes to money and what they are willing to part with. They get it in their own mind what they think it is worth and are blown away by the reality of what we need to charge to stay in business.

They don't really care if we do, just so long as we give them what they want, how they want it, when they want it. Too much clinging to the customer is always right adage and pushing the contractor to bend for them without respect for the monetary obligations the contractor has or the family they are trying to support.

Great strip line though Adrian, straight to the point and you get to keep your profit margins with another upstanding customer. Keep it up!

Rod!~

I actually thought about calling the company that she said would do it for that price. But my mindset was that it would actually lower myself. I just know that either she is lying through her teeth or the other company is a complete fool. I have much much more integrity than that plus close to 5k in bids I have to close on for woodwork. I will not waste anymore of my time on customers like that. Prequalify on the phone, ask budgets and timelines and scopes before I leave the office.

Hey, thx for chiming in Beth and Rod...... it's been a while.

busy busy busy

go go go

$$$