lost my very first deck job

[jkevin 15]

had it all lined up many many decks to do from a rental company in a tourist town. gave a good price all pressure treated and moldy but got beat out by the maint. man. of all people, i know he is just gonna blast away with there little pw. oh well they might call be back

[4000psi 16]

Keep trying man you'll get another chance. ;)

Dane

[Adrian 155]

Lost my chain of fried chicken drive- thrus to an in house handy man.

Cracks me up.

LMAO.

Keep pushin on man, that's the way this industry is bro.

Everyone's looking for the cheapest bid no matter what the quality of work is.

It happens to the big guys too.

We are not alone.

It just brings you one step closer to the one that accepts your bid.

Maybe at some point they will get tired of paying for crappy work and realize their error in hiring hacks.

Hang in there it gets better.

( don't forget to add your signature up or they will kidnap your dog until you do!!! LOL)

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Stop by before he starts and drop a hint that a turbo nozzle is the only way you would go about getting all those decks done in time..or while he there workin all dead dog tired barely on his feet let him know how much they were willing to pay you until he lowballed the job. :lgbounces

[jeffex11 121]

they probably took your price to him and he said he could beat that . HOAs and prop mgrs shop price first since they answer to other owners. Seperating your service from the price shoppers takes time and reputation. thats what being is business is all about. Even this year my sister -in -law remarked how we should think about "lowering "our prices since the economy is sooo bad. I told her thats why SHE is NOT in business. If anything I am shopping for clients who can afford even "higher" prices. I told her the marginal customers will wait another year to have their deck done but the work will be there another year. Whay should I lower my price when ALL my costs are going up!!!!

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Welcome to TGS JKevin. Glad you found us.

When you have a minute, please add your signature. You can do this through your User CP. (see button at top of forums)

Beth :cup:

[Palmetto Home and Deck 167]

JKevin,

Cheer up man, I just lost my 150th today. I was asked to clean this guys house, driveway, and clean and seal his deck. The package deal right? It was not that large of a deck, but at least 10 feet off the ground with no stairs. old weathered wood, with Thompson's on it. Since there was so much to do at this one house I figured I was giving him a deal at $825.00 for the deck cleaning and sealing.

This guy lives in Pennsylvania so I could only deal with him over the phone and email. Anyway, this calls me back and said he had a quote that was about the same as mine on the house cleaning, but the deck price the other contractor was offering was 1/4 of what my price was (right around $200.00). That is about what I had figured for materials alone.

The guy wanted to know why there could be so much difference between the two prices so I sent some information about proper wood care and what to watch for in the sealers you choose.

Anyway, the guy just emailed me and said he was going with the lower bid anyway. Maybe the other contractor is throwing the deck cleaning and sealing in for free and just covering his materials, but I doubt it. I do know he is leaving over $600.00 on the table.

I told the guy that was fine and the next time he need something to call me. I didn't tell him that the other contractor pobably wouldn't be around then.

[PressurePros 249]

That's another reason that I have shut my doors to new customers unless they can meet with me. If they can't, they can hire someone else. The rest of the high volume, git-r-done crowd can handle these type of homeowners.

(Company name ommitted from West Chester), you just lost a bid this past weekend because you did not address the customer's needs. You bid $1800, and I am doing the job for $4000. I don't know how you came up with that bid, there is 3000+ s/f of wood.

Original poster, let those price shoppers go. They aren't loyal. They aren't friendly and they will jump ship on your for $50. You set the precedence on this bid by worrying about the price. You may have mentioned "the deal" you gave them. Guess what happens? Once someone smells a deal, the service becomes a commodity and there will always be someone behind you bidding cheaper.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

That's another reason that I have shut my doors to new customers unless they can meet with me. If they can't, they can hire someone else. The rest of the high volume, git-r-done crowd can handle these type of homeowners.

(Company name ommitted from West Chester), you just lost a bid this past weekend because you did not address the customer's needs. You bid $1800, and I am doing the job for $4000. I don't know how you came up with that bid, there is 3000+ s/f of wood.

Original poster, let those price shoppers go. They aren't loyal. They aren't friendly and they will jump ship on your for $50. You set the precedence on this bid by worrying about the price. You may have mentioned "the deal" you gave them. Guess what happens? Once someone smells a deal, the service becomes a commodity and there will always be someone behind you bidding cheaper.

Ummm...I know you omitted the name (thank you for that) and I mean no offense but it comes off a little bit in your face and smug. I would hate for another member to not want to come here because even though they were not named, they knew who they were and felt like a shot was take. I think your post has a great lesson about value without going "nah nah nah"...

Just my .02....

Beth

[PressurePros 249]

I know what you mean, Beth, there is a little "in your face" emotion in there. I used this example because this company is out lowballing bids and they still aren't getting jobs. That ties into the original poster's theme and the message I was attempting to parlay. The A List customers are not sold on price. Its not smugness as much as irritation. Perhaps I am being harsh as maybe they just don't know any better. There is more to the story though that I cannot share.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

We see it here too, I think it is everywhere. Glad you got the job. :)

Beth

[RPetry 564]

That's another reason that I have shut my doors to new customers unless they can meet with me. If they can't, they can hire someone else. The rest of the high volume, git-r-done crowd can handle these type of homeowners.

Original poster, let those price shoppers go. They aren't loyal. They aren't friendly and they will jump ship on your for $50. You set the precedence on this bid by worrying about the price.

Yes. Commoditize your service and work like a dog. We all start out that way, but the ones that survive soon learn the value of effort, experience, and knowledge. Its a lot easier to sell service than price.

[jkevin 15]

well drove by one of the decks the other day looks a little cleaner but still green looking oh well there losss i gues have to try a little harder next time

[R L S 14]

We lose decks all the time!!!! But the ones we get we really get$$$$$$

Hang in there.

[814jeffw 71]

Len,

[This guy lives in Pennsylvania so I could only deal with him over the phone and email. ]

Just wondering why you would be willing to travel to Pa. from South Carolina for a basic residential job? Was this figured into your total cost. Maybe I missed something. Ok I got my brain in gear, Duh!! I guess he has a Summer home in SC. I will proudly accept the dunce cap from whom ever is wearing it at the moment.

Jeff

Edited May 20, 2008 by 814jeffw

[Palmetto Home and Deck 167]

Len,

[This guy lives in Pennsylvania so I could only deal with him over the phone and email. ]

Just wondering why you would be willing to travel to Pa. from South Carolina for a basic residential job? Was this figured into your total cost. Maybe I missed something. Ok I got my brain in gear, Duh!! I guess he has a Summer home in SC. I will proudly accept the dunce cap from whom ever is wearing it at the moment.

Jeff

Jeff,

Gee, I didn't mean to high jack jkevin's thread, but ,yes, this guy lives in PA and has a home down here he is planning on moving to when he retires. We have several nice lakes here with many summer/weekend homes on them. We also have the mountains near by with the same. When I say summer/weekend homes I don't mean the kind of homes where you take your old worn out furniture and silverware to and keep the good stuff at your primary residence. Most of these are multi-million dollar homes and their patio furniture is better than what I have in my house.

Being close to Clemson I also see a lot of homes here worth hundreds of thousands and some worth millions of dollars just so the owner can have a place to stay when they come to see the Tigers play a home game. These people often are looking for someone they can trust to do work for them. I prefer to meet the owners in person and if they are local I insist on meeting them to look at a job to give an estimate, but in the case where someones lives in another part of the country it is not always possible. I will talk to the person by phone and by email until we kind of build a relationship of sorts. It can be risky for the owner to hire a contractor sight unseen, but this can also be a two way street. I want to know something about the customer as well when I have never met them in person.

I figured I wouldn't get this deck job when I looked at the house. This was more or less a lower property valued home than what I was expecting when I went to look at it. The landcpaping was non existant and there were cars on blocks in the neighbors yard. You know...after a while you can just tell when you drive into a neighborhood that you are probably going to be too high.

Anyway, back to jkevins thread, I did give this guy an estimate. What I didn't do was lower my price because this guy was looking for someone with the lowewst price. This week I am doing $1,900.00 worth of work for a guy that lives in Atlanta and has a nice weekend home on Lake Keowee not far from Clemson, SC. I haven't met him either.

[deach 14]

On any deck refinishing jobs I meet with them. If they have to have an "internet" estimate and don't want to take an hour to meet with me and talk to me they'll probably be better off with someone else. The one time I did one cause he didn't have time...he didn't have time to get me the check either.