well, here ya go. I need to share this and take your criticism.
Three weeks ago I quoted a job for a client on cleaning the sealing his deck.
The deck measured out to 1400 sqft, 21 ft rails, and 25(x5) lin ft of stairs. The deck was 4-5 years old and never been sealed/stained. Customer wanted us to "clean & seal" deck. No color was specified or wanted. We just started doing decks this year and bid $0.79($1264) sqft thinking we were in the low ballpark but would be a great job to add to our portfolio.
The customer said he had 2 quotes under ours and he wanted us to do it because a mutual friend referred us, yet he couldnt go any higher than the middle bid @ $974.00 thats $0.61 sq ft(are any of you actually doing decks for this low?)
We used EFC65 to clean, then brightened/neutralized. And returned to seal w/clear deckscapes sealer.
Now, when we arrived only the wife was home, so we did a small area & had her view this for approval. She approved and said it looks great. So we mask off and fininish the deck seal (pics attached). About when we were loading the last of our tools in the truck the husband comes out(we didnt see him arrive as we were around back) and tells us the color is what he wanted, its too bright/yellow. I told him we had his wife come out and approve the test area & she didnt mention any problems with the color at that time. He cut me off mid sentence & said "his wife didnt commission us", and the color is unacceptable.
Well, in attempt to sooth the customer We agreed to restain the deck with his choice of color for a measly $350.00.
Now heres the situation. I just started using the Deckscapes product so I call the Sherwin Williams tech & ask if it is possible to just reapply over the coat we just applied or if we needed to strip back & neutralize? Probably should have asked you guys instead eh? He told me we most certainly could just reapply new color seeing as the products were the same. We did! Using Deckscapes transparent stain.
Now, we have a customer complaining that he didnt want us to "paint" his deck(both coats combined gave us a solid stain result), the final product is unacceptable and that he wanted it stripped and re-stained at our expense.
Once again, to soothe the customer, we agreed that it does look like a painted deck & would correct the problem (because the guy that referred us is an influential friend) until he was satisfied. We stripped & re-stained (pics attached), and it has been 5 days yet no final payment or return call. He gave us a $500.00 deposit leaving a balance of $824.00. A low bid to start with and an obscene loss in re-doing deck. And were assuming he's unhappy with the final product from no return call or payment.
Never had a customer this difficult. We even removed stains from brick on the back of his house, and repainted the support poles on deck to match deck color. How far do you bend over for customers to retain integrity & honorable business practices?
well, here ya go. I need to share this and take your criticism.
Three weeks ago I quoted a job for a client on cleaning the sealing his deck.
The deck measured out to 1400 sqft, 21 ft rails, and 25(x5) lin ft of stairs. The deck was 4-5 years old and never been sealed/stained. Customer wanted us to "clean & seal" deck. No color was specified or wanted. We just started doing decks this year and bid $0.79($1264) sqft thinking we were in the low ballpark but would be a great job to add to our portfolio.
The customer said he had 2 quotes under ours and he wanted us to do it because a mutual friend referred us, yet he couldnt go any higher than the middle bid @ $974.00 thats $0.61 sq ft(are any of you actually doing decks for this low?)
We used EFC65 to clean, then brightened/neutralized. And returned to seal w/clear deckscapes sealer.
Now, when we arrived only the wife was home, so we did a small area & had her view this for approval. She approved and said it looks great. So we mask off and fininish the deck seal (pics attached). About when we were loading the last of our tools in the truck the husband comes out(we didnt see him arrive as we were around back) and tells us the color is what he wanted, its too bright/yellow. I told him we had his wife come out and approve the test area & she didnt mention any problems with the color at that time. He cut me off mid sentence & said "his wife didnt commission us", and the color is unacceptable.
Well, in attempt to sooth the customer We agreed to restain the deck with his choice of color for a measly $350.00.
Now heres the situation. I just started using the Deckscapes product so I call the Sherwin Williams tech & ask if it is possible to just reapply over the coat we just applied or if we needed to strip back & neutralize? Probably should have asked you guys instead eh? He told me we most certainly could just reapply new color seeing as the products were the same. We did! Using Deckscapes transparent stain.
Now, we have a customer complaining that he didnt want us to "paint" his deck(both coats combined gave us a solid stain result), the final product is unacceptable and that he wanted it stripped and re-stained at our expense.
Once again, to soothe the customer, we agreed that it does look like a painted deck & would correct the problem (because the guy that referred us is an influential friend) until he was satisfied. We stripped & re-stained (pics attached), and it has been 5 days yet no final payment or return call. He gave us a $500.00 deposit leaving a balance of $824.00. A low bid to start with and an obscene loss in re-doing deck. And were assuming he's unhappy with the final product from no return call or payment.
Never had a customer this difficult. We even removed stains from brick on the back of his house, and repainted the support poles on deck to match deck color. How far do you bend over for customers to retain integrity & honorable business practices?
Cleaning
[ATTACH]7602[/ATTACH]
Brighten & 1st color
[ATTACH]7603[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]7604[/ATTACH]
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