#$%^& Cell Phones!

[jeff43222]

This happened to me this morning:

I called a HO I just finished a job for and found out the inspector was out today and signed off on the final. All that was left was for me to invoice the HO. The job was a panel upgrade with a few extras, plus some code compliance stuff the city requires. I gave him an estimate of $2040 last year and did most of the work then. He paid me about $1450 at that point, and we agreed to suspend work for a while for a variety of reasons. We recently agreed on plans for me to come back and finish the job, which I did. I figured out the cost of the remainder and came up with $565, which brought the total just a bit under the original estimate. Here's how the phone call went:

HO: So what's the final tab that I owe you?

Me: With materials and labor, it came to $565.

(pregnant pause)

HO: That's a lot more than I expected. How did you get that figure?

Me: Well, the original estimate was for $2040, and you paid me $1450 last year when I did most of the work. The remainder came to about $565, which puts the total very close to the original estimate.

HO: Did you say five hundred dollars?

Me: Yeah -- $565.00.

HO: I thought you said five thousand dollars!

Me: That would be a very expensive panel upgrade!

(laughter, followed by relieved willingness to pay me right away)

Stupid cell phones...

[LarryFine]

Jeff, it would have been worse if it went the other way:

"No sir, that's five thousand dollars."

"Gasp! *thud!*"

[goldstar]

Now, all you have to do is actually get the check. Most HO's seem to develop arthritis at this point.

[jeff43222]

Getting the check was no problem at all. I happened to be doing another job a few blocks away from his house yesterday, so I stopped by. The wife wrote me a check on the spot, and she even fed me a nice lunch.

[George Stolz]

Jeff, it would have been worse if it went the other way:

"No sir, that's five thousand dollars."

"Gasp! *thud!*"
LOL

Thanks for getting my morning off on the right note. :)

[don_resqcapt19]

and she even fed me a nice lunch.
Many, many years ago my dad was a well pump service man. He would plan his service calls based on what he knew about the lady of the house's cooking. Back then you were almost always fed if you were there at lunch time.
Don

[macmikeman]

Many, many years ago my dad was a well pump service man. He would plan his service calls based on what he knew about the lady of the house's cooking. Back then you were almost always fed if you were there at lunch time.
Don

One of my very favorite things about where I reside is the born and raised here local residents. They pretty much always insist on feeding me something every time I am at any of their houses. Now if I could just get used to Lau Lau I'd have it made in the shade.

[69boss302]

Now if I could just get used to Lau Lau I'd have it made in the shade.

Why does everything in Hawaii have to be said twice? I was there in the Navy. Remember the Like Like highway and I thought the big thing to serve was Mahi Mahi.

Edited for punctuations, I gotta quit winging it on this spelling and grammer stuff.

[satcom]

Quote: "I gave him an estimate of $2040 last year "

Something we learned after our first year in business, estimate is not a contract, every accepted job gets a signed contract, it states the terms of payment, and the full contract amount, any extra work, is is on a signed Extras sheet, which becomes part of the contract.

[goldstar]

The wife wrote me a check on the spot, and she even fed me a nice lunch.
You're on a lucky streek. Go out and but a lottery ticket !!!!!!!!!

[Pierre C Belarge]

Don
When I worked with my father in the early '70s, we were fed lunch on most of the jobs we did. My father told me when they offer you food or a drink, always say yes... if you say no, they may never offer again.

[GUNNING]

hmm .. brings new meaning to will work for food. Its begining to sound like my business model.

[George Stolz]

It's difficult for me to reconcile the concepts of "not breaking bread with a person to be offensive" with "I do not want to be an inconvenience".

Whenever I am offered anything, I tend to decline out of not wanting to be an inconvenience.

[LarryFine]

hmm .. brings new meaning to will work for food. Its begining to sound like my business model.

If you think about it, money is merely a way to make bartering "portable" in the same way electricity separates the waterwheel from the gristmill.

[sparky_magoo]

I finished a house about a month ago where the H.O. would bring pizza or bar-b-que every Monday & Friday for all of the workers. Very cool. BTW his entry way is going to have a 1200 gallon shark aquarium.

As a general rule, I agree with George & decline offers of food or drink.

[jeff43222]

In this case, the plate was already made up, and she offered it to me. So I had lunch with her and the kids. It was chicken/vegetable salad wraps, chips, and red grapes. Very tasty.

The other job I was doing in that neighborhood that day turned into a meal, too. I was there during dinner time, so I got a big plate of homemade lasagna and some homemade raspberry sorbet. Also tasty.

I've done a couple of jobs this past year for a nice older lady where she just put together a great lunch and merely informed me it was lunch time and that I should wash up. Every day I worked at her place I got a nice lunch. She called me the other day with a concern about the dimmer switch I installed several months ago, so I went and checked it out and found no cause for alarm. She sent me on my way with a loaf of good bread.

This job does have some interesting perks.

[LarryFine]

This job does have some interesting perks.

Yeah! Electrical work is fattening!