Your missing the scam: He never had the materials> Heres how it goes with these types- They believe that by dangling this carrot (the materials) in front of you that you will be more willing to do the job because they
think that you
think that having all the supplies ready somehow makes the job less trouble. The complaints regarding expense and mark ups that often come next is meant to evoke sympathy (afterall, you
are an electrician-can't you just help the poor guy out?) but if you look closely enough you can see the bitterness and frustration because some ec quoted them appropriately or didn't put up with their line of crap. When you ask to see the materials right away they are never there- materials are always at the brothers house or some other nonsense and these jobs never start right away- its always next week sometime. The mention of material discounts is done in an attempt to pick you to see if you do recieve alleged discounts and if you cop out to them and you are stupid enough to take the job, they sneak off and buy things they think you will need, but curiously forget to purchase certain big ticket items they KNOW you will need (most of these dirtbags are manipulative and have been to more than one rodeo). Incomplete material inventory shows up on the job site (obviously) before you do and when you cannot finish or even start the job due to missing costly items, they believe that they can then save $$$ by getting you to use your discount. And when it comes to time to pay the bill and assuming you did use your discount they will argue that they don't owe you as much because supplies didn't cost as much and mark up shouldn't apply to them. And if you didn't use your discount or told them you couldn't, therefore causing them to pay full price for everything, they will argue that what you could have earned was ate up by cost of materials and that well, you should have used your discounts if you wanted more $$$. These slimeballs usually prey on the tethered (licensed employees of contractors) because they know they have the expertise to do what they want and they can screw them- you take them to court and you would then admit to doing work w/o permit
. Be wary and steer clear of this crap.
i think you are being generous in your assessment of how much thought
someone puts into trying to save money. most folks simply see that if they
buy the material, they can save a few hundred bucks.
most of the time, this is small odds and ends someone wants done, and figures
they can save $400. that used to be a magic tip over number in a lot of sales
pitches... show them how they can save four or five hundred dollars, or earn
four or five hundred dollars, and a lot of people are all over that.
everyone has hot buttons on how to save money. most of the time they cost
more than they save. we do it individually, and we do it collectively. and when
corporate decisions are made in this fashion, results can be astounding.
i've seen multi million dollar projects doomed to never showing a profit, due
to someone convincing someone else at the early planning stages that $100k
could be saved on this or that.
$400 lost is a tragedy, and $5 million lost is just the way things go....