Discount for friends

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macmikeman said:
I am an electrical contractor. I no longer have friends, I have customers.:grin:
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Mac so damn true. I once did a job for a friend and for whatever reason charged them half price. They went and told their friends how much I did the job for and I ended up irritating a lot of people.

Save the discounts for chairity work or people who really need it. If you want to give him a discount, tell him to furnish his own material and you'll just charge him an hourly rate.
 
when we were doing a lot of resi service, sometimes I would use the friend/acquantance for corporate espionage.

I would have them call in a few other EC's and get quotes on the job...these would just go into the "now ya know" file. I would then do the job for the lowest quote they got (usually in off hours)

This way they knew what was really going on in my world. And I learned how to sell beyond price for actual customers.
 
Seriously if this guy is your friend and your families spend leisure time together then there is a potential for hurt feelings here. Sort of a damned if you do, dammed if you don?t, type of deal. Don?t worry about what he will do for you, don?t compare yourself to a doctor or a lawyer, just take a look at how much you enjoy being friends with this guy and his family and decide if its worth a weekend of helping him do his addition.

Besides if your wives are friends then the decision has already been made for you, so might as well make the best out of it.
 
kiss,kiss,hug,hug....to what extent fo your friends offer to help you. if they never offer or turn down requests to help you then you should politely say that you are too busy at this time. if you do work for free then make them pull the permit and buy all the materials. if they can't agree to that small a part of the job....
 
emahler said:
i do that as well....typically I tell everyone that if I get to drink beer and supervise, it's free...if I have to get my tools, it'll cost an arm and a leg.

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my thoughts exactly. kinda like when i was a teenager and dad would " help" me work on my junk cars . all you got to do is this this and that, but before you start get me a beer.:grin:
 
Do what I do, when you think some one is going to ask you for free or discout work try to pre empt it by rubbing your head and chin and tell them how your so busy and no time to do it all and if that doesnt work just play dumn....... oh was that next week .......theres no way ill make it im just buried with work (as you take a sip from your mint julip, in your back yard with your feet up, maybe keep a hammer close to you so you could bang it when "those" friends call.....:D
 
ITO said:
Besides if your wives are friends then the decision has already been made for you, so might as well make the best out of it.
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I used to get wired about that. But now I realize they plan a function around it and after the works done, I get plenty of free beer and food plus play time on my buddies expense.

2 hrs of work free and the buddy pays the play bill. Works for me
 
Thanks for all the feedback! The reason i posted this thread is my carpenter friend and i have allready been down this road in the past. He built my addition, and i wired a house for him for cost. As far as i'm concerned were even, as far as working for beers and bbq on the weekends no way, it seems every three months or so i end up working a week for free. Friends, family, and a few customers who reffer a lot of work my way. I guess you all answered my question, full price.
 
mgmelec said:
The reason i posted this thread is my carpenter friend and i have allready been down this road in the past....
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I have a good friend who is a GC. I don't work for him on his jobs as a matter of policy, but I do work on his houses. I sometimes hire him to work on my jobs or my house. We do all of our work on what I guess you can call the "full invoice credit system" -- I bill full price for work I do on his houses. He bills full price for work he does for me. We put the invoices on a clipboard and every few months get together for lunch and see who's on the losing end of the balance ledger. At that point we either settle up or decide to keep the credits floating, depending on how in-line or out-of-whack the balance is.

The important thing is we can always be sure that nothing has been discounted and we know who owes who what, even if no money changes hands on a per-job basis. It's a pretty good way to stay friends with those you have both a business and personal relationship with.
 
now that sounds like a very good way to do it!!! it's natural for people to think their time is more valuable than someone elses !!! i have always felt i was on the losing end of the stick when trading labor with another trade. i got to the point that i would do it for free, rather than try to work out a trade. that way, it would really have to be someone special for me to get involved. people who know me, realize i'm busy and thats the best excuss i can give them. although, i'm in the middle of wiring a house for a very good friend, who is busting his butt building this house. he has no skill to trade when i built mine (just finished last month) and his wife is very particular on their entire house. satruday i brought my ditching machine over and dug all the underground feeds for them. i have warned her to select her fixtures and trim for over three months. this week i plan on trimming it out as the painters are finishing up --- today i picked up the trim (i selected) and i have made my mind up to blank-off any fixture outlets as i trim out the house.. when i finish trimming out --- i'm out-of-there!!! i have my own things to do ---- some people just don't understand that........................
 
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