Drop your price?

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Around here we try to avoid jobs of this scale in the first place. Theres only pennies in them. I know your already spread out(Broward and Miami-Dade) so I would have to wonder if its worth it.
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Funny thing is there are numerous types of electric work and there are many types of ECs. These guys make there money doing somethings others of us might balk at. But if they are decent at what they do go for it.

When I first went in business people asked me what I'd do if I could not land specialty work I like to do, I told them I'd shovel dog doo if it paid the bills. I'd still do that.

Nobody likes to cut there prices but in the end if you want the work take a hard look at it and decide for yourself.

When I ran construction work I caught two apprentices yelling at the Don Johns cleaner (porta potty), Asking him hey crappy job, you get a lot of Sh*t in you job, job looking down. I told them "You be thankful someone does that work cause if they didn't you might be doing it." There are lots of jobs someone's got to do it.

Do what you think is best for you but make money doing it.
 
boboelectric said:
The customer asks , "Can you do any better? Me, Thats the best I can do."
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I usualy reply "better for who??"

I am pretty stubborn. In most cases I would not drop the 150 bucks for a customer that was referred by somone. I might do it for a regular customer, make that I would do it.

I am doing some crappy work in a crappy house right now for one of my better GCs. El cheapo fixer upper going right back on the market. At the same time doing a custom new home for them that will make up the difference. :wink:
 
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nyerinfl said:
Is $150 worth losing both job and contact?
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How do you know you'll lose the job and contact?

I worked with a guy that needed siding installed on a detached garage. I referred him to a friend of mine that's a siding contractor. My friend's price was a few hundred dollars higher than the lowest bid he had gotten. He asked my friend if he would lower the price by a few hundred dollars to match the other bid. My friend agreed and got the job.

The guy later told me he would have hired my friend to do the work even if he hadn't lowered his price. He said he was more impressed with his presentation than the other guy's and was more comfortable having him do the work. He figured it wouldn't hurt to ask him to lower the price though. The worst thing that could happen is he would say no and he would go ahead and hire him anyway.

I told my friend about this. He wasn't too happy he lowered his price, thinking he needed to do this to get the job, only to find out he would have gotten the job even if he hadn't lowered his price.

It might be better if you could somehow show the customer that your services are worth the extra $150.
 
nyerinfl said:
Is $150 worth losing both job and contact?
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I would probably just knock off the $150, not enough to worry about.

Easy enough to add this to the cost ( plus a little ) to the next job, if there is a next job and if not it's only $150 bucks.

It would send up a little red flag to watch out for these people. A contractor that's a little tight on the budget and pays on time is just as good a one the agrees to a price and is slow on the money. If a GC is both cheap and slow it's time to drop him.
 
nyerinfl said:
Typically I just say no to lowering or haggling, but
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Man, I was hoping you wouldn't call; I made a mistake and it was supposed to be $3100.00; I'd never go back on a quotation, but ... I hope whoever you found to do it cheaper can do it correctly.
 
i do what marc first suggested; they want $150 off the bid, I take out $150 worth of work.


and slightly OT,

I spent the past few days in and around west palm, boca raton, ft. lauderdale, etc. . . . That's a whole 'nother world from south GA. To keep from offending the residents i'll keep my true thoughts contained. ;) I'd probably lose my mind if I had to live/work there. but i'll probably be back for a couple of weeks in another month or two. maybe I can catch up w/ some of you south fl guys.
 
Did you ask them why they wanted the discount?

If anyone, from a new customer to my most established customers, asked me to lower my price, the first thing out of my mouth would be "why?"

If they play it straight and give me their reasons for wanting the price lowered, I'll certainly listen to them and consider it. Or make payment terms, or find some way for them to afford the work they need. Whatever. But if they just ask me to do the job for less and don't tell me why, or if they feed me a load of bull, then I'm going to say "no, sorry."
 
brantmacga said:
I spent the past few days in and around west palm, boca raton, ft. lauderdale, etc. . . .
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Sure, thanks for the call

That's a whole 'nother world from south GA. To keep from offending the residents i'll keep my true thoughts contained. ;) I'd probably lose my mind if I had to live/work there.
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I'm not crazy.

but i'll probably be back for a couple of weeks in another month or two. maybe I can catch up w/ some of you south fl guys.
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Don't bother, we're all nuts.:smile:
 
chris kennedy said:
Sure, thanks for the call
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It was sorta last minute, and strictly business. I was on a tight schedule. I'll give you a heads up next time!






chris kennedy said:
Don't bother, we're all nuts. :smile:
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That wouldn't surprise me. :D

BTW, are you from long island too? I swear every person I met down there was from New York. I've dealt with clients here that were from south florida who talked about hunting swamp hogs w/ the dogs and drove '73 F-150's, but I didn't see those people when I came down. I probably would've made time for the swamp hogs. They made it sound exciting.
 
brantmacga said:
It was sorta last minute, and strictly business. I was on a tight schedule. I'll give you a heads up next time!








That wouldn't surprise me. :D

BTW, are you from long island too? I swear every person I met down there was from New York. I've dealt with clients here that were from south florida who talked about hunting swamp hogs w/ the dogs and drove '73 F-150's, but I didn't see those people when I came down. I probably would've made time for the swamp hogs. They made it sound exciting.
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Ive got the dogs and plenty of ammo Night scope if need be. Dont shoot my dogs. Pink nose and green eyes looks like a pig/dog. let me know when you are going. Born upstate hillbilly relocated to Long Island. Cant take the hillbilly out of me.
 
I worked for so little, for so long that I'd be offended if someone asked for $150 off. Like $150 is going to save their budget on this project. I don't think so.

I've become anal about guarding the profit. I typically say "I'm sorry but I can't. If I discount from my pricing, I lose money". They usually say OK & I get the job.

If I want the job I may discount it, make a note in their files & make it my mission to get it back. The next bid is likely to be overbid to make room for their petty little negotiations. So if I add $500 to the next job & they want another $150 off I have a bit more profit than I'd normally go for.

Dave
 
the customers that ask for a deduct are the ones that end up adding a $5oo ceiling fan or a $5000 plasma TV. Don't ever let them dangle a carrot because it will always be at the end of that stick and you will never get a bite of it.
 
Not sure hypothetically what I would say, but after reading all the responses, I prefer the ones that would counter offer by eliminating a couple cans or something. :cool:
 
growler said:
I would probably just knock off the $150, not enough to worry about.

Easy enough to add this to the cost ( plus a little ) to the next job, if there is a next job and if not it's only $150 bucks.
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Anyone ever have a customer complain that you charged them $150 per hour?

This customer just made $150 for a five minute e-mail and he gets to pocket the full $150 unlike us.

If $150 isn't enough to worry about then why is the customer worried about it?
 
This really is a personal-feelings kind of question, but my response would be one of these:

"I already discounted the price as far as I could because you're a (pick one:) friend of a friend/good referral/past customer, etc."

Quote from My Cousin Vinny: "Here's my counter offer: I'll meet you half-way and agree to reduce the price by half: $75 off."

"Okay, but it means I won't be able to afford to make the inevitable change or addition that will pop up without an additional charge."

"No."

The $150 is as valuable in your pocket as it is in theirs.
 
I wouldnt do it, im sure its stupid and stubborn not to but the fact that he is a referal/first time custormer and he thinks he can play hard ball with me on the first "date" na. No thanks but if you need the cash go for it.
 
chris kennedy said:
Jets Fan,

Around here we try to avoid jobs of this scale in the first place. Theres only pennies in them. I know your already spread out(Broward and Miami-Dade) so I would have to wonder if its worth it.
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Wow, big timers (avoiding 2k jobs)!

I say accept any job you can get at the price you qouted, because the smaller jobs may change into larger jobs at the time of the job, or in the future.
 
resistance said:
Wow, big timers (avoiding 2k jobs)!

I say accept any job you can get at the price you qouted, because the smaller jobs may change into larger jobs at the time of the job, or in the future.
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Not big timers, a 2K job usually produces $40 or $50 in profit, and many times they produce no profit.

Don't confuse material, and labor money with profit.
 
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