if I never go back on areal estate bid again ......

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jimmyglen

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St. Louis, Missouri
Went on a free estimate where the son (along with his dad) is buying a house

they have the trusty home inspection report and we spent 45 minutes going over everything. and I mean EVERYTHING

The dad had used us before for a small job. After I bid the job we get a call that he wants the bid broken out into 2 parts ( I alread have a detailed scope and a firm price with the scope)

I cant break it out they way he wants even if I wanted to because the work in one area in intermingled (outside GFCI,porch lights etc - all fed improperly etc)

I would love to get to the point where we charge a small fee on real estate estimates because you spend forever and get about 10 percent of them. Not only that but I seemed to get pimped for every bit of knowledge I hae ever learned in 20 years

I dont own the company and you guys are the only one who will listen - so sorry for the rant :)

what are friends for anyway ?????
 
I recently worked on an office build out. The space has two tenants moving in and they are sharing the space.

The tenants made a bunch of changes, I wrote up the C/O's, faxed them over. GC calls, "I need you to breakout the work on the west side of the space and the east side."

So I spend another hour redoing the C/O's. The GC is a good customer so I ate the time. Would have been nice to know he needed separate C/O's BEFORE I created them.
 
jimmyglen said:
Went on a free estimate where the son (along with his dad) is buying a house

they have the trusty home inspection report and we spent 45 minutes going over everything. and I mean EVERYTHING

The dad had used us before for a small job. After I bid the job we get a call that he wants the bid broken out into 2 parts ( I alread have a detailed scope and a firm price with the scope)

I cant break it out they way he wants even if I wanted to because the work in one area in intermingled (outside GFCI,porch lights etc - all fed improperly etc)

I would love to get to the point where we charge a small fee on real estate estimates because you spend forever and get about 10 percent of them. Not only that but I seemed to get pimped for every bit of knowledge I hae ever learned in 20 years

I dont own the company and you guys are the only one who will listen - so sorry for the rant :)

what are friends for anyway ?????
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After we went thru that process, we learned that the other EC's were all charging from $200 to $250 for a home inspection estimate, they credit the customer with $49 if they accept the contract to do the work. Your not just presenting a price, your ovening boxes and doing work, free estimate is something a painter, or carpet cleaning service may do, not an electrician with a service truck and years of trainning.
 
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jimmyglen said:
Went on a free estimate where the son (along with his dad) is buying a house
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I would rather deal with the seller than the buyer. The seller is more motivated to get things repaired. Once they buy a house most people are not really that worried about the home inspection report, it's just a bargaining tool.
 
satcom said:
After we went thru that process, we learned that the other EC's were all charging from $200 to $250 for a home inspection estimate, they credit the customer with $49 if they accept the contract to do the work. Your not just presenting a price, your ovening boxes and doing work, free estimate is something a painter, or carpet cleaning service may do, not an electrician with a service truck and years of trainning.
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I did my time on these Freebees-from-Hell. Now they either pay or I give them to the competition. Dad is figuring what he can do himself after pumping you for information.

Dave

BTW I had one of these yesterday for the seller & did $1400 in a half day with $300 materials.
 
Sparky555 said:
BTW I had one of these yesterday for the seller & did $1400 in a half day with $300 materials.
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That's because the seller needs an invoice ( on company letter head ) from a licensed electrician before he goes to closing . The buyer doesn't need a darn thing so he can do the work himself.
 
When a house is being purchased many games are being played by the buyer, sellers, and all agents. Why not join in on the game? Call it a "Home Electrical Evaluation" and make someone pay for it. Everyone else has there hands out when a house is being purchased. Don't forget to add a fee if its notarized:smile:
Honestly if you explain to customer that 90% of the time you never end up getting these jobs I think they would understand you charging them for the estimate especially if you take the time to type a detailed estimate
 
always seems like you did the home inspectors job again doesn't it, so charge for it, is anyone's time more important then anyone else's?. I agree with 480, tack 5-10% onto each half thats very fair considering travel time and everything else. Two half days is always more then one full day.
 
another thing to consider is the buyers have you come up with a good size bid to fix everything you can find wrong, but the buyers only want the bid to get money out of the seller and have no intention of ever doing the work or they have some handyman guy they know try to do it.
 
I use to do lots of real estate work.
When they call and want an estimate. I ask them to read the home inspectors report to me. If it sounds like small stuff. I don't do an estimate. I charge time and material.
If they mention any thing about the panel box needing an upgrade. I will go over their pretty quick to give a quote price.
I try to feel them out on the phone. I ask if they are the buyer or seller.
Sometimes I will give a ball park price over the phone.
Generally you have a better chance of getting the job when you are their in person.
 
jimmyglen said:
I would love to get to the point where we charge a small fee on real estate estimates because you spend forever and get about 10 percent of them. Not only that but I seemed to get pimped for every bit of knowledge I hae ever learned in 20 years
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These clowns are just playing the game. Looking to save a buck on the price of the house. Hard to fault them for that. But YOU have to play the game too. When (extremely rarely) I do one of these estimates, it's $100.00 to show up, $100.00 for them to pick up the estimate. Bare bones "estimate" only.
 
I charge $150 to come out to look at a real estate job and give an estimate. I also credit back the $150 if we get the job. I've never had to credit the money back. I can't tell anyone how to do their job but you should charge for this kind of estimate or evaluation. 99 out of 100 just want the numbers to negotiate - buyer or seller.
 
CopperTone said:
I charge $150 to come out to look at a real estate job and give an estimate. I also credit back the $150 if we get the job. I've never had to credit the money back. I can't tell anyone how to do their job but you should charge for this kind of estimate or evaluation. 99 out of 100 just want the numbers to negotiate - buyer or seller.
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This is a sensible approach. If they can shell out a few hundred bucks for a "home inspector" then a fee for the professional electrician should be a no-brainer.
 
CopperTone said:
I charge $150 to come out to look at a real estate job and give an estimate. I also credit back the $150 if we get the job. I've never had to credit the money back. I can't tell anyone how to do their job but you should charge for this kind of estimate or evaluation. 99 out of 100 just want the numbers to negotiate - buyer or seller.
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Why would I credit ANYTHING back? It's hard enough to get money out of people, I certainly am not gving any back. :grin:
 
I typically give free estimates. I credit it back if we get the job just like it was a free estimate. If we don't get the job, then we get $150 for the evaluation.
Real estate jobs are the only situation I credit back or charge for estimates.
 
electricmanscott said:
Why would I credit ANYTHING back? It's hard enough to get money out of people, I certainly am not gving any back. :grin:
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You figure out the estimate then add the amount for the credit to it. You're not really giving it back if you add the amount to the estimate. It also gives them some incentive to have you do the work so they can get the credit. :)
 
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