- Location
- Massachusetts
peter d said:Never in my life have I seen more people in a skilled/professional occupation more resistant to maximizing profit than electricians.
Take a look at the airlines.
peter d said:Never in my life have I seen more people in a skilled/professional occupation more resistant to maximizing profit than electricians.
iwire said:Take a look at the airlines.
peter d said:Well, I meant people who acquire a skill set (apprenticeable occupations or degree requirement) and then go into business (rather than an entire industry like airlines).......things like accountant, lawyer, doctor, dentist, mechanical trades....etc
iwire said:I think if we really thought about it there are many examples of this.
peter d said:Yes, of course there are. It just happens to affect us more directly as electricians because we work in this industry, and that is what I find troubling.
iwire said:I just find it kind of troubling that you keep putting ECs down like they are the only poor business people.
aline said:Maybe it would have only ended up costing $250.00 if all contractors charged for estimates and he didn't have to factor in his expenses for all the free estimates he gave and didn't get the job.
growler said:Only about the top 1% of contractors ever bid the multi-million dollar jobs, it's a very exclusive club. They do try to keep the Rif Raf out by making the entrace fee to the game high.
I doubt if you will ever see anyone bidding those jobs that's not already paying very high fees to be members of other clubs ( the vey best Country Clubs ).
Has nothing at all to do with charging for estimates for small residential work. Some people may not like it but it's already an established business proceedure.
Maybe I'm missing something but this was my thought.LawnGuyLandSparky said:I doubt that 50% of a contractor's expenses are attributable to estimating.
I haven't seen where Home Depot or Lowe's advertise free estimates.LawnGuyLandSparky said:I've said before, Sears, Home Depot, Lowe's all advertize free estimates until you read the fine print - it's free in that it's cost is credited to the work if you agree to the work... Even car repair shops, especially transmission shops around here all pull the same stunt. If you fail to sign the dotted line, the creditable fee for the estimate is non-refundable.
LawnGuyLandSparky said:I doubt that 50% of a contractor's expenses are attributable to estimating.
Sparky555 said:True enough. Half of the TIME (in residential service) isn't billed to any specific job, and the majority of that unbilled time is in free estimates, if you do free estimates. The most significant change that can be make to reduce the quantity of unbilled hours is to limit free estimates.
Dave
aline said:Maybe I'm missing something but this was my thought.
The big box stores charge $100 for an in home consultation (estimate).
If they get 1 job out of 3 estimates they credit the $100 estimate to the job they got which leaves them with $200 from the other two estimates they didn't get.
Another contractor gives 3 free estimates and gets 1 job out of the three.
This leaves him with zero from the other two estimates. He came up with a price of $450 for the job.
The big box store came up with a price of $550 for the job but credit back the $100 estimate fee for a price of $450 as well. The difference is the big box store already has $200 more than the guy that gave the free estimates. So why couldn't the big box store knock $200 of the $450 price if they wanted to? Had they given free estimates they wouldn't of even had this $200 to begin with. They could just knock $50 off the price and do it for $400.
Some people have more trust in hiring the big box stores than they do hiring an independent contactor. They feel safer going through the big box store to have the work done. They're not as worried about them skipping town with their money or that they won't be around if they have problems in the future.
LawnGuyLandSparky said:Limit free estimates and you're limiting or eliminating potential customers.
This morning I paid $52 to have a plumber come out and tell my wife he has to order a part to fix my outside faucet and that he will be back to fix it when the part comes in.emahler said:actually, if done properly, limiting your free estimates increases your number of viable customers....when we did resi service, we realized hat no everyone was our customer...we only targeted about 20 percent of he population in area we covered....that was our customers
Yeah, I have to agree with this. It eliminates those can't or won't pay.emahler said:actually, if done properly, limiting your free estimates increases your number of viable customers....when we did resi service, we realized hat no everyone was our customer...we only targeted about 20 percent of he population in area we covered....that was our customers
So if you get another estimate and it's half the price of the first estimate how do you know the second price isn't just nuts or something?petersonra said:I doubt many HO's call for multiple estimates. A project's budget is an important part of the project. if you get a price that is just insane compared to what money you have available to do the project, you either cancel the project, modify it in some way, or get another estimate to see if the first price was just nuts or something.