Reasons For Not Giving Free Estimates

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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.
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Most electricians don't have a clue about how much a job should cost.
Just look at how many post on forums asking how much they should charge. :)
How would you expect a homeowner to know?

petersonra said:
or get another estimate to see if the first price was just nuts or something.
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This is what most homeowners do until they find someone dumb enought to do it for the money they have available. :)
 
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aline said:
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? :)
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As long as the guy actually does the work right, I really do not care one bit if he loses his shirt on the project.

I have had several home remodeling projects where the low bid was well under 50% of the high bid and the low bid guy did really nice work.

I also had a very expensive bathroom remodeling done, with the high bidder (selected by now ex-wife), where it was a big mess.

I just do not believe there is any direct relationship between price and quality. I also believe in the concept of good enough.
 
petersonra said:
I doubt many HO's call for multiple estimates.
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Are you serous? :-?

I think entirely the opposite.

When I needed my driveway done I had at least four contractors out to give prices. Glad I did as the prices where from 2500 to 7500 but with each person proposing entirely different methods.
 
petersonra said:
I just do not believe there is any direct relationship between price and quality. I also believe in the concept of good enough.
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Look at having a concrete driveway poured. The concrete can be poured directly on the clay soil or the soil clay soil can be dug out and the proper base brought in before the concrete is poured. The slump of the concrete is another factor. These factors will increase the price.

The concrete may look just as good but one may last many years while the other starts cracking and breakin up within a few years.

Is the cheaper guy going to dig out the clay and bring in the proper fill?
Is the cheaper guy going to water down the concrete?
Does the cheaper guy pay his labor less money so he doesn't have the best concrete finishers on his crews?

When you buy a electric drill or saw do you look for the cheapest one you can find? From what I've seen the better ones cost more money.
 
there is a reason that the most successful residential service companies are the pickiest and the most expensive...that doesn't mean that the most expensive are the most successful..it means that the most successful are usually the most expensive...
 
petersonra said:
As long as the guy actually does the work right, I really do not care one bit if he loses his shirt on the project.
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Many people feel this way. I feel it's unfortunate people feel this way.

Maybe it's because I'm a contractor and know what it's like but I hate to see someone work on my home doing something I'm benefitting from and losing money doing it.

I've paid contractors more than what their bid was when I felt like they weren't charging enough for the service they provided.

I had the springs replaced on my garage door. The guy came out on a saturday and did the work. I felt he didn't charge me enough for comming out on a saturday and doing the work so I gave him an extra $50 and told him to take his wife out to dinner on me.

I've had a few times when customers have done this for me as well. Very few times though. It doesn't hurt to tip a contractor once in awhile if you feel they've done an exceptional job.

Maybe I'm just too soft hearted but I feel a little guilty when I don't think someone is getting paid enough.
My wife is always telling me I tip too much when we go out to dinner.
 
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petersonra said:
I just do not believe there is any direct relationship between price and quality. I also believe in the concept of good enough.
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Ever see the episode of the King of Queens where Carrie has laser surgery for her eyes and Doug finds a guy to do it for half the other guys price?

If you were having open heart surgery would you be looking for the cheapest price? Would you still believe in the concept of good enough? :)

I agree that a higher price doesn't mean a guy does better work but I think it's rare that the lowest priced guy does the best work. I feel like you usually get what you pay for.
 
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petersonra said:
As long as the guy actually does the work right, I really do not care one bit if he loses his shirt on the project.
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Not until you call for warranty work & their phone is disconnected. Then you have to go through the whole process of finding another contractor & pay for the warranty work. One of the major differences in contractors...those that provide warranty service, and those that give alibis or go out of business.

Dave
 
Sparky555 said:
Not until you call for warranty work & their phone is disconnected. Then you have to go through the whole process of finding another contractor & pay for the warranty work. One of the major differences in contractors...those that provide warranty service, and those that give alibis or go out of business.

Dave
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This is a good point. I get alot of calls from people who can't get the contractor to come back and finish the job or come back and fix something that not working and wasn't done properly. The guy lost his shirt and went out of business or just won't answer his phone because he lost enough on the job to begin with and doesn't want to go back and lose some more.
 
aline said:
Ever see the episode of the King of Queens where Carrie has laser surgery for her eyes and Doug finds a guy to do it for half the other guys price?

If you were having open heart surgery would you be looking for the cheapest price? Would you still believe in the concept of good enough? :)

I agree that a higher price doesn't mean a guy does better work but I think it's rare that the lowest priced guy does the best work. I feel like you usually get what you pay for.
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I don't disagree that often you get what you pay for.

I also don't doubt that sometimes the low bidder is going to do a poor job.

I also know from long experience that there is no guarantee whatsoever that the higher bidder will do a better job than someone bidding a lower price.

I just do not consider price in my evaluation of quality.
 
aline said:
Many people feel this way. I feel it's unfortunate people feel this way.

Maybe it's because I'm a contractor and know what it's like but I hate to see someone work on my home doing something I'm benefitting from and losing money doing it.

I've paid contractors more than what their bid was when I felt like they weren't charging enough for the service they provided.

I had the springs replaced on my garage door. The guy came out on a saturday and did the work. I felt he didn't charge me enough for comming out on a saturday and doing the work so I gave him an extra $50 and told him to take his wife out to dinner on me.

I've had a few times when customers have done this for me as well. Very few times though. It doesn't hurt to tip a contractor once in awhile if you feel they've done an exceptional job.

Maybe I'm just too soft hearted but I feel a little guilty when I don't think someone is getting paid enough.
My wife is always telling me I tip too much when we go out to dinner.
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I don't have an issue with you giving the service guy a tip because you felt he did something special for you.

But for normal work, done in a normal way, on a normal schedule, whatever sum we agreed on is the amount he is getting from me.
 
Sparky555 said:
Not until you call for warranty work & their phone is disconnected. Then you have to go through the whole process of finding another contractor & pay for the warranty work. One of the major differences in contractors...those that provide warranty service, and those that give alibis or go out of business.

Dave
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The very expensive remodeling contractor used by my ex to redo the bathroom went out of business not too long ago.

One of the co-owners murdered the other co-owner.

If the work is done correctly in the first place, warranty service is not really much of an issue.
 
aline said:
Most electricians don't have a clue about how much a job should cost.
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Hmmm....If i didn't have a clue about what a job should cost, i wouldn't get much business. It's fairly cut and dried....set rates for everday projects (i.e. changing devices and fixtures, adding circuits, hot tubs, etc.), or $65 an hour for troubleshooting and repairs.
 
aline said:
He tells me it's an easy job and any competent electrician should be able to do it so he's going with the lowest bid. It would have been nice of him to have called me sooner and let me know this, instead of when I'm heading out to the job.

These are the kind of customers that I'm trying to weed out.
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Amen, brother!
 
petersonra said:
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.
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I looked at the bill when I got home. It was actually $55 for the service call plus 1/4 hour @ $92/hour for a total of $78. And it is still not fixed. My wife did say the guy told her we would not have to pay a second service call charge when they do come back.
 
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