what would you do??

[Mike Evertsen]

you bid on home price 3700.00 client calls says he prefers solid front instead of veneer price goes up 100.00 thens says he wants two sinks
price goes up 65.00 now he wants to bicker on price can you come down 3300.00 you say
I'll call you back,, you sit and do some figuring 3700. + 165.00 = 3865.00 he wants it for 3300.00 ,,, now for my question

1) how would you have handled this?

a) stick to the price even if means losing the job

b) give in to his price just to get work

c) when figuring the price add in a little for bickering

d) other __________________________

[David Blangger]

Mike,

If you drop 500 bucks on a 3800 buck job to get the job it will automatically make the client think if you drop 13% and still make a profit you were overcharging in the first place.

Explain in detail veneer vs. solid wood.

Emphasise the shortcuts in quality a craftsmen would have to do to make a profit.

Plus if you are expecting referals or more work from this guy think of how he would present them. Bottom line stick to your guns!!...if you can afford to do so. If you can't beg him to not refer you to others to keep this from being a bigger problem than it is already.

David

[Jim Becker]

Mike, I gotta agree with David here...price your work appropriately. You are in business here and it's not unreasonable for you to make money doing it. The customer has to accept that the changes they have requested increase both your labor and material costs and your original price was based on the same. It doesn't sound to me like you added any "icing"...

[Bob Wilkerson]

I'd stick to my price unless he changes the specs that would reduce it. One of my friends runs a cabinet shop and learned that reducing prices just lost him money. He reduced the number of jobs for a while but started making good money. After a while, he was busier than ever at higher prices while working more realistic hours. He's a happy man at his shop these days.

It's easy to underbid work just to get the job but I don't like working free.....

Bob

[Ken Salisbury]

STAY THE COURSE ! ! ! !
Like the other responders said - Stay with the prices you quoted

[Bill Grumbine]

AMEN to all the above! Stick to your price. In fact, tell him it is going up 10% for haggling. :D Seriously though, if you drop the price, several things will happen. First, the customer will resent you because he will think you were gouging him beforehand. You will resent yourself because you are working for next to nothing, or even worse, paying for the privilege of working for someone who has given you a bunch of grief. Finally, even if this guy does recommend you to others after you drop your price, you will have a procession of people who think they ALL need to haggle with you to get the best price.

I learned a long time ago that people who want a bare bones price aren't worth working for, regardless of how much you might need or want the business. Even then I slip sometimes. A neighbor called me last year to build a bench for him. The old man was restricted to oxygen, and could hardly move around the house, which was a tiny modular home. Both he and his wife were frail, the children ignored them, blah blah blah. They needed a special bench to cover an exhaust pipe for a space heater. I figured a price for $400, but then out of sympathy for their plight, I lowered it (on my own, not telling him the original price) to pretty much cost at $300. The old bugger complained it was way too much money! He did n't say he couldn't afford it, but rather said he wouldn't spend that much for it. I came to find out he is really loaded, just doesn't spend it.

Next example - new neighbor in a new $300,000 plus home, wants me to repair an imported Italian chandelier. This involved turning a finial to replace the original one which cracked. I gave him a bare bones, welcome to the neighborhood price. You would have thought I asked for a pint of blood! So, I just walked away. He isn't going to give me any more business anyway, so I won't waste time on him.

I have always said, and still do say, the customer is always right. It just takes more for a person to become my customer. :cool:

Bill

[Byron Trantham]

I didn't and it did not pay off. Had a client that wanted a large formica counter top for a bar. I just happen to know what he was quoted from another source. I did my calculations and came up with the same bid, about $50 less. I called and told him. Big hemming and hawing. He said he would call back. In the mean time my wife says to knock off a couple hundred because he represented a lot more future business. I did and he accepted the job. A couple days later he called and wanted a bid on two more jobs. Now we're cookin'. I called him with the bids and to this day he has never called back. Could have at least let me know what was wrong with the bid. I won't back off in the future.

As an aside, I lost more than a couple of hundred dollars. The job required 12' sheets of formica. Due to my inability (inexperience) to handle such large sheets, I broke two of them ($90 ea) before I got it right. The up side is I learned how to handle large sheets. The down side is things never go the way you expect and these irritations can cost you money!

[markus shaffer]

stay with your original estimate. i just don't work for people who want to argue about what my time and effort are worth. unless you really need the work, i'd try to explain the difference between the prices, but if you get a sense that it's going to be more of a hassle than what it's worth, then move on.

i'm by far not the most professional looking person in the world and i could still pass for a high school student to many people. because of this, i end up with some customers thinking that i'm just a kid with a few power tools in a backyard who can nail some boards together in the shape of a bookshelf. these are the people who i won't even bother to deal with.

i don't think people take into account the costs that we all have outside of the materials. especially if you're in the same boat as me; shop rent, utilities, tool maintainence, sharpening, etc... on top of that, i have expenses that a lot of other people don't even consider. i pay nearly $300 per month for a parking space for instance. last night while moving some stuff into my shop, i got a parking ticket for 105 dollars. i have to pay to have a small 1/2 yard dumpster in my shop for trash removal. all these expenses add up. for me to make a profit on top of my ovehead, i have to charge a pretty high hourly rate. if a customer wants to haggle with me on that, i let them go on to the next guy. if a project can be changed so that the material costs can be lowered, that's acceptable to discuss, but my labor costs are not negotiable. i used to try to accomodate everyone who came to me, but some people you just can't please.

your time and effort are worth a certain amount. if people can't understand that, then don't work for them. eventually the people who respect you for what you do and the craftsmanship that you put into your work will come along.

-Markus

[Steve Clardy]

When I give an estimate I try to make it a little high. That covers me when I give them the final price. If they haggle, they can go elsewhere. I usually stay booked and behind around 3 months so I am not looking for a job. I always hate to loose a bid, but learned some time ago I cannot do it all. There is always more work to do if you do good work and do what the customer wants. I get most of my work from referrals, no advertising.
The way I feel when I have spent my time giving an estimate or bid, I have already figured out that I need that much to do the job.
Then again, if you do need the job, my thoughts would be to maybe drop the price $100.00, but no more. There isn't a lot of killer profit in a $3800.00 job.
If you do not need the job and have other work, let it slide. You have already invested several hours figuring the job cost, phone calls etc. That is down the drain and cannot be recovered, just a part of business.
Steve

[Ken Garlock]

I presume you had a formal bid written up for the client to review. If so, the client should have signed off on the price after reviewing the paper and talking with you. That is the agreed price. Any changes to that bid spec. consistutes a Change Order . Change orders are priced separately and paid for in advance. I have been on the client end when we had some major remodeling done on our previous house.

So, figure out what the change costs are and present them with a bill payable upon receipt. If they try to cancel on you, you have everything in writing and can seek compensation for your efforts to date.

In future bids I would include a sentence or two about change orders.

My opiniion is worth what you paid for it.

[Terry Quiram]

Lots of sage advice here. I was in a simular situation, but on a smaller scale. Customer wanted a change and I did the numbers and went back with a new price. Hemming and hawing about new price, yada, yada, yada. I smiled, stuck out my hand and thanked him for thinking of me gave him some names and if he changed his mind to let me know. I knew he was not going to get it any cheaper anywhere else. He came back and my price was higher. Told him my supplier had raised prices. I got the job and he was very happy with the new price. Long story short, don't be afraid to walk away from one.

Terry

[Charles McKinley]

If you really need the work you would be better off finding a client that will pay you than working for nothing or a loss. Assuming you can even do the job at his price as Byron pionted out one slip and you can go deep in the hole.

Just my two cents.

Good luck