Start with a moan

[robert]

Hi Everyone,
Sorry to start with a whinge but why are residential customers so tight.
If a plumber or sparks turns up with car sized van screwdriver and spanner, then 50-60 an hour plus parts is perfectly acceptable to most people, yet if i turn up with crew cab tipper, trailer, mini digger, wacker, generator, breaker,disc cutter, mixer, hand tools, consumables, a groundworker and a labourer then the silly tossers want to pay peanuts.
Sorry to moan but it just gets right up my nose.
So many dreamers get you to waste time pricing jobs they have no intention of getting done.
I just had 1 customer that thought they could get 100 sq m of tarmac driveway for 1000 including breaking out existing 4" concrete slab driveway redig formation level and install drainage and soakaway.
I havent laughed so much for ages

[Muz]

Thankfully not all are, but the only way to end up with a customer who pays you the going rate is get your self a reputation for a decent standard of work. Then the smart ones wont waste money on cowboys, and realise its worth paying a bit more to get the job done right. I've certainly walked away from my fare share of people too .. with a smug notion that they are going to waste their cash .. and its not the first time, I've been called back to fix the mess left by someone else either ... I dont make a big deal of it when it happens, but the customer does look at me knowingly, that he should have listened to me in the first place

You just cant tell them sometimes though, they just have to find all that out for themselves

[ianoz]

So tell us O wise Sage ,How do we pick between the good ones and the Feck wits

[Muz]

So tell us O wise Sage ,How do we pick between the good ones and the Feck wits

When Ive worked it 'all' out .. yez will be the first to know .. no cancel that .. cos that means you'd be retired on the beach before mee

[Stock]

So are they cheap skates or just don't realise the cost of materials, I've prices work for the last 20 odd years and in my experience it two things,
outside of house construction what we do is non-urgent optional work. A plumber or electrician when summoned is considered a necessity so the bill is justified as they perceive it.