huggytree
06-12-2009, 10:28 PM
had another bad customer this morning....i knew it was going to be bad 4 days ago when i made the appointment for a bid....went anyways...
was a referral from a remodeler...couldnt understand her well over the phone (german accent).....wanted me to repipe her bathroom(drain) and put a new mixing valve in...i told her $1k-2k range....(this was my prequalifing her)..she made some comment about price and said 'just please come over and bid'...instead of asking more questions about her budget i let it go (my mistake)
i knew she had lead drains and did research on it...found out you cant couple onto it...you must replace it all the way back to cast iron or steel..
showed up...she wasnt home...husband was there in bathrobe...didnt know what was going on....couldnt answer most questions....couldnt get ahold of her on the phone...i was rude and said 'why isnt she here? she should have called to cancel the appointment'...i was mad....
then he tells me he had someone to do the water pipe already...he just needed me to replace 3' of lead pipe....and he wanted a bid for it!!!!..i told him i the correct way and the only way i will do it is to replace all of it..the bath tub(which they want to save) has a lead drain...a new waste/overflow wont work on it...i must replace it....i said $2k+ job....he said nooooooo..the tub stays....i say ok then....im done here, have a good day...he argues with me a bit on my way out the door......i had to just walk away...
they will get 3 bids to do a $150 plumbing project.....they were sooo far off from hiring me it was incredible....we are not a match in any way...i didnt even give him a written bid....no reason to spend 5 more minutes...-100% chance of getting the job...
i saw it coming to a point.....i feel some additional questions over the phone would have saved me the trouble....
can i ask them 'is $1k-2k for plumbing in your budget?'
when i give people a price range i assume they are agreeing to that price range...im finding over and over that people think 'he's not seeing what i see...its much less than that'....i think they just want a bid to see what a real plumber charges..never intending to use me..
that would have brought this all out....i see these things happening every time...i can pick them out...next time im going with my gut and canceling the appointment...this bid took me 2.25 hours w/ drive time (they were far away)
was a referral from a remodeler...couldnt understand her well over the phone (german accent).....wanted me to repipe her bathroom(drain) and put a new mixing valve in...i told her $1k-2k range....(this was my prequalifing her)..she made some comment about price and said 'just please come over and bid'...instead of asking more questions about her budget i let it go (my mistake)
i knew she had lead drains and did research on it...found out you cant couple onto it...you must replace it all the way back to cast iron or steel..
showed up...she wasnt home...husband was there in bathrobe...didnt know what was going on....couldnt answer most questions....couldnt get ahold of her on the phone...i was rude and said 'why isnt she here? she should have called to cancel the appointment'...i was mad....
then he tells me he had someone to do the water pipe already...he just needed me to replace 3' of lead pipe....and he wanted a bid for it!!!!..i told him i the correct way and the only way i will do it is to replace all of it..the bath tub(which they want to save) has a lead drain...a new waste/overflow wont work on it...i must replace it....i said $2k+ job....he said nooooooo..the tub stays....i say ok then....im done here, have a good day...he argues with me a bit on my way out the door......i had to just walk away...
they will get 3 bids to do a $150 plumbing project.....they were sooo far off from hiring me it was incredible....we are not a match in any way...i didnt even give him a written bid....no reason to spend 5 more minutes...-100% chance of getting the job...
i saw it coming to a point.....i feel some additional questions over the phone would have saved me the trouble....
can i ask them 'is $1k-2k for plumbing in your budget?'
when i give people a price range i assume they are agreeing to that price range...im finding over and over that people think 'he's not seeing what i see...its much less than that'....i think they just want a bid to see what a real plumber charges..never intending to use me..
that would have brought this all out....i see these things happening every time...i can pick them out...next time im going with my gut and canceling the appointment...this bid took me 2.25 hours w/ drive time (they were far away)