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Custormers "after thoughts"

Randall Brooks

New member
Got to love the late season customer....Got a call to do a Nov house wash,,,wanted the house washed and the deck "washed down". Of course it hasn't been done in 5 years,,lol,,,Told them it wasn't that easy but I "would wash it down" with the house wash mix and it would "not" be a prep for re staining in the spring. Got all that clear yada yada,,,Lady calls back...deck isn't "cleaned" to her liking...OK I'll go back and redo it with a heavy'er mix.... OK it's just X jetting some more bleach,,,did it,,done that,,,Lady calls back and wants to know, "did you do something to the front door?" I said like what? I didn't do anything but wash the house. Now note I only charged them about 80 percent what I would charge for a normal wash due to it being Nov and I don't get calls in Nov so I "took the money". Gave the "deck wash" for free because it's washed anyway with the house wash. Heres the kicker aka long story short....Get a call back today,,,"did you do ANYTHING to my door that you needed to redo the varnish? I said "NO" why? She kept trying....finally I said whats the problem?,,,She said well I was cleaning the windows after you left "because you left them spotty? and I noticed some varnish on the window and I KNOW I'VE CLEANED THEM SINCE IT WAS DONE and theres a "few drops" of varnish on them so I KNOW YOU must have messedd up the door and "tried to fix it" and left varnish on my windows. (Ah Haaa!!!) I told her "did I charge you an extra 800.00 dollars for the job? When she replied "NO" I said thats how you know I didn't "re do" your door. If I had I would have"...Can you believe that,,,she found a few drops of "varnish" on her front door window so "I must have" screwed it up" and tried to fix it and GOT CAUGHT by leaving a drop on the window,,,LOL...Come on,,If I did such a good job fixing the varnish door your bitchin over a few drops on the window that you "had" to clean,,and could not tell anyting on the door?...LOL..If I could "fix" doors that good I'd be do'ing doors for sure,,,,:pukey: Customers,,always worried their getting screwed...got to love it.
 

topcoat

Contributing Member
I've noticed - or you could say even 'profiled' customers who talk you down in price are the ones most worried you will screw them over.

Based on our 2009 experiences, we are putting in place a Behavioral Analysis Unit to do exactly that: profiling. It used to be basic business to try to figure out what the customer wants during the initial meeting. We are taking it to the next level.
 

Carlos Gonzales

New member
Hey Randall ...sound like the customer from ****. Hope things are well..heard you all have been going through some rain down there. I called you a couple weeks ago...hit me when you can!
 

plainpainter

New member
Based on our 2009 experiences, we are putting in place a Behavioral Analysis Unit to do exactly that: profiling. It used to be basic business to try to figure out what the customer wants during the initial meeting. We are taking it to the next level.

Scott - I know you are being sarcastic in a humorous way. But am I reading something else that perhaps you have had some 'interesting' 2009 experiences as well?
 

topcoat

Contributing Member
Scott - I know you are being sarcastic in a humorous way. But am I reading something else that perhaps you have had some 'interesting' 2009 experiences as well?

Fortunately resi int is a small percentage of what we do. At least 3 estimates everytime without fail. And of course someone will do it for less. Similar to some of your experiences. You estimate $2700 for 3 bedrooms and 16 doors throughout the house. Someone else estimates $900. Sometimes you get that one, most of the time you dont. Its a sign of the times. Its as if all consumers have gone to the same website and read 10 Ways to Get a Good Deal With Contractors These Days.

1. Get at least 3 estimates. Its important for contractors to know that its a competetive bidding situation.
2. Require contractor material costs to be passed on to you. Contractors make tremendous profit off materials.
3. Require a detailed written estimate with lots of follow up questions from your highest priced contractor. While you wont hire him, you can use this as a blueprint to demand the same work from the lowest priced contractor.
4. When you get the formal estimate, ask the contractor to throw in an extra room or something.
5. If he is unwilling to compromise, ask him to lower his price.
6. If he refuses to lower his price, tell him that you would really prefer to work with him but his price is just too high.
7. At the intial meeting ask him how long he thinks the job will take, how many people will be working and what the hourly rate is.
8. Pull out a calculator and calculate his labor costs before his very eyes.
9. If the price seems high, and it will, use strategy number 6.
10. If he is totally inflexible on price, ask him for a complete breakdown, room by room, piece by piece and begin ****ering how the cost will be affected if you do certain components of the work yourself. For instance, maybe he could just paint the ceilings, trim, cabinets, stairways, and you could do all the walls yourself. Walls are the largest square footage on a paint job, so this should reduce the price by at least 50% immediately. Even in this case, ask him to supply the materials and pass his discount on to you.

Lets be sure to delete this by the end of the night before it starts showing up on google.
 

plainpainter

New member
The second a prospective homeowner starts voicing out loud how much a gallon of paint costs - immediately makes me want to vomit. Scott - a guy in my area painted a McMansion which use to be an easy 15k job for $5,500. Basically broke down to the guy that it was going to be a quickie spray two coats on body and paint trim. He was able to do the whole job in 5 days flat - it wasn't the highest quality job in the world but it definitely met the price well. The homeowner still complained about how much money the guy made on him, can you believe it? So this guy turns around and asks the homeowner would he have been happier if had he come out and lost money on the job? That afterall he was in business to make money. That's what is happening now, most folks are really 'funny' about money these days.
 

plainpainter

New member
Scott - you know something, I don't even have the heart to bid people I don't know anymore. Strange as it may sound, I can bid and sell deck restorations - and I am getting to quote painting work through that back door. But folks that don't know me, aren't referrals from another customer - I just don't bother anymore. Painting has become a commodity for most people - I know a legion of guys bidding at $16-$20 a man-hour. I am thinking outside the box right now for a future business venture to sell really really high end painting/decorating to homeowners of affluence. But I am going to have to sit down with this woman decorator/designer and hammer out the details. It's either target really 'old' school money or bust.
 

topcoat

Contributing Member
Dan

I'd encourage to consider size of jobs. For my model, there is a threshold of size at which they start to become worthwhile...can be sold and delivered profitably. Anything below that point is not really worth doing.
 

plainpainter

New member
Dan

I'd encourage to consider size of jobs. For my model, there is a threshold of size at which they start to become worthwhile...can be sold and delivered profitably. Anything below that point is not really worth doing.

Tell that to the lady who starts asking me to break down the bid in 8 different ways! I don't even know what to do when they start asking me to do that?

A job I did a couple of years ago was master bedroom repaint, master closet room {a room with a further 3 closets within}, a master bathroom, and another bathroom. All were remodeled - so I had to take them from raw plaster and raw wood to finish. I bid $3,600 - and the next highest bid was $2,500 - and it got cheaper from there! I was able to sell the job, but that was '07 and the writing was on the wall. I worked my azzzz off - and just barely made $40/man-hour after materials. And I was huffing and puffing doing like 2,400 SF of cutting and rolling a day!

I hate the painting trades now - I think the only way to be successful is somehow hook up with a designer, start your own design firm, or somehow incorporate commercial painting and forget residential altogether.
 

Randall Brooks

New member
Talk about painting going to bust,,,My Father in Law has a painting company in Myrtle Beach and like three or four years ago had over 80 employee's,,,,now he's down to I think 4 and one of those is his son...
 

plainpainter

New member
Talk about painting going to bust,,,My Father in Law has a painting company in Myrtle Beach and like three or four years ago had over 80 employee's,,,,now he's down to I think 4 and one of those is his son...

I hate hearing that stuff. But on the other hand I know a half dozen residential landscapers that do design and build as well having record years, what's up with that? Where did landscapers come from? And how come they're all doing like 500-700k of business off the backs of about 6-7 employees?
 

Ken Fenner

Active member
It does always seem to be the "price conscious" people that are the most critical. Critical is one thing, condemning is another. Mud, this is a textbook bad customer. If the check cleared the bank, its perhaps wise to delete her from your database and move on.
 

topcoat

Contributing Member
We had a customer this summer, one of the sikkens strips we did, where on the final walk around, the customer pointed out an upper window that we had "spilled oil on, and it was not like that before."

Difficult window to access, but I sent an employee up to clean it and it turned out that the mess was on the inside of the glass and had enough fly poo and spider webs on it to indicate that it was at least several months old. We hadnt done any interior work on the house, but I asked for access and made it clear that we were willing to clean the inside of the window because it detracts from the exterior visual quality of our work. No charge. Worth it to see the appreciation for going above and beyond. When something small is a big deal, it is always best to just handle it.
 

plainpainter

New member
its perhaps wise to delete her from your database and move on.

Ken - I did a drive by of a bunch of homes recently that I washed this year. At least a half dozen have 'for sale' signs in front. What happens to my database?!?!? That's it - I am getting that T-shirt that that says 'Screwed for life' LOL.
 

topcoat

Contributing Member
Ken - I did a drive by of a bunch of homes recently that I washed this year. At least a half dozen have 'for sale' signs in front. What happens to my database?!?!? That's it - I am getting that T-shirt that that says 'Screwed for life' LOL.

Dan

Whenever I feel this way, I ask myself: "What would DJ do?"

In this case I think of a half dozen things right off the top of my head that DJ would do that you and I and even Fenner himself wouldnt do. He would approach the homeowner with a complete report of what all comps within a 50 mile radius have sold for in the past 6 months, relate that to their asking price, show them that an average walls only interior paint job costs $2500 and yields an immediate ROI of 87% while speeding up the sale of the home on avg by 3 weeks. Sold.

Then, he leaves his card with the Realtor, and keeps track of when the house sells. At which point, he sends the new homeowner a housewarming gift, which includes $20 Starbucks gift card, a 15% off coupon for a custom paint job in the kitchen or master bath, and an Easy Pro magnet for their fridge, among other things like room fresheners etc. He then follows up and explains to them the benefits to them of having Easy Pro handle all of their interior and exterior home maintenance needs going forward.

Then, he goes to work on the neighbors. Meanwhile, the other half dozen houses you described that are also for sale, he has the same thing going on. He ends up hiring a satellite crew to deal with this stuff, while he expands his marketing business. Which, by the way, he has pitched to all 12 realtors he encountered in your customer base sample (6 seller and 6 buyer realtors). He gets orders for 4000 pens and designs letterhead and brochures for 2 real estate offices, who then refer him to their appraisers, mortgage bankers, closing attorneys...

Meanwhile, you, me and Fenner read it on here and go: "Right on, DJ."
 
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