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I lowballed the bids.

Ken Fenner

Active member
Very strange evening.. I had three bids that ended up in an area I don't usually service but they were grouped and nice projects.

First was a house wash. 3000 s/f vinyl colonial. With gutter scrubbing and wax polymer, $675. Front facing roofs (one over second story, one over garage, maybe 1000 s.f)) add on $350. Guy tells me I am half of what the last guy bid. Alright!

Next bid.. two neighbors, side by side. Small decks, about 250 s/f. Bid those $895 each and one lady exclaims.. "I like that price! I've gotten other bids and yours is the best". Hearing that of course made the other lady sign as well.

At this point I was listening for the voice of Rod Serling (You old timers know who I am talking about)

Third and final bid was an ipe deck. 1100 s.f. Painers bid $3600. I bid $2200. Homeowner called the painters "crooks".



My apologies to the contractors in West Chester who bid these projects. I thought the rates in my area were the highest. I will not make that mistake again. For the time being I wear the tag shamefully... :redface:

Lowballer.
 

David Vicars

New member
Someone once told me, if your closing ratio is 100% you need to raise your prices.:Smiley-2101:

:eek:fftopic:I just signed a client who is from West Chester. This is their 2nd home here in MB. I'll pass your info to them if you want.
 

Carlos Gonzales

New member
Someone once told me, if your closing ratio is 100% you need to raise your prices.:Smiley-2101:

:eek:fftopic:I just signed a client who is from West Chester. This is their 2nd home here in MB. I'll pass your info to them if you want.

LOL...Yea Ken..whats up with that?

I closed a contract on Monday ~ thats next Monday ~ for 25K. Why? Cause the client already told me that I got it!!! BooYaaa. I do need to go out and look it..:biggrin:

Seriously ...cograts dude. Were these the ones that you went out on this afternoon after we spoke?
 

Ken Fenner

Active member
Someone once told me, if your closing ratio is 100% you need to raise your prices.:Smiley-2101:

:eek:fftopic:I just signed a client who is from West Chester. This is their 2nd home here in MB. I'll pass your info to them if you want.

You know how it goes, David. You win six in a row and then you don't close the next ten. In the end, it always averages out the same.
 

Scott Davis

New member
Hahaha

Sounds like a roof cleaning we did about 7 months ago. We went out to do the estimate and the roof looked really easy. It wasnt that steep, didnt have any gables, and it was low barrel tile. Easy. We charged our normal amount, which came out to $800, and I was nervous to give him the bid thinking it was too high, but didnt want to discount it at the same time. When I presented him the bid, he took the paper signed it and asked when we could do the job. I was like WOW!! He then proceeded to tell me that he had gotten another bid from a guy who showed up in a beater truck w/ a pressure washer in the back, and quoted him $1,500!!!

My jaw hit the floor!
 

Damaris Sutton

New member
Very strange evening.. I had three bids that ended up in an area I don't usually service but they were grouped and nice projects.

First was a house wash. 3000 s/f vinyl colonial. With gutter scrubbing and wax polymer, $675. Front facing roofs (one over second story, one over garage, maybe 1000 s.f)) add on $350. Guy tells me I am half of what the last guy bid. Alright!

Next bid.. two neighbors, side by side. Small decks, about 250 s/f. Bid those $895 each and one lady exclaims.. "I like that price! I've gotten other bids and yours is the best". Hearing that of course made the other lady sign as well.

At this point I was listening for the voice of Rod Serling (You old timers know who I am talking about)

Third and final bid was an ipe deck. 1100 s.f. Painers bid $3600. I bid $2200. Homeowner called the painters "crooks".



My apologies to the contractors in West Chester who bid these projects. I thought the rates in my area were the highest. I will not make that mistake again. For the time being I wear the tag shamefully... :redface:

Lowballer.

::Grabs Ken by Neck:: I was the painter.... :headshakesmile-fast
 

Doug Dahlke

Donating Member
Imagine this. You are bidding work for your power washing business. Your price structure has been lowered in an attempt to keep your head above water in a less than desirable economy. You hand the potential customer your bid confident that business will be coming your way only to find out that you have been low balled by Ken Fenner and Pressure Pros. Fasten your seat belts. You're about to enter the Twighlight Zone.
 

Terry Miller

New member
I believe no matter what I Bid, someone is always higher and someone lower. I don't even think about anyone elses Bid anymore. Mine is the only one that counts! Based on our financial plan, we said it and we use it. It is good to know where we actually stand!
 

Jim Chesmore

New member
Very strange evening.. I had three bids that ended up in an area I don't usually service but they were grouped and nice projects.

First was a house wash. 3000 s/f vinyl colonial. With gutter scrubbing and wax polymer, $675. Front facing roofs (one over second story, one over garage, maybe 1000 s.f)) add on $350. Guy tells me I am half of what the last guy bid. Alright!

Next bid.. two neighbors, side by side. Small decks, about 250 s/f. Bid those $895 each and one lady exclaims.. "I like that price! I've gotten other bids and yours is the best". Hearing that of course made the other lady sign as well.

At this point I was listening for the voice of Rod Serling (You old timers know who I am talking about)

Third and final bid was an ipe deck. 1100 s.f. Painers bid $3600. I bid $2200. Homeowner called the painters "crooks".



My apologies to the contractors in West Chester who bid these projects. I thought the rates in my area were the highest. I will not make that mistake again. For the time being I wear the tag shamefully... :redface:

Lowballer.

I'm soooo confused :Smiley-2041::toetap05:

when they said you are half the price of the other guys I would have expected you to look at your contract and say "whoops, I must have hit the wrong keys on the calculator, here is the correct price (25% more then the comp.)" AND STILL make the sale :biggrin:
 

Ken Fenner

Active member
Imagine this. You are bidding work for your power washing business. Your price structure has been lowered in an attempt to keep your head above water in a less than desirable economy. You hand the potential customer your bid confident that business will be coming your way only to find out that you have been low balled by Ken Fenner and Pressure Pros. Fasten your seat belts. You're about to enter the Twighlight Zone.

Pretty scary huh? There is a first time for everything.
 

Ken Fenner

Active member
Scott, true that! I don't about the rest of the country but I am not off one bit. Calls are coming in and people are signing. The housing market is making a slight rebound (as per a friend in that business). Even the mall parking lots seem to be much more full.

Its all because of your hero, BHO, Scott. :clap:
 

Jeff Wible

New member
Lowballing is an interesting subject. What may be lowballing to some, is survival to another. Ever see those stores that will beat any competitors advertised price,...I believe that is lowballing at it's finest,...BUT,...they got the customer and possibly more sales to the customer because they got them to their store to redeem the best price award.

Now along with the house wash,... you sell the roof and the deck.

Lowballing is more along the lines of serious competition, it's not a personal thing,...(at least in most cases).
Usually comes down to someone being mad because the guy charging less got the job. So they are labeled LOWBALLING SCUM OF THE EARTH
Giving a better price doesn't make someone a hack,...usually keeps their phone ringing.

Jeff
 

Jim Chesmore

New member
Scott, true that! I don't about the rest of the country but I am not off one bit. Calls are coming in and people are signing. The housing market is making a slight rebound (as per a friend in that business). Even the mall parking lots seem to be much more full.

Its all because of your hero, BHO, Scott. :clap:

now I know this is the Twilight Zone, wheres my coffee?:saai:
 

makdeco

New member
Yeah Ken, you know us painters were all crooks...

I would have to say that most painters including my self at one time had are over priced on decks. Mostly because of being uneducated about the proper methods, chemicals, and top coats that are out there.

Most painters are running up to the big box and buying Behr, washing the deck and slapping on another coat... and usually get good money to do it. Then when it needs to be totally stripped the clients wonders why the price is high for another painter to strip it.

When you know what your doing you should be able to make money at it even if your the lower in price.
 

Scott Davis

New member
Lowballing is an interesting subject. What may be lowballing to some, is survival to another. Ever see those stores that will beat any competitors advertised price,...I believe that is lowballing at it's finest,...BUT,...they got the customer and possibly more sales to the customer because they got them to their store to redeem the best price award.

Now along with the house wash,... you sell the roof and the deck.

Lowballing is more along the lines of serious competition, it's not a personal thing,...(at least in most cases).
Usually comes down to someone being mad because the guy charging less got the job. So they are labeled LOWBALLING SCUM OF THE EARTH
Giving a better price doesn't make someone a hack,...usually keeps their phone ringing.

Jeff

I think you are right in a way. Where the problem comes in is where I charge $800 and another guy charges $250, takes 2 days and does a lackluster job. It makes roof cleaners look bad, and takes money out of my pocket. Now its easy to say "well, let him only charge that much and he'll go out of business." And thats all fine and good, except in the mean time, he is taking $800 out of my pocket while not furthering his life AT ALL.

Just charging less than someone is fine, but there is a difference in being competively priced, and LOWBALLING.
 

Scott Davis

New member
Scott, true that! I don't about the rest of the country but I am not off one bit. Calls are coming in and people are signing. The housing market is making a slight rebound (as per a friend in that business). Even the mall parking lots seem to be much more full.

Its all because of your hero, BHO, Scott. :clap:

We are not off either!! Phone has been ringing, websites been popping and people have been signing the dotted line. For some reason, we dhave seen a slight slowdown in the past week but its still rolling in. :yes:

BHO my a$$. :pukey: If they keep spending like this we'll be in a depression before you know it. :yes::eek:fftopic:
 

deach

New member
Any more when I bid I can almost tell exactly who I'm bidding against if the customer tells me "you're double the price" or something to that affect. I think my April is actually up from last year too. People wanting to get decks done that have sat for a while and houses washed. (For the record the painting end is up too). So I'm not sure if the economy is "bad" or "good" right now. (mines ok).

Gonna have my coffee and go to the twilight zone now:biggrin: Enjoyed your post Ken
 

Jeff Wible

New member
I agree 100% Scott,....but the term lowballer always seems to be associated with cost. This very thread was started with a comical "lowballed" comment. Which is fine, and Ken was just joking around,..but the mere fact is he was using the term "lowballer" on cost alone,... and no mention of workmanship . Although this whole thread is in jest,...it makes the point of what people "consider" lowballing.

Ken, I know this thread is in jest, but it brings to light the way people actually perceive the term lowballer.

Jeff
 
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