You bring up a good point, Jeff. My definition of a lowballer is a company that sells on price alone and is way out of line with regional pricing. An example would be I bid $575, a painter bids $495, a new guy bids $400 and the proverbial lowballer, comes in at $150. This guy can be an uninsured weekender, a hack that cuts corners or he can also be a larger company that does good work.
The last one is the dangerous one. He is afraid of, or is just plain uninterested in trying to sell work at a higher rate more in line with everyone else. Their price is what sells. He/She drives down the overall market. These are the companies that do well at first. They give decent quality work at a "fair" price.
Well, I am not gonna go out of business so I increase efficiency, lower my wages, sacrifice a bit of work quality and match or undercut him. He does the same. Joe Pro down the block and another big company across town read the writing on the wall and they start charging lower. Three bigger companies in a market advertising and selling jobs at low prices..Now the entire market begins to realize that $135 house washes are the norm. Now the guy that bragged about doing massiive amounts of work finds that his prices aren't so competetive anymore, so what's he do? Its a vicious cycle. Lowballers are a scourge to any industry.
Note: Not everyone that charges the lowest rate is a lowballer. Somebody has to be lowest. Its when they are WAY out of line that they become a lowballer in my eyes.