DIYbanter - View Single Post - Customers purchacing their own material (long)

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Charlie Morgan wrote:
On 16 Jan 2007 10:30:26 -0800, wrote:

I'm really wondering why any contractor should make money on the
supplies they use to do a job. If you charge a proper hourly amount
(or fixed amount by job - whatever), IMO, you should not need to charge
any markup on supplies.

I am happy to pay a contractor for their work (including time it may
take to obtain/determine necessary supplies). I'm not willing to pay
him/her for someone else's work (the supplies themselves). This is
part of the reason I've started to do most repair/remodel work myself.
Finding an honest and reliable contractor these days is difficult at
best.

Doug

Okay, try this: Go to your favorite restaurant. When the waiter comes
to take your order, hand him a bag containing some eggs, bread, toast,
juice, and butter. Ask him to make your breakfast.

CWM

Right, fair comparison there. Restaurants sell a product for a price,
no arguments. They won't come back to me and say "well, as it turns
out the eggs cost us an extra 15% today so we're going to tack 15% onto
our price for your meal". Or "sorry, but it took us 50% longer than we
thought it would to cook your breakfast. We're going to have to raise
your price by 50%"

Doug