DIYbanter - View Single Post - Any tricks for getting "contractor" discount on supplies?

(Doug Miller) writes:
In article , ender (Jeffrey J. Kosowsky) wrote:

I agree that if reputation is excellent and price quote is reasonable
then no need to break quote into part and labor. My complaint is more
against the deceptive practice of breaking up pricing into parts and
labor when the breakout is really into (parts + labor) + labor.

There's no deception involved. You can't seem to get your mind around the
simple concept that only the *total* price matters. How the contractor chooses
to break it down is irrelevant.

Suppose I bid on a job for you, and we agree on a total price of $500. Then,
when I present my invoice showing $200 for materials (that cost me $100) and
$300 for labor, you complain that I'm overpricing my materials -- but if I had
presented an invoice showing $100 for materials and $400 for labor, you'd be
okay with that???

You seem to not be able to read what I write. I have said many times
that I have nothing wrong with total price bid. Just if you are going
to break it into parts and labor, then you should do so in a way that
reasonably represents the two components. Otherwise, at best you are
providing useless information and at worse you are misleading me into
believing that your labor is more competitively priced than your
competitors and that the difference in materials cost is due to true
difference in choice of materials.