"JsWLazenby" wrote in message
news:xXpQd.18890$uc.18637@trnddc05...
Precious! A delightful read!

You should print up some cards, Phil, with this response on
the back.

Ive been tempted.. but I find most people dont read or
listen to your rationale anyway... they buy on schmooze, hot
air and bull****..and what can be made to look at least like a
low price....or some kind of world class one of a kind job
complete with invented slang terms so they cannot price
shop....'we are the ONLY ones selling this new 'turbonated'
heat pump.. its very advanced, the ordinary contractors have
no clue about it.... thats common too.,, and of course the
'turbinated' heat pump doesnt exist...its a pure conn job.





And, I should plagiarize it, giving you author-credit of
course.

plagiarize away...I dont need any credit either..Ive seen
better ways of handling the public from others... the best
ones always boil down to being totally and bluntly frank about
how it is in river city with no guilding on it at all... then
quoting high enough to make the pain in the ass worth the
trouble.

Optionally its a total schmooze job..but thats not my style.
One has to do what comes natural good techs dont schmooze
well... good schmoozers are usually short on tech skills.


I also tell em " I have 3 prices... absolute perfection...
perfect work and no mess ...and fast... thats about $5,000
for this job.

Slap dash, if thats what you can afford.. quick and dirty but
what some people can live with is $1,500 dollars..but I don't
work like that..

.. my quote for the work to the standard of the rest of your
property, done in a reasonable time, with the normal mess and
noise......quality work but not perfect work ....$2,500.

that blows off the chizzlers as it defeats their later claim
that the work you did was sub standard.. it educates the
decent people to the actual scene. Those will generally pick
the mid range option...some will ask who to call for a hash
job...and thats fair... I tell them who to call. Sometimes a
hash job is all the person wants.



On industrial work I give em a long menu of features to select
from.... with prices... thats undefeatable..if they check it
off.. it costs them... if the total is too high compared to
the competition I tell em to compare lists and decide what
features they don't want...when they change thier mind later,
its all on the menu with prices attached. I can bill for the
design and engineering separately, driving the line item
numbers down.


sometimes I list out the material costs on some items..
lacking that many folks seem to think all the money from a
line item goes to buy me fun times at the moonlight ranch.
that keeps em from demanding a 20,000 dollar kick back on
30,000 dollar job...

I tell some that that they can go down to skid row early
enough, before the guys get drunk again for the day and hire
carpenters, electricians, controls engineers, CEO's and brain
surgeons for 6 dollars... Ive had a few actually ask for a
map and some names.



Phil Scott




Jim


"Phil Scott" wrote in
message
.. .

"Gideon" wrote in message
...
Better yet, ask for references for work which the
contractor
hasn't completed
yet or work which hasn't even started yet. Talk to
those
customers after the
work has been completed. That way, the contractor can't
cherrypick by just
give you the names of extremely satisfied customers.
For
exterior work and
additions, you should be able to stop by once or twice
and
observe the work in
progress.


References of course are a good thing..however Ive seen in
this area a very high percentage of utterly ill informed
and
often nasty customers what whine to me about what a loser
his
last contractor was....and since I know most of these guys
I
can say in many cases the complaints are bogus. No job
is
perfect.



Many good contractors are trashed to the max on almost
totally
irrelevant or unavoidable minor issues.

So when getting refferences Id also ask if the person
could
detail any problems..... if they start off with '''ya ...
and
their men parked RIGHT IN MY DRIVWAY to unload the
material...
etc."

You have your first clue... that customer was nutz. I
tell Id
be glad to do thier work but am booked up until 2008,



there is no shortage of those in some areas.
and they do it to chizzle the bills also.

Many customers in this area seem to think they have hired
you
8 am to 5 pm daily until the job is finished.. they have
no
clue that the work is simple contracted to meet a
completion
schedule even after you point that out ,,,

Some will say... 'ya and he showed up at 10 am some days
and
was gone by 2 ... some days he didnt show up at all...'...
so it pays to ask for the details.

also ask about the price too... many customers will shop a
$30,000 job until they find someone that will do it for
15,000
dollars on a part time as available schedule... or beat
the
price down to 10,000 then complain when they didnt get the
materials specified in the higher priced contracts.

A very good percentage of the general public has no
clue...
and many are abusive or terminally impatient and
unrealistic a
about construction logistics and mess etc.

Ive had some demand a thousand dollars worth of dust
prevention, fans, sealed doors, floors and walls etc... be
placed in order to shield a 20 second saw cut in dry wall
on a
job quoted at $200.

Myself I interview the customer before the job starts we
chat
about thier experience with other tradesman, and if they
whine
a lot I decline to quote them. Others fool me... I
quote
them.. then if they can find a fingerprint on the wall
somewhere they want to deduct 600 dollars from a 1200 bill
to
cover repainting the entire room.or they will 'sue'...or
call
the mafia..

Im sure there are bad contractors around, Ive ruin into
more
than a few. Most are fair to OK though and the abuse they
get
from customers is not warranted.

I asked one ****ing and moaning home owner why they called
me
if their last contractor was so good...

The customer said.... ' he way too high, he rip us
off'...'you
recommended by my friend, he say you the best one in whole
area'.

Then after the work starts he complains about me...

the complaint with me exact quote "You soww up 9
okwok!!!
You NOT sow up at 8 okwok..I pay I pay I pay... you not
sow
up.. den you LEEEBE at 2 okwok.. .. I no pay .... I no
pay...
you charge me $1.98 for calking...I buy $1.92...1.92 .
1.92.... YOU *CHEAT ME.. 6 cent... 6 cent....you not
finish... you not finish...I call police, I call police.."

So much for being the best in the whole area I guess.

My last commercial restaurant customer was whining about
15
minutes travel time even though I gave him the drive back
in
traffic (45 minutes free)... I handed him a 50 dollar bill
...
he was still whining ...it was an integrity thing he
said..

He didnt want to pay for all of my work time since I had
to
park so far away from his store in downtown San
Francisco...
(no parking during rush hour).., alley parking they tow
first,
then ticket,,, cost 300 dollars or more.... he felt that
ran
up the bill... he wanted me to deduct some of the time to
get
the bill down to what thinks is fair. and was a well
meaning
guy too... he was sincere in his remarks

he sells 8 dollar sandwiches... two slices of bread, some
sprouts and a turkey slice. Not bad. A good sandwich.


No reference from those guys though....damn.


I do industrial controls mostly now I tell the
other
customers that I do the best I can, and thats usually
very
good but seldom perfect in every detail as that costs more
than a job warrants in many cases.. and that they are to
watch
me closely, and the first instant that they see the work
is
not going according to their expectations they are to fire
me
and I will leave and collect my hourly rate and materials
to
date.

That tactic has stopped most of the complaining..



Phil Scott
www.philscott.net