I know you’re being somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but being an honest, trustworthy, and genuinely pleasant person to deal with will let you get away with at least a 10-25% premium in my opinion (depending on project size). More importantly, if you can deliver that service without charging too much of a premium, you’ll be the first, and maybe only, person I call or recommend for the next project.
No, I’m actually being very serious. I’m self-employed and started my business 2 years ago from scratch with nobody to ask advice from. Everything I do is based on my own judgement, not on a “this is how others do it too” mindset - including my pricing. That’s why I’m asking; I’m curious to hear about people’s expectations. I don’t have any peers to compare my practices to, so I’m only relying on customer feedback. Close to half of them have called me back to do another job, so I guess I’m at least doing something right. I just want to make it a win-win situation as much as possible. I know from personal experience what a nightmare it can be to try and find a quality contractor, so that’s the niche I’m trying to fill.
Enough to make it feel like a punch in the gut. And then they schedule months out. Why do I do this? Two reasons, one i know they have already priced in all the headaches that they deal with on a daily instead of bullshitters who act like it is no big deal and two because once they start I know they will stand by their work and resolve any reasonable unforeseen/ concerns for the price they quoted. Real talk? Im a little lazy trying to get multiple people out and try to price around. If they show up for a quote when we scheduled it and know what they are talking about I pay.
The cheapest contractor usually does the lowest quality of work. Same thing with availability, if they have openings today, there’s a reason for it.
In my experience paying a cheaper contractor just compounds expenses in the future, because you then have to pay what you should have paid to get their mistakes repaired.
Contractors
How much do they charge and how much would you rather be paying? Asking as a contractor.
I know you’re being somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but being an honest, trustworthy, and genuinely pleasant person to deal with will let you get away with at least a 10-25% premium in my opinion (depending on project size). More importantly, if you can deliver that service without charging too much of a premium, you’ll be the first, and maybe only, person I call or recommend for the next project.
No, I’m actually being very serious. I’m self-employed and started my business 2 years ago from scratch with nobody to ask advice from. Everything I do is based on my own judgement, not on a “this is how others do it too” mindset - including my pricing. That’s why I’m asking; I’m curious to hear about people’s expectations. I don’t have any peers to compare my practices to, so I’m only relying on customer feedback. Close to half of them have called me back to do another job, so I guess I’m at least doing something right. I just want to make it a win-win situation as much as possible. I know from personal experience what a nightmare it can be to try and find a quality contractor, so that’s the niche I’m trying to fill.
Enough to make it feel like a punch in the gut. And then they schedule months out. Why do I do this? Two reasons, one i know they have already priced in all the headaches that they deal with on a daily instead of bullshitters who act like it is no big deal and two because once they start I know they will stand by their work and resolve any reasonable unforeseen/ concerns for the price they quoted. Real talk? Im a little lazy trying to get multiple people out and try to price around. If they show up for a quote when we scheduled it and know what they are talking about I pay.
The cheapest contractor usually does the lowest quality of work. Same thing with availability, if they have openings today, there’s a reason for it.
In my experience paying a cheaper contractor just compounds expenses in the future, because you then have to pay what you should have paid to get their mistakes repaired.