discount for important new customer

[huggytree]

ive been working on this new remodeler for over a year. he's a high end guy who still has work...he complains about his current plumber and just seems like a quality guy all the way around...

finally i get a shot to bid...its a cottage he's remodeling to live in for his primary home. So im bidding against his regular plumber. His plumber owe's him for years of work...i owe him nothing...i did give him fixtures at 1/2 markup $-400.....i was out bid by $2,400...my bid was $12,900.....

when you assume parts are equal and just look at labor i was $6,000...how could his plumber be at $3,600 for the same thing...thats almost 1/2...i am sure cheaper parts have something to do with it, but its just crazy #'s to me.

would you give a new customer a 'at cost' bid if the first project happened to be his own home?

its a tough question...i could have been very close to that number w/ at cost labor and at cost parts...if i did it for free whos to say hed use me again anyways.....and this project was 1 1/2 hours from my house...i didnt add extra for that either....

im just dissapointed in this one....i expected to land this guy.

[Chimpie]

It seems that you probably would have taken a loss if you submitted a bid as low as the other guy.

Would a give a new customer an at cost bid just to get the job? No. Because if you were to raise your rates (or return them to normal) for the next job there's a chance the customer would lose interest in you and then you're back to the beginning.

:-/

[Dan Furman]

No, I wouldn't. Working for the lowest price flat out sucks.

Tell him that extra $2,400 means there will be zero to complain about.

[huggytree]

if he were a long time customer and then you got to do his house would you give a heavy discount?

i would

i just didnt feel it was a fair comparison because of this fact....

i do feel alot of people are doing jobs at cost right now just to have work. its unbelievable dead again. I was lucky that i had 3 busy weeks before i went back to dead.

i know who his plumber is, but dont know how they bid....they work with alot of high end builders, so id expect them to be expensive...maybe they are cheap....my first encounter sure says they are a low price plumber...my builder discount wouldnt have been to do the job at cost...thats for sure...

its strange times right now and the normal market doesnt quite work the same....too many side jobbers and people doing anything just to survive...the majority of my bids are coming in just fine, (im winning the bid, but not getting the job because the customer is backing out) -but im seeing an increase in off the chart cheap bids.

[Dan Furman]

if he were a long time customer and then you got to do his house would you give a heavy discount?

i would


In retrospect, yea, if it were a long term customer who gave me lots of work, then asked me to do a job for him personally, yea, I'd give a discount.

But you didn't give one because he is not a long term customer, etc etc.

But you expanded on more in your post - yes, if you are dead, you need to go out there and work, even for cheaper. So yes, do the discount.

[huggytree]

any comments on the fact that i called him and left the message asking to bid on his next project?

i asked for a equal type of bid....he should have known that i would never be cheaper on his own property...something unfair about giving me a chance at something i could never win.

was it wrong of me to leave him a message asking?

[Dan Furman]

no, not at all.

Be persistent. You have nothing to lose.

[orion_joel]

If this is a lost cost guy, and he does not do top quality job, on the builders house, then he may not be the plumber for this guy much longer so maybe you might get a chance soon if his work matches his price.

[cocoy]

Something doesn't sound right.

He complains about this plumber's work on his jobs, but still hires him to do his personal home?

Maybe you're not getting the whole story from this guy.

[huggytree]

the main complain i heard was they 'talk too much'

they are saying the wrong things to the customer..it wasnt a quality issue.

$2,400 less is too much for any quality problem to over come..

$400 yea...$2400 no...

[huggytree]

saw the builder today..he admitted the other plumber even got him special deals on fixtures for less than his cost from the distributor....have i done that for good existing customers...yes....but no one would for a new customer...

he seemed uncomfortable, but promised future bids....he's spent 1 year promising work and this was it...a bid which i could never win....he's probably a lost cause....he says he was impressed with my organization and service....so who knows....when it gets busy someday ill probably get a 2nd chance...whenever that day will be.