Price and that is all…

It happened twice this week. Usually this only happens once or twice a year, but twice in one week shows me the sign of the times.

There are times I am in a client’s home and I know someone else is pulling the strings. This invisible someone can be a husband, wife or partner who is not home but has specific demands for the contractor. These demands usually stem around pricing, they do not care about anything else except the lowest price!

When I find that one partner is driving the price issue while the other has to stay home and deal with the consequences I often suggest that the rolls should be reversed.

If the price motivated partner wants to stay at home the day of the installation and deal with the inevitable fall out then we will see who is worried about price in the future.

This week I had two clients who actually took this suggestion to heart. I will never say I am the lowest price in town, so when the decision is only price driven I will not win the contract. In this case I received two calls. Both from the “price driven”partner who had stayed home the day of the installation. One awarded me the contract on the spot because the low priced contractor showed up three hours late with the wrong equipment. The other actually had to lock the doors when the contractor was out to lunch because she was so uncomfortable being in the house alone with them.

Price is always a concern, no matter how much money a person makes. We all want to feel like we have gotten a fair deal. But we need to add some of the touchy feely items to our list when picking a good contractor. You need to trust this company with your home, family and your trust. Pick the right contractor and you will be having a relationship with them long into the future.