Go cheap and then go do it again...

I once had a customer call and accuse me of trying to rip her off. She was mad as all get out because the price I quoted her was 3 times higher than the other company she had asked to come out. I was shocked by the price disparity and told her so.

“There has to be something that is different between my pricing and what the other company is offering.” I tried to say.

She was having nothing to do with it, all contractors are the same and they all know the same amount, I was just a thief!

I always feel bad in these situations. Did I miss something? Did I over estimate my hours? Was there a more economical solution? Eventually I get over my anxiety and move on to the next client and their issues. In this situation I was given an opportunity to get back in the home a year later, you guessed right, the system the other company put in was not working correctly!

What I found was that the equipment used for this particular home was totally incorrect. They tried to put radiators onto a steam system that did not work with steam at all and even if they would have worked with steam they had not been installed properly. Despite myself I had to point out to the customer that this was what I had warned her about, just taking the lowest bid is not always the best options.

If you are working with replacement or remodeling always get several bids on the work to be done. One of the contractors will be the highest, one will be in the middle and one will be on the low end. Each will have their own reasons why their pricing is the way it is. It could be labor cost, it could be the type of equipment, it could even be profit driven, but what you will find is that two of the three will at least be close in pricing. If you have one contractor that is relatively high in price compared to another contractor, you need to get a third, or even a forth opinion, just so you can see where the average price settles out at. Either that or go with the cheapest price and end up spending much more getting it corrected in the future.