Hubaseball, I've been negotiating with a customer through e-mail all day today on an upcoming project, I don't consider myself a poker player, but there is definitely sometimes the element of a standoff to see who's going to fold first. Business has gotten a little more competitive in my area and gone are the days of "name your price" and you get the job, or here's my price take it or leave it. I have a family to feed and have to put my pride second sometimes.
I've had to refer back to clever point counter point maneuvers to make a client feel more comfortable with a price. This particular job is around 9k and involves a lot of cabinet work that is to be a painted finish.
The customer would really like a natural finish, but understands the cost difference will be significant. My initial thought in my head is hoping that she goes for the natural finish price (make more) but I will be fine if she doesn't. The room these built-ins are going in has very nice natural trim around it. Casings, baseboard, french doors etc...
I complimented her highly on her choice of finishes in the room and told her how fortunate she was to have had a builder that could produce such a nice job. Most painters just slop on something out of the can and call it a day.
I made her understand that high quality natural finishes take any work up a notch in the "wow" factor when people see it, and expressed that it would certainly be advantageous to follow through with a similar finish on the proposed work.
I didn't make her feel rushed, and I simply told her to make her decision based on her gut feeling as to avoid any regrets down the road.
My point is, her hesitance was the cost. My initial reaction in my head was, "is she kidding me, this is a spot-on price for both of us"
I looked over the drawings again and began looking for things I could shave down the cost. There were none, except maybe using sheets of MDF for the cases if she went with the painted.
For a couple hours I walked through the job process in my head and thought maybe about shaving some labor off it. No dice. I know I was where I needed to be and couldn't budge. If I did, I'd be cursing myself every hour that I was working outside my profit window.
She e-mailed me back and mentioned that she knows the price is good, and she's confident she'd seen enough of my work to realize I'm the guy she wants, it was just a matter of figuring out how to swing all the projects on the list at once.
Had I known that from the start, I wouldn't have wasted half my day stressing over my bid.
You said you're breaking into this and want to be fair and focus more on doing an impressive job before looking to turn big profits right?
Well, just remember once you're confident your worthy of a better rate, than don't hesitate to hold firm. Everyone has seen shoddy work. Customers want to avoid it, and the experienced guys want to distance their work as far from it as possible to establish a good reputation.
I have a conscious that doesn't allow me to feel good just because the check is in my hand, watching a customer ogle over your work is something just as valuable.
Good luck.
