Did I over bid?

L

Lenny

Member
I gave a bid to a customer last week to strip a deck and restain it. It is about 600 sq. ft. with a bench around it instead of a railing. She said she was not happy with the color of it, too dark. I told her I could strip it and use a lighter stain for $650.

I called her back last night hoping to close the job. She said she had gotten another bid yesterday from the guy that did it the last time. he is doing it for $225. After talking to her a while I believe all he is going to do is clean it with bleach and stain it.

Do you guys think I over bid on this? I know I could not do the work I told her for $225. The stain and striper would cost me at least $150.
 
I guess she didnt learn the first time with this guy,let her get another lesson.Why didnt she call the man to start with if she wasnt happy.She might call you back later and then i would charge a 1000.
How is he going to lighten it up without stripping??Water base?Good luck you old lady!
Johny

4 gal of stain $60-80.$70 to clean and $70 to stain,what a profit,deduct gas etc.
Whats bad about it ,these peole think its good money,his buddy works in a factory all day for that much,here he is just working few hours.
 
Lenny, I would have actually bid it higher. I am in the process of doing a deck now, exept it hasn't stopped raining for two days. I am stripping and staining. 400 sq ft. It is my neighbor (two doors away) so I said I would do it for 350.00. Well guess what he neglected to tell me. He stained it last year, I knew this, but he didn't tell me that he stained it, over the who knows what that was already there. I have to use sunbrite's remove 3 times to strip the whole deck. My neighbor thinks it looks great so far, but I am not very happy. It is taking forever to strip everything. Don't get me wrong, the remove works great, but this junk that was already on the deck didn't want to budge. I will seal in two days if the weather holds out. Now, what if that would have happened to you. You would be losing money, like I almost am. I may even think about charging hourly for now on when it comes to decks unless they are bare.
 
This lady is simply ignorant...........your price is fine. Its your job to do your best to educate her, but sometimes you are speaking to deaf ears.

Sometimes you just can't win.........but stick to your guns.
 
How the hell can you live !!!

A 600 sq ft deck strip, seal for 650 ? in the nw we would get atleast $1500, probably more like $2000. Your price for $650 is exactly why the market on your side of the country is so bad. I would like to know how many decks you have to do a month to make money ?

thanks guys

Mark Poole
 
Decks are a hard sale here also, put at least 50 bids on decks and only did about 5... People just dont have a clue and Lowes says it can be done for 100 to 200... So they think its all profit when you bid it at 600 to 900... Thats why I wont do them next year.... Gas, equipment, time, printer ink, phone, ordering, heck I am in the hole...


Matt
 
Matt,

nothing wrong with your price. In fact, maybe a little on the low side. As was stated, educating the customer is the key. I can't believe this guy is doing it for 200 or so.

Reed

ps, hang in there, it will pick up.
 
Here's one for you Lenny. I did an estimate for a homeowners deck approx. 400 sqft. I gave them a price of 450.00. (clean and seal) they balked at the price. Told me they had it done before for 250.00. I asked when, they said around 8 months ago. I giggled and told them that is why they called me 8 months later and that is why it looked the way it did. I didn't plan on getting the job, but I still educated them on how the work SHOULD be done and to keep an eye on how their 250 man would do it. I then said thank you for calling, told them to give me a call when they wanted it done right and started to walk away. After about 5 steps, the guy said wait, where do I sign, I got the job. Some people just need to be educated.
 
For those hard to strip decks you should try Wolmans Deck strip A&L. This stuff cuts through anything in about 15 -20 min. Use it all the time for painted decks when the people want to go back natural. also used 150 gallons of it one time to take concrete stain off a driveway and pool area. The lady had it put on not knowing it would be slippery when wet. Came home one night and slid off her drive when she went to stop. The stuff had only been there about 6 months. Told me she had 6 other contractors come out and try to remove it. Just used good ol' rotomax, hot water,wolmans, and alot of time. Worked two men 10 hours a day for almost 2 weeks. What a job. Even had wolmans call me when they found out what i was doing. They were researching other uses and i had found one. They ?ed me for 45 min. and didn't even give me a t-shirt.:( Oh well it still works great.
 
Lenny,

I am just up the road in Richmond, so I think our prices will be pretty much the same. Just by reading your post, that price seems to be good, maybe just a little low.

You are not the one being unreasonable. Like everyone said before, lots of customers just need an education. You are right about the materials being at least $150 to do the job correctly. I would like to know what the $225 guy is using as a sealer. For the customers satisfaction, I like to carry some literature about what sealer I plan on using. It lets the customer know they are getting what they pay for.
 
Buddy, we've been doing decks and fences for ten years and would have charged more than half again what you offered to do the job for. As others have said, I guess she didn't learn her lesson the first time.

Homeowners have choices, but most of them are not the smartest buyers. They often base their decision on price, and could care less if the guy they hire is talented, educated, or will even be there in the biz next year when they have a problem.

As a wise man advised me years ago: be proud of what you know and what you do. Charge accordingly. The jobs you don't get won't hurt you. The jobs you do get will reward you. Justify your price by your education (such as Certification) and your experience. We have often been the highest bidder and still got the job.

She probably drives a used Yugo because she got a "good price" on it.

Don't you think its time for good contractors to earn a fair profit and all the lowballers to go down the drain?
 
Hi Lenny,

All good words of advice here... selling in this industry is all in the educating of the customer. You can demand and get your price but your going to have to justify it! I wouldn't hesitate to say that 80% of homeowners know not the first thing about wood care. There are still people out there that believe pressure treated wood needs no care!

Education the customer! This is you biggest selling point by far. You need to be the one to explain the proper methods of restoring and maintaining their project and make them question anyone who tells them otherwise.

Get the knowledge under your belt about the effects of certain products and why they should or shouldn't be used. Offer premium products rather than stuff available at home depot and learn everything you can about the product so you can explain why it is better. Provide literature about products for the customer to come back to... and so on. If you walk up to an estimate and just bark price your going to loose the job... this is what the vast majority of contractors do.

Without a little education the homeowner has nothing to compare but price :)

Have a great one!

Greg Rentschler
DeckGuide.com
 
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