The Best Price

JohnB

JohnB

JohnB
I have a friend that is in the same business as me.. I will go out and bid a job.. If I get it.... Within a few days I'll get a call from my buddy and he always says the same thing , "Your to Cheap John , your gonna make us all go broke"

Example >> Homers Bar B Que called .. they have an 8 foot hood , plenum through the wall , and one exhaust fan. So I quote him $ 275.00 .. He says thats a good price.. so I go clean it..
Two days later my buddy calls and says did you clean Hommer's BBQ , I said yes .. He says I quted them $ 400.00 .. I tell him he is to high and I got the job for $ 275.00 ,, Oncew again He says I am to Cheap..

Our difference is that all of my stuff is paid for.. I have low overhead because I work my ass off.. ( He Doesn't) So the other day I offered to let my buddy who is in his mid 50's come and work for me.. Well I guess I lost another friend..
I guess this is the good thing about being in the business for 14 ,,,, almost 15 years..You pretty much know all the hood cleaning companies in the area and what they charge..
As far as money goes I dont know to many people that make $ 275.00 in 3 hours..

Fairness and Honesty has made B&R Fire Protection really grow .. We are looking at another good year.. Including walgreens fire equipment and concrete cleaning we have picked up 79 new accounts so far this year...
 
$95 an hour :eek: , you're too cheap. How do you live out there in So Cal? ;) You must be medling in that chinese immigrant scandal stuff. :D
 
It is only duct cleaning....how much more could you possibly charge??

Isn't one company just about the same as another? :eek:
 
Thats why I'm still here after 14 years and they arent. Cant run this business on the money you should have made.
 
Funny thing, you can't run it on the money you think you should make either. Only on the money you can make. So if I can make $400 on a job that you can only make $275 on, how much is the job really worth?
 
I think I'm chasing my own tail again.
 
JohnB - you say "I work my ass off - he doesn't" And you both might make the same profit at years end. If that is the the case, I'd rather be him!
 
If one company charges $275 and another company charges $400 which company is better??

If one company is "certified" and one is not then one could argue that the "certified" company is better right????

What if both are certified or what if neither are??

Is the more expensive company better just because they charge more??

If a company is "certified" is that a guarantee that the company does good work every time?
 
This argument will never end.

The guys that charge a low price will always say that the expensive companies are ripping off their customers and the expensive guys will always say that the cheap guys do a crappy job.

Certification doesnt mean dick. I have files of certified companies that do crappy work. Pictures don't even mean anything. We just lost an account to a lowballer I can guarantee that the company that takes it over will not take pictures of the entire system even though they offer "before and after pictures of every job".

It all comes down to the ethics and integrity of the guy that is actually cleaning the system.
 
That's true,we all have drivers licences too,but many people can't drive.It just means that they could pass the test on the day they took it.I'm not certified,but plan on getting certified this year when I can find the time.Its more for the marketing and insurance aspect of it.As far as working cheap,lifes too short to work cheap.The only time I will reduce my price is for a multiple service deal(yearly or multi year contract) .One thing I learned early in life is that "if you drop your pants,they never let you pull them back up!"(Matt,Chris and Josh no digitally enhanced artwork needed!) :D
 
"Certification doesnt mean dick." That about covers it. Thank you Matt.

On the other hand, If safe clean wants to come run around with us for a few days I will gladly charge him a unrealistic amount of money $$$$$$$$$$ for a useless piece of paper. :eek:
cheers GOAT
 
I try to be the company that charges $325. They all settle for the middle man.
 
JohnB said:
I have a friend that is in the same business as me.. I will go out and bid a job.. If I get it.... Within a few days I'll get a call from my buddy and he always says the same thing , "Your to Cheap John , your gonna make us all go broke"

Example >> Homers Bar B Que called .. they have an 8 foot hood , plenum through the wall , and one exhaust fan. So I quote him $ 275.00 .. He says thats a good price.. so I go clean it..
Two days later my buddy calls and says did you clean Hommer's BBQ , I said yes .. He says I quted them $ 400.00 .. I tell him he is to high and I got the job for $ 275.00 ,, Oncew again He says I am to Cheap..

Our difference is that all of my stuff is paid for.. I have low overhead because I work my ass off.. ( He Doesn't) So the other day I offered to let my buddy who is in his mid 50's come and work for me.. Well I guess I lost another friend..
I guess this is the good thing about being in the business for 14 ,,,, almost 15 years..You pretty much know all the hood cleaning companies in the area and what they charge..
As far as money goes I dont know to many people that make $ 275.00 in 3 hours..

Fairness and Honesty has made B&R Fire Protection really grow .. We are looking at another good year.. Including walgreens fire equipment and concrete cleaning we have picked up 79 new accounts so far this year...
Click to expand...

You're working hard, not smart. You've been in business 14 years and you still bust your ass? Foolish. Guess what? One day you won't be able to do it anymore. Then what? Your overhead will go up and you will be stuck with low prices because your ego dictates that you be the King of exahust cleaning with a gazillion clients and the other guy has 1/3 as many but still makes more money than you. This mode of thinking is out of date and out of touch.
 
Matt's IKECA certified Goat.I agree it's worthless if a contractor does poor work,but it can only help if you do quality work,and it should lower your insurance.It is odd that a company would bother getting certified and do crap work though.Like I said its more for marketing and insurance purpposes.
 
mbryan said:
It all comes down to the ethics and integrity of the guy that is actually cleaning the system.
Click to expand...

So the most ethical guy with the highest integrity should charge the most.

I like how that sounds.

I have yet to find a single customer wanting to know if i am certified or not.
 
JohnB, I agree with FullSteamAhead, You need to work smarter not harder. A few years ago I dropped some of my trouble clients, ( slow pay, complainers, hard to schedule etc ) and raised my rates. Took extra good care of good clients. Now I make more money with alot less headaches. Figure out what you want to make, profit that is and work tward that goal.

Im with Chris, I have yet to have a customer ask me if Im Certified. I got certified with NFPA but it didnt seem to put any $$ in my pocket. Dont get me wrong Im not against it, just havent seen the demand in the market for it yet.
 
Ok here is the run down .. There was a company that sold potato chips for .25 cents a bag . along time ago and everyone thought they were supid to charge so less.. Then all of a sudden the company was worth millions.. ( Frito-Lay )

any way here it is .. I do a great job.. When I clean and service anything.. Many companies in Mississippi that service fire equipment will not even change the fusible links out during inspection and then they will bill the customer for new links.. This is a bunch of crap..
Also Hood Cleaning Companies around here figure that they can clean whatever the customer can see.
So I give a customer a fair price.. $300 a night is pretty good .. But let me tell you the whole story.. I Clean a hood for $300 or so , Then The Concrete for $150.00 Then The Fire Systems Insp for $65.00 + $ 11.00 per link..
Now I have made about $600.00 a night.. If I save $ 40,000 a year and live off of the other $30,000 or $40,000 . I am Comfortable and in the next 10 years investing $ 40,000 a year in high yeild Mutual Funds I will be able to retire a millionaire at the age of 51 or 52.. So I complain a lot .. But doesn't everyone .. LOL

See me in the Bahamas in 10 or 12 years...
 
JohnB said:
Also Hood Cleaning Companies around here figure that they can clean whatever the customer can see.
Click to expand...

This is exactly how it is here in LA.

As for the certification.....I do like the fancy initials that follow my name.
 
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