bad week in residential estimates

[HPSInc]

i hate not getting the job but if the numbers arent working for me theres nothing i can do but pass. only my second year in the biz fulltime but i havent run into this many of the same dissapointing job bids since i started. I hope you like reading cause i ranted a bid here.

2 were referals ( 1 from a guy i will be dropping due to extreme late payments and ive just had enough of it ..but thats another story.

anyways, all jobs were medium at least or what i would consider medium. One was a full install around a rear patio. soil brought up to high of patio, approx 70 ft egding, a hedge install on 1 side, a few more plants throughout, weedmat and all done in stone. I was approached with a list of estimates from other companies upon arrival (great im thinking). But I was the only Owner/operator of the bunch. My price was $300 higher than the cheapest. So I'm told I would be her first choice but shes gota think about it. I get called the next day and told shes going with the other company due to them being $300 less. My price was rock bottom already so there was no wiggle room left to get the job and trust me she tried. So let me clarify this was 3 weeks ago I checked this out, she called me again last TH and FRI. Finally leaves a message, the company never showed up when they said they would and she says I got the job. Now, Im not sure I want it anymore. And havent called her back yet. Not sure how I am going to handle it.

Next job was an insane mess of a landscape. Lady has a huge party planned for the weekend and begged me over the phone to come check it out and see if i could get it done within the next couple days before the party. So already, if i did this, i have to rearrange my entire schedule. She wants the whole place trimmed, edged, mulched and weeded. Not just a few weeds but over come with weeds..Like WEEDAGGEDON!. Beds everywhere too. I hit her with a fair price. Less than most insured professionals would have im sure. Her eyes rolled in the back of her head and she says she has a friend she hires for $10 an hour LOL. Then says, well..what your payment plan like. (Payment plan?) Because I can pay you half this week and the other half in 2 weeks but i can only afford this much (lowballed my price). Needless to say I had to run from that one and wish her good luck.

Referall from "slow/too good to pay for work guy who begs me to show up every year". This guy comes outside, shows me another mess of a job in an area im not too interested in working in. But nonetheless I probably would have. Entire area needed to be graded properly, remove alot of crappy mountains of fill, drainage SHOULD have been put in place ( he shut that idea down due to costs asap) but his main concerns were of water retention., And he wanted lots of stone. Hes kind of hot headed. doesnt care (his words) how it looks..sort of confusing? Arguing with his wife in front of me when she asked a question or if i could do this that etc...His response "why should we pay a "fricken" contractor when we can do that ourselves" Yea OK buddy whatever you say. The way the property looked it was obvious he did nothing but sat on his ass. He barely let me get in a word edgewise which was new for me as well and a bit frustrating. Then questioned all my methods like he knew any better, wanted me to half ass the job to save him money, and do things in a way that wasnt asthetically pleasing to the eye IMO. Asked me in a condesending way if "you do this yourself or you got any help". and when I gave him the price he was all "UGHH ILL JUST DO IT MYSELF THANKS FOR YOUR TIME." Yea, cause youve done something about it the past 5 years its looked like this. Take care pal.

And last but not least the guy who i swear just wanted to get a price from me to see how much he would save doing it himself. He already dropped the famous line " I dont want to spend alot" (but I want the works anyways). He already started himself by edging about 8 feet off his existing bed, but soon called it quits and filled the lawn back in. New area with new homes, Huge crap dirt pile across the way from basement digouts he wanted me to scarf dirt from and wheel over to his house (UGH NO). relocate local boulders the builders dug up over to his beds, and was a bit of a know it all with no real landscape experience from what i gathered. Either way, i go back to give a price a few days later and he already edged the beds in true lazy homeowner fashion by tossing the sod scraps in the lawn area - soon to be bed and leaving them there. and formed the beds incorrectly shape wise IMO. So, I left a card in his door to let him know i was there with a note on back to call me if he was still considering getting it done professionally . Needless to say I never heard back.

I got some nice commercial work lined up thankfully and i can only hope to not run into so many screwballs from here on out but not likely. I guess thats what working for the public comes with. But still, this makes me appreciate the good residential customers I have that much more now.

Im wondering is there any way to weed out these bad jobs before wasting my time driving all over to check them out because im really not into it! Alot of times I'm asked a price over the phone, but i dont do that cause I like to see what it is im bidding not just what they are describing as its always an "easy little job" until I get there and its a fricken mess.

[OakNut]

Heh. Good read.

I'm in season three, and this year there have been a LOT of calls from cheap people and requests for quotes for horrible jobs that I want nothing to do with. (because they won't want to pay what it's worth for all the crap they want done)

Makes me want to kiss all my regulars on the lips and thank them for being such great clients.



Oh yeah... "WEEDAGGEDON" - I LOL'd!

[greendoctor]

It happens. I would be thankful that things went no further. Nothing worse than finding out you are stuck with a bad customer half way through a job.

What I usually do is warn people that I am expensive. Want someone cheaper, they are free to find someone else. Want competence, then we can talk.

[C Jovingo Landscaping]

If someone says "I don't want to spend alot" You should just say your schedule is full & not bidding new work, so you don't waste time looking at the job.
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[iand]

i would take on the lady that went with the cheaper price but make sure she knows it's for your original price
as for time wasters there isn't much you can do without limiting your potential work I'm lucky in that i have enough regular work that i will only look at work in certain areas and then only quote them on the days that I'm in that area is the client can't wait then i will let them ring someone else, also as someone else said if they say they can't afford much then they can't afford me so i won't waste my time and if they want a cheap nasty looking job they can get someone else as other people will judge you on the quality of this work without knowing that you were asked to do a low quality job

[TriCountyLawn]

Eh, thats the public. I had a fairly extensive bid on a total clean up of a house that just sat for 10 years after being heavy landscaped. So I look at the job and meet this guy in the evening and were sitting out on his patio and start going thru this bid and I already thought he was a azz and after his fourth sigh or comment I just folded the estimate I was reading tore it in half put it in my planner,closed it and said "thank you for your time" and shook his hand. His face and actions right there after screamed "baby come back" but I saw what I needed to see.

Sometimes I talk to a customer and know in 3-4 mins how this is going to go or if im standing there wasting my time. Good luck the clowns are aplenty.

[Dr.NewEarth]

If you pick up one in ten of your estimates, you're doing average.

I weed out alot of the bad ones on the telephone. Some times I'll go to an estimate and good heartedly laugh at the people and say good-bye.

[Bunton Guy]

Try to pre-qualify them over the phone next time. Ask some simple questions like how are they going to go about hiring their new landscaper? " is your choice soly on price or quality etc..." If they say price then try to find a nice way to back out and not waste a trip out there.

[HPSInc]

thanks for the advice fellas. its not even as if im trying to kill people with high estimates. im bidding the jobs with a fair price and aiming to actually GET the job and another happy referal. And if that price is way to high for them theres really nothing i can do about it and the only way they will get it done cheaper is by some kid down the street with no insurance or knowledge of what hes even doing. so the end result wouldnt be comparable anyways. I been doing this 12 years fulltime (2 on my own) so its not my first rodeo. Im here to make a profit not give work away and break my back for nothing and im not trying to drive the market on landscaping down thats only guna hurt the industry I'm making a living in. That one guy though who was bickering with his wife, I really did NOT want that job after being there for only a minute. the vibe was very bad from the start and I was wishing i wasnt even there. I'll definately start "screening" my potential customers a bit more on the phone. Asking them if they have ever had a landscape company do work for them before etc. and take it from there. Maybe even ask where their budget is? But not sure thats professional to do over the phone or not? I can judge people in person very well and so far havent gotten into a job with a bad customer yet! thank god

[Bunton Guy]

I won't hesitate to ask someone their budget over the phone....why shouldn't you? It's a tool in figuring out wether we are a match for them or not. Personally from March-October I have a minimum of $1,500 for any type of work.

I only do work for clients outside of our contract clients IF they have a job that is over $1,500 in growing season. I try to save all of our free time to keep up with & keep on schedule for our current contract clients. I will tell them over the phone before we schedule a time to meet that we have a minimum service of $1,500. If they have an issue with that I kindly tell them we aren't a good match for them and I give them a referral to a local college kid that I know will do anything for cheap.