Doing a troubleshoot at a residence this morning. The neighbor comes over and asks what I was doing, I elaborated that I was troubleshooting the irrigation system. He immediately follows up with "can you stop by and give me a quote to cut my grass when you are done". So immediately I knew the type of customer I was dealing with. I kindly explained that I don't cut grass, nor do I pressure wash, clean gutters, etc, etc. We specialize in troubleshooting and installing Irrigation and Outdoor Lighting systems.
He perked up and said "my irrigation system has very low pressure can you stop by and give me a quote". I responded that I don't quote troubleshooting or repairs, we have to troubleshoot that and I charge an hourly fee of $140.00 for however long the troubleshooting, repairs, etc take. I did inform him that we can generally give them a pretty good idea of the initial issues fairly rapidly and elaborate on the estimated time it would take to solve that problem alone.
He smiled a bit, somewhat puzzled and said "$140.00 an hour, that's an engineer's rate you know". I looked at him blankly and responded "Ok". He politely followed up with "do you really think you should charge the same hourly rate as an engineer".
Without smiling back at him I just looked at him and said, "I think im worth more". I could see his thought process go into overdrive. He was polite, but appeared to be somewhat frustrated and somewhat amused that I could dare think this way. I could tell he wanted so badly just to blurt out "but they are smarter than you and they went to college for 4-8 years to get a degree and overall they are just more important to society." Granted, he didn't say that, but the wheels were in heavy motion. The best he could come up with was "but why".
I told him I have been doing this for the better part of the past 30 years and have specialized in troubleshooting for the better part of the past 15 years. Im going to solve your problems. There will be hydraulic engineering involved as well as electrical engineering involved. I will be doing this in 100 degree heat while getting wet and muddy. But what really makes me worth more than the engineer is the fact that im working Monday - Sunday because there simply aren't enough qualified Irrigation tech's to satisfy the demand and I have a laundry list of people who will gladly pay the rate if he didn't want to.
The best part was he said "Ok, ok... I agree to your rate. Will you look at our system today"
I responded " Not today, our next available appointment is 3 weeks from Monday".
This all occurred today and It reminded me. Irrigation specialists, you work hard and you do educated work that nobody else wants to do. It's as physically demanding as it comes, but it takes a great deal of education and experience to do it right. CHARGE THESE PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE PROUD OF YOURSELF. Plumbers and Electricians learned this a long time ago. The irrigation trade has been slow to pick up on it.
He perked up and said "my irrigation system has very low pressure can you stop by and give me a quote". I responded that I don't quote troubleshooting or repairs, we have to troubleshoot that and I charge an hourly fee of $140.00 for however long the troubleshooting, repairs, etc take. I did inform him that we can generally give them a pretty good idea of the initial issues fairly rapidly and elaborate on the estimated time it would take to solve that problem alone.
He smiled a bit, somewhat puzzled and said "$140.00 an hour, that's an engineer's rate you know". I looked at him blankly and responded "Ok". He politely followed up with "do you really think you should charge the same hourly rate as an engineer".
Without smiling back at him I just looked at him and said, "I think im worth more". I could see his thought process go into overdrive. He was polite, but appeared to be somewhat frustrated and somewhat amused that I could dare think this way. I could tell he wanted so badly just to blurt out "but they are smarter than you and they went to college for 4-8 years to get a degree and overall they are just more important to society." Granted, he didn't say that, but the wheels were in heavy motion. The best he could come up with was "but why".
I told him I have been doing this for the better part of the past 30 years and have specialized in troubleshooting for the better part of the past 15 years. Im going to solve your problems. There will be hydraulic engineering involved as well as electrical engineering involved. I will be doing this in 100 degree heat while getting wet and muddy. But what really makes me worth more than the engineer is the fact that im working Monday - Sunday because there simply aren't enough qualified Irrigation tech's to satisfy the demand and I have a laundry list of people who will gladly pay the rate if he didn't want to.
The best part was he said "Ok, ok... I agree to your rate. Will you look at our system today"
I responded " Not today, our next available appointment is 3 weeks from Monday".
This all occurred today and It reminded me. Irrigation specialists, you work hard and you do educated work that nobody else wants to do. It's as physically demanding as it comes, but it takes a great deal of education and experience to do it right. CHARGE THESE PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE PROUD OF YOURSELF. Plumbers and Electricians learned this a long time ago. The irrigation trade has been slow to pick up on it.
