I think I was on target on my bid, but the ladys reaction was such that I wanted to see what you guys think. It was a one acre lot with a normal trimming and edgeing. And a home that was at least 600k. I told the lady 60.00 and see hit the roof. She said " I would never pay over 30.00. Her lawn looked like it too.<br>Steve
From what you say you were maybe a little low. Hard to say but definately more than 30. I have had people do the same or else say they had a lower price. Usually I know my price is right and I tell them to use the lower price. Usually the ones that price shop are the hardest to please anyway. Move on and don't worry about it.
I agree with Earthworks on this. I have run into the same thing in the past and still do. Your price seems fair, but that price can differ on the location that you are in. In my part of the country, which is a small rural southern town, the going price of a 1 acre lawn with normal trimming would be in the 40 to 50 dollar range. It is hard to get a higher price when you have a ton of guys running around in a beatup truck or car pulling a homemade trailer with small res. mowers that are doing these jobs for a lot less than you charge. I got rid of a customer 3 years ago because she wouldn't pay more to have her 1/2 acre yard mowed and bagged each time (she didn't want her poodle to track grass into the house). I informed her at the beginning of the season that the price would be higher for the new year, she had a fit, told me she could get it done cheaper, I told her to go ahead, she later called me back saying she would pay the higher price. But I had already filled the vacancy left by her, but I did refer her to one of my competitors (poor guy). <p>There is big difference between a guy who charges the prices we do and the guy who is running the cheap residential mowers, and that is the QUALITY of the job we do. My home is on a main street in our town and everybody who drives by can see the quality of my work. <p>Don't drop your price to get a customer like this one, in the long run you will be sorry you did. If you do, she will ask you to do more work but then throw a fit to see if you will drop the price on the new work. Move on to bigger and better things, don't worry about this one customer.<br><p>----------<br>Richard @ Davis Total Lawn Care<br>http://townserver.com/dtlc
I agree completely. Never, ever go down on a price just to get a job. The worst thing in the world is to have to cut a lawn for years to come (you gotta have a reputation as the guy who always shows up ya know) and hateing every minute of it because you sold it too low. Been there, still doing that :-(
It doesn't matter what the rest of us would charge for her property...we haven't even seen it anyway. What is important is for you to charge what you need to in order to make a profit and feel comfortable in providing a service to the customer. You gave her your price - she's nuts - walk away. <p>----------<br>Dave in S.Ontario<br>www.cutntrim.com<br>
Hello:<p>Some people like to show their butts on their own property. At least you got lucky & found out what kind of person she was.<p>I used to try harder to convince the customers that acted like that & after doing that a couple of times I realized that I was wrong later on down the road.<p>When people act like that & they don't even know you, they are sending out a signal that they are a P.O.S. LOL she had no raising & it shows. I always wondered how people get nice homes like that & a lot of them got it by getting over on the working man.<p>If you got the job for $75 or $30 you still couldn't have made her happy. Wouldn't it be nice for us all, if they all acted like that right off the bat. It would save us all a lot of heartaches & grief.<p>----------<br>GrassMaster - Home: www.lawnservicing.com<br>My Start Up Page www.lawnservicing.com/startup/
They're called Sharks. They're a junk customer who switches all the time to the next sucker.<p>Years ago I mowed a lawn for $90.00/cut that was 2+ acres. The guy paid over 1400.00 per month in property taxes(!), but didn't want to pay 400.00 per month to care for his lawn.<p>Not all customers are valuable.
Steve, it sounds like ya stumbled across a real winner there. Good thing ya found out she was a tight ass when ya did or she might have been trying to get you to paint the house for the same $60. She definately would have tried to get her money out of you down the road.<p>We have people like that here and I run across them all the time. We were taking care of a lawn for $120 a month, I felt in order to do the job right we needed $200. I told her and she said that was completely out of their range and that money was tight. When you try to say you are living in the poor house, it's hard to believe when you spent about $100k on the lakefront lot to build your $200k house. <p>PS, appartently they have had a little trouble finding anybody to do it. It hasn't been cut in 2 months (Florida) it has weeds about 2 1/2 feet tall. It was a nice St Augustine lawns
When people try to tell me that I'm asking to much and i know I'm being fair I tell them that i was acually thinking of more and make it sound like i'm giving them a break with the price I gave them. For example if I tell someone 60.00 to do something and they say how about 45.00, I tell them that i was originally thinking of 75.00. Then I let them talk me down from 75.00 to 65.00. I make it sound like I'm allreadyy giving them a deal and can usaully get more money than i oringinally asked. It usually works and when it dosn't the job isn't worth doing.
I have to agree with all you guys. Here in the San Francisco area its more of a problem than any place else in the states. Most of the people realize that the cost of living here is so high. I always get somebody that says he can get Senior Chavez or Mr. Chan to do it cheaper. I always ask a couple questions.<br>1.Why was I referred to you?<br>2.How come these people wont work for you?<br>3.Will you sell me your house for the price you paid for it back in the early 70s<br>I never negotiate a price. I stand firm with a quote knowing that I do good to awesome work and people get their moneys worth.<p>My $1200 a month client that I do made a comment to me the other day that made my day. He said Youre more than $300 more that I was paying my previous maintenance person, but Ive managed to save money with you. Even charging him $35 an hour last year doing handyman type of stuff, or providing extra service I always did the work right the first time. <br>Jean<br>
