Charging for Quotes/Proposals

[Bubba]

Like I said, Im all for the kjpro proposal idea. Will it work??? I have no idea and for the record.........probably not. However, Im also a firm believer in ANY idea properly marketed will work. NO, I dont know how to market that one. Lets face it. We are all tired of wasting countless hours going on bid jobs only to find you are asked to please wait outside for a few minutes while the other hvac company finishes up. THEN as you finish up you see another hvac guy walking up to the door. More and more customers getting 10 and more bids! Its crazy but it will continue when we dont charge for our time. We are different from a car dealership or some other example. We bring EVERYTHING to the customer and then install it. One solution is to hire a salesman and pay him on commission only. I worked for a hvac company that had salesmen working in this fashion. Problem is, GREED sets in. Then the salesman is bidding along with those ten other companies. He needs to get the sale so he sells you the lowest efficient off brand piece of equipment they supply and blows sunshine up your ass telling you it is the best unit in the world. He gets commission, the boss makes money and the customer gets a POS! I dont know the answer. Go for it! Bubba

[David Moffitt]

"Quote/Proposals" or what ever you want to call it I would not pay for. Would you pay the contractor a fee that came over to give a "Quote/Proposal" on your home to replace your windows with more efficient ones? Would you pay the contractor a fee for a "Quote/Proposal" on new siding? Would you pay a contractor a fee on a "Quote/Proposal" to pave your parking lot/ driveway? Would you pay the contractor a fee for a "Quote/Proposal" to build you wife that patio/deck she wants for mothers day?

[<kjpro]

"Quote/Proposal"

No, I&#39;d purchase/install the windows myself.

No, I&#39;d purchase/install the siding myself.

No, I&#39;d pour concrete first.

Again, no, I&#39;d purchase/build this myself.

[David Moffitt]

Would you pay the saleman a fee for him telling you the cost of the windows?

Would you pay the saleman a fee for him him figuring up how much siding, corners and J channel you needed and telling you the cost of the siding?

Would you pay the saleman a fee for him figuring up the yardage and telling you the cost of the concrete?

Would you pay the cashier a fee for him/her telling you the cost of the lumber?

[<kjpro]

I would be PURCHASING them, dipshit.

No, I&#39;d figure it out myself.

Again, no, I&#39;d figure it out myself.

Yes, it&#39;d be included in the overall cost, as it&#39;s figured into the cost of material.

Anymore stupid questions?

[David Moffitt]

Each window like a HVAC system is custom made. Have you ever measured for custom made energy windows?

Have you ever figured how much siding is needed or ever installed it?

Have you ever figured concrete yardage or ever poured a slab?

So you are willing to pay the cashier an extra $25.00 for telling you how much your lumber will cost you.

[Ken]

How you run your business is your choice. It sounds as if you are intelligent enough to realize you are competing with other people who perform the same type of service you do. You also must realize that EVERY business has expenses, you are not unique. An example is advertising. When you purchase this item, only a small percent of those who see it are likely to call you as a result of it. It is however a cost of doing business. As I stated above in my examples of a car, appliance dealer, or grocery store, they too have expenses in order to appeal to new customers. If you make poor decisions in attracting customers or retaining those you had, you will pay the price. Isn&#39;t life interesting???

I am NOT in business for myself, but I DO have an idea of how I would manage a business if I were. Since word of mouth is the best advertisement you can possibly acquire, I would deal with my customers in a way so they walked away believing they received a quality job, a fair deal, and would get one in the future. I would also recognize that in acquiring them as a customer the first time would take more on my part than dealing with them on a subsequent visit. This is called "Investing my time."

Finally I often read about how the "Professionals" in this news group criticize homeowners who attempt to repair their own units. Do you suppose your comments and others like them could be motivating them to do this??

[Noon-Air]

Actually I only have one or 2 other companies that I even consider as "competition". A little competition is healthy. What *isn&#39;t* healthy, are the jacklegs and spec house builders that figure they can do it for nothing and screw up the market for those of us who are actually in business to make a profit, instead of just doing it cheap. As another regular on here is fond of saying, 19,000 HVAC contractors go our of business every year because they didn&#39;t charge enough. I have been in business for over 10 years. &#39;nuff said

Its investing a lot of time and a lot of money.

My comments are generally aimed at safety issues and keeping some clueless idiot that isn&#39;t qualified on anything sharper than a crayon from doing damage/harm to life, limb, anod/or property. If I think somebody may be able to handle it without doing more damage, I will e-mail them privately. If they have a bogus e-mail address listed, thats on them.

[gofish]

What I see a lot of the successful resi- contractors do in my area is to pre-qualify their sales calls and sales leads.

They do this by getting the potential customer to call them, requesting service. The secret to getting the customer to call them in the first place is laid out very well in their marketing approach. Their marketing is so top-notch I&#39;m tempted to call them up and have them service my system at home.

kj&#39;s idea will not work in its current format, but DOES WORK when properly marketed to the consumer. as you say Bubba, its all in the marketing.

[<kjpro]

Bullshit, each window ISN&#39;T custom made (many are standard sizes). Some people are in the construction business and will install other sizes than the existing windows. I guess you&#39;ve never heard of this?

Yes, in fact I have.

Yes, in fact I have.

If she&#39;s really hot, I&#39;d pay more!

[<kjpro]

You mean we didn&#39;t fall of the wagon a couple years ago? :-)

[Noon-Air]

Nope, because we learned the business of running a business.

[Zephyr]

Kpro;

I&#39;ve thought about the something. The car collision guys charge $25 for an estimate now. And you come to them!

But if our competition doesn&#39;t come up to speed, then we [HVAC Contractors] would be held back.

I&#39;m not sure as a homeowner I&#39;d be receptive. Do the window installers charge to come out? Do plumbers? [Basically other tradesmen?].

[Noon-Air]

Lowes and Home Cheapo both charge to send a sales weasel out, but it gets credited if you buy from them.

[Zephyr]

The software I use [Manual J 8th Ed.] comes with all sorts of data to choose from for walls, windows, ceiling, etc. I really don&#39;t understand when someone CAN&#39;T choose the right settings / choices.

But back to the OP subject. Kpro is right. We all should charge a fee for coming out, spending several hours measuring, figuring, and writing the quote. Some contractor salesman use "hard sell tactics" to complete the sale and make their trip worth while.

[Zephyr]

And then take for f****ng ever to pay! Most commercial accounts have a "payables" and eventually pay, just seems to take them forever. I "had" one account that was fairly large and seemed they were always about 3 months to the rear. Always owing...

[<kjpro]

It&#39;s starting to come to this in many different fields. It has to start somewhere... I prefer to be a leader than a follower.

We will be better off (as a whole) if we get paid for our time/knowledge. That&#39;s what happens when you&#39;re sick and you go to the doctor&#39;s office. They&#39;re no different than we are. Except they get paid for damn near everything they do... for some reason WE (as contractors) feel that we have to give shit away.

It&#39;s time, as Pat says... we need to start raising the bar in our industry. Because if we don&#39;t do it, nobody&#39;s going to do it for us!

[Tekkie®]

90 days same as ca$h

[David Moffitt]

Energy efficient replacement windows are not standard size. Each one is custom built. You cannot go tp Lowes and buy them.

Then why are you selling HVAC? Jack of all trades and master of none?

Jack of all trades and master of none?

LMAO!

[David Moffitt]

In my side business I give a discount if I&#39;m paid in 30 days of invoice so you are actually paying a hidden penalty if you are late paying my retail price. It is a very common practice in the clothing industry that I "borrowed". If you pay me on time I get my cost and profit. If you are late paying I get an extra 10%. Some of my suppliers will make 10% more if I&#39;m late paying them.