price of job

[daytona°]

If it is a friend...walk away or charge through the nose. Because they are going to talk about you either way. Or go with $8990.00

[Bubba]

$35,687.25 as long as you toss in new stats. Bubba

[Noon-Air]

Doesn't matter if its a friend, or family....either charge full price or do it for free. There is no halfway... Halfway will bite you in the ass.

[rfofaky]

What do you guys think is a good price for this job? Adding central AC to existing house. 2 American standard 15 seer systems. 1.5 ton in the attic to feed the upstairs. About 20 ft. of supply trunk, 5 supplys and 3 returns. Downstairs is a 2.5 ton system in basement. About 60 ft. of supply duct work, 25 ft. return duct work. About 9 supplys and 2 returns. Customer is responsible for all high voltage electric and opening any access holes for duct work and linesets. I'm struggling with this price because it is a friend and I want to be fair, but yet not screw myself.

Thanks.

[<kjpro]

Charge it out as if it were a normal client... if you don&#39;t, you will regret it later!

You have to feed your family also, unless you get FREE groceries, since he&#39;s your friend.

[rfofaky]

If it is a friend...walk away or charge through the nose. Because they are going to talk about you either way. Or go with $8990.00

Actually, I was thinking more in the line of 12,500.

[daytona°]

I like the $12,500.00 better...go with that then discount the 5%...look like a nice guy

[dantheman]

May I humbly suggest the following: give him your account number or call ahead to parts counter that he&#39;ll be picking up for you. Give him a list of everything needed and tell him to go buy it all. Charge him for labour but spend a little extra time for free doing it extra neat. He pays cost for all parts, you get paid for time.

:Peace, Dan

[<kjpro]

This has to be one of the STUPIDEST ideas one could suggest!!!!

First, your friend would KNOW your direct equipment/supplies costs. Now, don&#39;t you think he&#39;s going to tell others? Think again!

Second, don&#39;t you think you&#39;ll be using supplies ALREADY in inventory?

Third, the next time your friend needs something... he&#39;ll call the supply house and get the parts (or at least try).

Fourth, he&#39;ll tell everyone he knows... you&#39;re the cheapest and this sets you up for "the lowest bidder" syndrome.

Fifth, where do you get reimbursed for parts that might fail in warranty? Are you going to eat your time running for parts? Doing the paperwork? Eat your time for installing, adjusting and testing them properly?

Sixth, now that he gets the first years filters at cost... are you going to charge him cost for ALL the filters in the future? If so, you&#39;re going to lose money handling the filters.

Seventh, whatever you charge him for LABOR is going to be considered OUTRAGEOUS. Since you have to cover ALL your expenses in your hourly costs. They don&#39;t understand that you have to cover the cost of running a profitable business.

I&#39;m stopping here...

This just sets you up for many, MANY headaches now and in the future. It&#39;s just not worth it. You might as well refer him to your competition. At least if they do the work, you won&#39;t be LOSING money doing a NONE-FOR-PROFIT or LESS-THAN-COST job.

[-zero]

Knowing what I do now... I would either do it for free on the condition that he not tell, nor mention the job to anyone, or refuse to do it with the explanation of how warranty work will dissolve a friendship.

... I don&#39;t work for free anymore.

Problem is you can&#39;t charge any money. The moment ANY money changes hands, your friends or family revert to the mindset that they hired you to do this job and they somehow believe they have paid you full premium monies to do it, and then expectations get all f***ed up, etc, etc, etc.

Give him the short list of people YOU would let do your work. Let him get a few bids, make yours 50% higher. Tell him what a unbelievable deal the next lowest guy has given him. Make sure his warranty is rock solid and reassure him how good it&#39;s gonna feel to call them for warranty work any time day or night to get their ass over and fix this shit equipment, and how you&#39;ll be there to watch his back anytime he has a warranty question or other issue.

Then you and him can have a few beers, critique the ongoing job together and continue your friendship for many good years.

-zero

[gofish]

In that case prepare a proposal for your friend listing two complete ac system&#39;s for the installed price of $15,500 and then offer it to your friend at a discounted price of $12,500. everybody wins.

I had a similiar situation for a friend. then there was the friends son. then his mom. all of them got new systems at the price I wanted.

[rfofaky]

Thank you for all the good advice. Basically what I did is tell him to get other estimates. I made sure to remind him of comparing apples to apples this way he sees other quotes coming in around the same price as mine, he will know I am not ripping him off. I think he understands I&#39;m in business, and can&#39;t afford to do this shit for free. If he gets some low baller and goes with him, that would be fine with me too.