[Cochran]

I have realized there are two landscapers in one of the communities we service that are essentially price gouging residential customers. I have encountered one/both of them now for the third time while submitting bids. They are submitting bids for similar landscape design/install work, but their proposals are double what my proposal is! How do you make the customer realize the competition is grossly overcharging without badmouthing?

My proposals have a very nice profit margin included and I feel they are very fair. They are paying the bills, paying me, and putting some in savings. When clients tell me the price of the competition I am completely blown away! I explain my proposal and the quality they are receiving by choosing me as their contractor, but in the back of my mind I wonder if the client is thinking I'm an undercutter or a poor quality contractor.

The previous two bids I won one and lost one. The homeowner that went with us is very satisfied. They called us because they felt the pricing was too high by one of the contractors. Not sure about the other homeowner, though the landscape installation is way below my standards...

Have any of you encountered this, and if so, how do you politely inform the customer that you're fair and the competition is taking advantage of them? This is just getting my gizzard right now since this is the third time in 3-4 months I've run into this. This homeowner I am dealing with rigt now is very concerned about quality and I know I can meet or exceed her expectations, but I'm not too sure the competition can. This homeowner paid her home builder well and they're not afraid to shell out the money for a nice job.....how do I make her realize (without being too "pesty") that more money doesn't mean better quality with the competition I have?