[Nebraska]

The following is an interesting email I received from a prospect regarding an estimate for a landscape design I provided:

xxx and i have reviewed the plan. our major concern is the expense.
we went and priced all of the plants and the total cost was around
$1300 for all the trees and plants. also, as we were pricing them we
ended up changing about 70% of plan.

i would be happy to discuss these changes with you but do not want to
waste your time. with the changes the plan is significantly diffent
from what we most recently discussed. but, unless we can find a way
to get the price closer to the $2500 i just can't justify spending
that amt of money on the original quote. plus, the other two
estimates that we received were similar to your plan and both were
over $1600 less.

[LandArts]

I would just delete that email and move on.

[Nebraska]

Yeah...

just an FYI... My total cost of Materials and Supplies is $1664. Estimated man hours is around 60. They have paid me for the design and the cost of one revison.

What I find interesting is why not just hire the others at $1600 less and just be done with it? I could think of a couple possible reasons...

[Stonehenge]

I'm sure the price for the plant material they found was based on size, and was much, much smaller.

Anyway, checking on prices by shopping out all the plants is a huge red flag.

I'd either ignore it as LandArts suggests, or wish them luck with whomever they end up choosing.

[GLAN]

I get that to from time to time.....Do a design, plant list and provide the estimate.....they need a few days to consider.

get a call the next day.......we were at Home Depot and found most the plants on the list there and couldn't believe your mark up was so high.......can you explain your estimate?



First........I will not discuss and break down the estimate. And you have 30 seconds to tell me we are going ahead with the project as I spected out........Or good luck with the next Landscaper you do business with.

[Nebraska]

What really bugs is the implied that I'm "hosing" them.

[Greensmith]

I can't stand that either. I had a guy complain I was charging him retail on plants when he knew I got discounts. Well, yea, I do. Let me know if you want to load up your new Toyata with 20-30 shrubs and amendments and see how long it takes you to have that all ready for the cheap labor you do hire.

[GLAN]

Originally posted by Nebraska
What really bugs is the implied that I'm "hosing" them.

Yeah I know.......I felt like that years ago....

In fact because I would feel so quilty.......I had them buy what ever plants at the Depot...and do the job..........Well that was a long time ago.

I have to make a living......not gonna be able to do that working for stiffs.....so you just move on to the next.


Just like in many threads here on pretty much the same subject....go to a home.....newly sided, new escalade and bmw in the garage........newly installed in ground pool......you get the picture.....and they tell you they need a favor.............Not to expensive...we want a nice job like you done for neighbors but we just don't want to pay much..


I had an incident.........ah well this would have been kinda a long story.........in short........an 18 year maintenance customer.....All I wanted to do was do a perennial planting between the deck and the hedges where you enter the yard from the gate....Irrigation system sucks and only works the one side.........All I heard from this woman.......you have to take care of me.....do it cheap but nice......I've been a customer for so long.........

Well she added other parts of the back.........all I kept saying was sprinkler does not work there. Yeah, yeah, yeah.......on deaft ears. But you have to do all this cheap........So I did it cheap.......she's not happy......OK get approval to add.......still doesn't like it. Redo it but I am not paying any more.........OK. I am a sucker.........I go in and rearange some things. Now add in flowers......but do it cheap........OK, they got cheap..........Now the husband gets involved.

I tell him......ya know what? All I wanted to do was the one perennial planting cause that is where you got water..........no where else in the back does the sprinkler work...........You know this.....as does your wife.........And all I heard from your wife was Cheap, cheap, cheap.........thought she was a canary for a while.

He sympathized with me, but continued to tell me I did a lousy job....Excuse me!?!?!

Lets just say cheap ruined an 18 year business relationship. And I have done 3 new front design installs right around them this past spring. The year he finaly tells me they "Need" to find a gardener that can work with them.

One neighbor tells me he is pissed over the whole situation and is blaming his wife....

[Fine Edge]

Have him send me the design and I'll quote it for him so high his head will explode. OOps, one more cheapo we don't have to worry about.
Here's my favorite cheapskate quote, " Sharpen your pencil on this one since I do have a budget to stick to".
Like mentioned before, $850,000 house and new Vette to go with the lake house. I usually break the pencil in half and write the quote in permanent marker.

[r schipul]

With a response like that I usually come back with "The markup is what's needed to cover plant replacements and overhead from running a legit company". You can always get it done cheaper but if the garden ultimately fails because of X, X, X and X, how cheap was it? Pause........ I answer with very expensive.

[Dale Wiley]

I have gotten some huge stones here lately. As I have said, we are exiting the landscape installation and maintenance in residential. We still will do some commercial maintenance, but our focus will be on athletic fields and our municipal work. No residential after this year... the sooner the better. Our market is just the pits.

When I go to a site and visit with a potential client... I have a fairly scripted process that we use. If we make it to the first site visit and some things happen, the whole process stops.

If the potential client at any point says the word's: cheap, economical, tight budget, getting several bids, do it in phases, the other prices were outrageous, getting a price from this kid who is just starting out...

I stop and ask them point blank what they really intend to do. Because in our experience, when those adjectives enter in the conversation, we seldom are able to or want to provide a service that will meet their needs. We don't give "bids", we give quotes.

And there is one company in town who is strictly price point. We bid a 5 zone sprinkler system at $ 4,100. They did the job for $ 3,000.

If the client says they are getting several "bids", I ask if XYZ company is one of them. If they say yes, and they have indicated a price senstivity, then the visit is over.

[Stonehenge]

Nebraska, I hear you on the implication that you are hosing them. There have been a few times where in person I'll jokingly respond - "It's because I'm ripping you off." It usually gets a laugh, but I'll have already filed that client away as dead wood.

I really got a laugh from an email lead from a month or so ago from Contractor.com. The prospective client has a paragraph to briefly describe the work, and in this description the client mentions "I don't want to be gouged." Say wha?! Do you really expect anyone to respond when out of the gate you think everyone's default position is to rip you off?

[Raj Venugopal]

Let 'em go! They sound like a big pain in the ass.

I should have done that on a few tire-kickers we wasted time on this year.

Failing which...tell them you'll happily charge double to clean up the mess, take out the divided perennials from the discount scaper's backyard and put the new mature stock into quality soil instead of trow!

Remind them....Pay peanuts, get monkeys...! ; )

Raj

[Nebraska]

I toyed with him a little with a phone call late yesterday....

Simply told him that I would usually not even bother responding to that sort of email but my interest was "peaked" and asked him why did he bother and not just hire the others that were so much less.

His response was, "My wife and I like the plan, presentation, and you the best. I am just finding it hard justifying spending the money."

Told him simply that I appreciate the opportunity and to call when he comes to the realization that we're not trying to take him to the "cleaners" and that the estimate is only valid until 5/26/06.