Cheap, Cheaper, Cheapest
Filed under Cheap Tools
As discussed before, “the going rate” is a nonexistent thing, and if there were such a thing, then it might be the rate that is left after a bidding war among low ball bidders. So if that is the case the “going rate” could theoretically be /hour. Because I truly believe that the only way that the low ball bidder sells a job is by dropping his price. He has no other strategies in his game plan. His game is one of re-action, not of action. He reacts to the same low ball strategies that he uses. I heard a story about a low ball contractor that gave a really low bid to a family and lost the job. All he thought was “how low did the other guy go”. After all he was extremely low. It turned out that the homeowner wasn’t impressed with his “too low price”, and wanted my “better” job, and I might add, at a sizable amount higher, low bidder was k and I was over k. He had no clue that he lost the job to a much higher bid.
This example has been proven to me over and over, when I ask the owner when we are all done, what the other peoples bids were. Sometimes they will tell me, and sometimes they won’t. But when these low ball contractors get together, all they seem to know is that everyone shops for the lowest price. It is just not true. Do you always buy the cheapest? Buying the cheapest tool for example, I have found, is a sure fire way to buy a tool twice. The first time you buy the cheaper tool and the cheap tool breaks, and the second time when you buy the better tool to replace the cheap one.
The only “going rate” is your going rate. You need to know your break even point, and then add profit to that. Your break even point includes the owner’s salary. So many contractors don’t treat themselves as an employee, who should be on the payroll just like everyone else. You are part of the overhead, if you had to hire someone to do your job, then they would be paid, wouldn’t they?
Find out more about having a successful painting business.
P.Cavanaugh has spent 30 years in the painting business, after finally realizing that the only way to improve was to charge what was needed.
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