I am way out of line!

[grasshawg]

That's what the guy just said to me on the phone compared to what they paid last time for doing the same job. He wouldn't tell me how much he paid last time. I bid on removing oil/grease stains AND gum from 13,612 sq ft of parking lot. At .10/sq ft, the bid was $1361.00. Plus the perimeter around his building is 210 ft, and one side is virtually covered in green algea. Black mildew is at the top of the biulding around the entire perimeter. I bid $420.00 on the building. Total bid was $1781.00.
I followed the advice I got form this forum, but I'm wondering, did I not consider the difference in the cost of living for a different area of the country? Did the other guy grossly underbid? Or is he just doing a half-ass job? I don't know how long it's been since it was done, but it's in pretty foul shape. Should I call him back and offer a reduction? Or try to convince him that my price is fair? Or just move on? I was pretty confident about all this. Now I'm not so sure.

 

[Larry B]

I usually give a volume discount for concrete. Maybe as little as .05 for a large job. I think you hit it on the head with the previous cleaner as well.

 

[Larry L.]

Stop and think..

Why has it been so long from the other wash job? is it b/c he cann't find anyone willing to do it cheaper? why isn't the last powerwasher washing it again? is it b/c the other washer has gone out of bussiness b/c he was to cheap.

If you cann't make any money doing the job don't waste your time and money when it could be sent else where.Only you can decide whether its worth your time and effort.

 

[grasshawg]

I think anything would be worth my time and effort just to get my feet in the door. After the job, I can provide before and after photos to the next potential customer. I think I will call the guy back and see if we can negotiate a compromise. I'll let y'all know the results. Thanks!

 

[M&C]

Dont worry or second guess yourself , I had the same thing happen to me where i got lowballed bad . i went back after the guy did the job and got complete satisfaction at the striping of the concrete and told the owner next time call me and ill be happy to give him another estimate.

 

[Larry L.]

I think anything would be worth my time and effort just to get my feet in the door.

That way of thinking could put you out of business,why,its not easy going up in price elswhere and that job.When a newbee sets his prices several dallor per job below what the local competition is getting its just a matter of time before he's out out out out of business.Altho I can understand the thinking as to do so as to get business its the thing to do.

Thats not so,believe it or not a newbee will have a better chance if a few cents or dallors higher than the local competition.I seen two newbee's go out this year and another isn't setting the woods on fire as to pay his bills.Their thinking was like your thinking,your best bet would be to ask the local competition the going rate as to bid the same or a little higher.

 

[grasshawg]

Thanks. I didn't call him yet. One thing I WILL NOT do is start lowballing the competition. Maybe I'll just forget about that guy. I did call another one I submitted a bid to and he too said it was too high. This was for 10,125 sq ft bid at $506.25. (.05/sq ft). He said the previous guy did it for $250.
It's pretty obvious there has been some lowballing going on out here before I got into it. I just told him "That gum has been on your parking lot for a long time. If you're paying someone $250 to come out and spray the dirt around, you're wasting your money. If you want it CLEANED, call me." He said they would consider it.
I am not working that cheap. That would be a waste of MY time.

 

[Dave Olson]

You might want to consider doing a demo. We did that awhile back on a major grocery chain. Several weeks later when they wanted it done, they didn't even asked how much! All they asked was "How soon can you get it done"? They already knew that we could do it because they saw the clean spot at the front door!

Oh, by the way, we did the demo while I had a crew working in that area anyway. Really did not that them that long.

Dave Olson

 

[PressurePros]

I think all of these posts (including your own insights) contain good information. You learned about getting price info on this forum versus exploring your own market. That was a mistake.

Studies have shown that the vast majority of people are willing to pay 25% more for a service if they are sure they are getting top notch quality. I could easily have bid $895 for that job and made well over the customary per hour rate we usually get for commercial work. If I was desperate for work, I could bid $695 and still net nice money per hour. But you have to keep in mind efficiency, trained employees and the proper equipment will change what you make per hour. For what it is worth, $950 is what I would have bid.

Your pricing is your pricing. Do your local research. Establish where you need to be and do not sell on price. Sell on quality and professionalism. It was mentioned to do a demo. I think they are important in commerical work if you plan on raising the pricing standards in your demographic. Since you have no before and after photos this is a good way to show what you can do.

 

[grasshawg]

Demo it is! I didn't think of that. Looks like I'm going to have to gradually reintroduce people around here about quality. Someone wrote in another thread how lowballing ends up hurting the entire industry. I think we have a perfect example of that here.
In the meantime, I'll just have to branch out into areas that haven't been affected yet. Thanks, guys!

 

[ebladebum]

did he call you back and tell you that you were out of line? that kind of sounds like he is just to cheap to pay the money and figures that is he tells you that your to high that you have to lower it. i come across this all the time when im cutting grass, all i do is explain why my prices are what they are and that they get what they pay for.

 

[grasshawg]

No, I had to call him to ask him if he'd had a chance to review my proposal. That's when he told me I was "out of line". Haven't heard from him since. I've considered calling him back to see if we can negotiate. After all, I need to get some work lined up as I am just getting started. But if I do that, I'm no better than the lowballing peckerheads that screwed it all up to begin with.