Learned my lesson

So a few weeks ago i recieved a referal to do a single story in venice beach,i look up her address to kinda get a feel, i agree to do the job,plus its for a friend so what the hell.it was going to be a bit of a drive, i get to her place at 7:00a bc traffic is shite over there. She wants to meet at 8:30am so since i have time to kill, i drive by her place…jesus, theres atleast 100 french panes in the front section and cactus all around, i was really regreting this.
Finally we meet and inside just has a ton more, she wants in/out screens and tracks done, i buckle down and just go to town, before i knew it the day past and i finished my last window at 5pm so many obstacles to work around.

Sounds like a normal day :-). Are you saying you didn’t charge enough? For me, If the price is right, I’ll do it…

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I guess your right, it is like a normal day but today in my head i was anticipating 4hrs tops and then an early day but ended up being 8hrs at one home lol i underbidded myself a hundo :frowning:

I hate myself when I underbid…

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Better over than under

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Referrals? Great review? Repeat business? Desirable area? Make it back.

I had a HUGE job yesterday, except I did bid it right - for the most part. It was a just finished remodel except the pool is being finished. I decided not to charge it as a CCU because it appeared the workers had done an exceptional job of not mucking up the windows. Well, there were 16 windows that had sticker debris, some paint and silicone; my fault for not first looking through the second floor windows when I got there - lesson learned :wink: - I added $90 to the job for Sticker/Paint Removal. It paid well but I didn’t get home until 6:00 p.m.! (I live 10 minutes from the job).
Edit: Yes, the obstacles can slow you down. Window treatments on every window, furniture and lamps to move. The exterior went fast because of no ladder sets; water fed poled the entire second floor windows and some three story small windows above the second floor space.21 AM

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did you switch back to traditional for the ground floor?

Next time ill have a package sheet layout, the lady wants to clean them in a few months. She loved how it came our

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I know that game. The key I’ve learned with French panes is only clean 1/3 of them but space them out well so it’s not noticed.

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Lol trolling again eh

I don’t understand. You bid the job over the phone ? An she told you less amount if windows then what it was ? Or was it the obstacles that got ya ?

I used google maps just this one time, i always check in person to guage difficulty, mainly it was the obstacles to climb over

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I had a lady call the other day about 40 minutes away. I told her I would swing by and she says “I know how many windows I have, my last window cleaner left me a paper with it on there.”

So I think cool she tells me 24 DH, 20 Casement, 4 skylights, and 10 doors 12 French panes each. I tell her $535 and she says" my last guy did it for $500"

I was in a good mood so what the heck. $500 is good for me. We book the job.

I pull up in the morning and the 24 DH are also french panes. My stomach dropped.

So I walk around and do a take off my price would have been $675.
So I point out the confusion to the lady and why I would have thought she would have mentioned it because she pointed out the doors have French panes.

She was a very sweet lady, I figured in her 60’s. She said " Oh I didn’t realize I just read what was on the sheet"

Seemed like a very honest mistake, but I didn’t know what to do, charge $500 or give her a new price.

I ended up going with the original price, I hate to give one price over the phone and a new price when I get there, plus I had nothing else to do that day if she said no.

But I was planning for an early day. 5:30 I was rolling up.

I feel your pain.

Joe

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Yes, with a TDS of 225, I sure did!

Thanks my man, that was also very nice of you to give her the original price. It always comes back around

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What do you guys do with those pesky white frames thst leave a white residue if you wet them?

I would say you did the right thing by sticking by your phone quote price with incorrect info. Although you did take a hit it is respectable.

We bid 95% residential by phone because it simply saves time. We too have an occasional issue were we take a hit but very few and the time saved on phone quotes far outweighs the losses.

I find by having a price per pane gives the customer the general idea of cost for service but also helps by avoiding that same issue of bidding incorrectly. If customer thought they had 20 windows and actually have 30 it is easy to a clarify why the difference.

Scrub the frames until the water don’t run white no more

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Yea even if I can justify the price change it leaves a bad taste if everyone mouth. If I thought she was pulling a fast one I would have said something more, but she wasn’t.

Better to eat it and get a repeat customer that I can slowly work up to where I want to be.
Ended up being a nice lady to work for. I gave her some steel wool because she saw me using it and had a interior window in her kitchen she wanted to try it on she gave me a $50 tip and maybe I’ll get some referrals down the road.

I’m happy, it worked out well, but I hate being surprised when I pull up to a job. Just starts the day off bad.

Joe

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