Gutting a business for pipes...how much to charge?

Originally Posted by bigburtchino

Scrappah - I do agree with you about property owners acting as their own contractor. Almost the stupidest thing a property owner can do. Hire a construction expert, release contractor of all liabilities, discourage the expert from utilizing his years of working knowledge. I would ask the property owner why did you call me if you already know how to build it? I would move on to the property owner that needs me to help him do it right!

I dunno .... I'm dealing with a lot of idiots lately. The customers that are good are better than ever. The ones that have been moderately difficult in the past have become almost intolerable. At first glance i would have to ask myself if i'm doing something wrong but it seems to be more widespread. Been networking with the other trades and they've been running into the same problems as well. One very successful roofing contractor with excellent customer skills that i know of closed his doors last fall. When i asked him why he said " These people are crazy ! I can't take it anymore. They will put me in an early grave. "

I've got a past customer that was pretty decent. All around good to deal with but a bit promiscuous. For some unknown reason she has to shift to shift from one contractor to the next. She called me in again last month. Her last carpenter bailed halfway through the job. Mulled it over for a week or two and decided that enough of the red flags were up & took a pass on the job. It's overall good work but the warning signs are there. It was probably a good call. About three weeks later she had somebody working there that she had imported from 500 miles away. Apparently she had burned through all of her local options ?

Anyway, i've got a ton of war stories but there's one point that i really would want to emphasize:



Learn how to size your perspective clients up before ever setting foot on a job. Know what to expect from them before hand. Know yourself. Work within your range. Know what you can deal with and what you won't be able to tolerate from a customer.

It only takes one bad job to put you under. There's no shame in taking a pass on a job where you're out of your depth. It's terrible to say, but if you have to ask advise on how to bid a job then you probably don't know what you're doing.

Bear in mind ..... you have a moral & legal responsibility to follow through once you place a bid on a job. No excuses allowed.