Anyone else tearing their Hair out??

[Mesterh]

if worcs wuss is happy to do the job, fair play to him.

 

there's no point everyone whinging about how he's devalueing the industry...

he got the price he wanted, the client got the job done. both won

 

we all go about people undercutting each other ( me included ) yet alot of us use Justin for our saws, why, cause he's the cheapest.

 

i was bitching yesterday. i'd priced a friend of a friend 30mts2 of turfing at £250, yet was beaten by a price of £90 (the turf was £50 and a ton and half of topsoil at £30 )

i was telling the story to a mate of mine in the builders merchants where i was buying a load of fencing.

i'd spent 10 minutes the day before, arguing with the merchant to lower his price on the said fencing

 

hypocrate, me, never...

 

That probably about sums it up.

 

Always makes me laugh, how many times do we see threads about where to buy the cheapest insurance saws etc then the next thread will be questioning why customers are so tight and dont want to pay out.

 

Human nature, or well consumer nature, I dont blame clients for wanting value for money, why should they pay me more money to carry out a job over someone else who seems just as proficient and professional if I dont come to them with recommendations?

[skyhuck]

 

That probably about sums it up.

 

Always makes me laugh, how many times do we see threads about where to buy the cheapest insurance saws etc then the next thread will be questioning why customers are so tight and dont want to pay out.

 

Human nature, or well consumer nature, I dont blame clients for wanting value for money, why should they pay me more money to carry out a job over someone else who seems just as proficient and professional if I dont come to them with recommendations?

 

And if they can make a big enough saving they will accept a less proficient and less professional service, plus lets be honest a great many punters don't know the difference between a good firm and a bad one.

[RobRainford]

Can't understand how people can be so cheap. I quoted for one guy 3 seperate jobs coming to £4.5k, nothing easy about them. Found out all the work had been done for £1800. That was my total costs for one of the jobs to be done in 3-4 days. I saw them doing the odd day here and there for 3 weeks!

[Czlowiek Drzewo]

another thing about pricing small jobs..if costumer is ok to wait for you to do them then you can arrnage 4 small ones in a day..which i do often.

 

4 small jobs at £150 - £200 each. easy day and good profit.

 

I will often quote small jobs very cheap if i know i can fit them in with other jobs booked in coming up so i can hit my day rate

[Mesterh]

And if they can make a big enough saving they will accept a less proficient and less professional service, plus lets be honest a great many punters don't know the difference between a good firm and a bad one.

 

Totally agree.

 

I would say a vast majority of my clients have never needed or know anyone who require tree work so they have no references of costs or recommendations. To most clients its a simple 'gardening' job(even the biggest nasty black polar) in their eyes. You can usually tell when they are impressed there is no sawdust on the driveway and are irrelevant that you have spent 2 days rigging and carting out 10+ ton of rotten poplar while keeping their greenhouse, conservatory and lawn intact.

 

I cant blame anyone for getting a few quotes and as you say how do they differentiate between a good firm and a not so good one if as above they have no references?

 

All I do is try to reassure potential customers that we are a professional firm and that by using us they dont have to worry about any else. I dont say it like that but I hope I come across like that.

 

But, many people just want the cheapest price and we have to accept that, all I can do is offer a professional service at a competitive price, sometimes I will be the cheapest and sometimes not, hopefully I'm the cheapest only when other 'professional' tree surgeons are involved.

[Billy]

I think Chris is bang on, I'm relatively new to this, only just starting to do more of my own work than subby climbing and some weeks/ months it goes back the other way!

However I charge 250-300 for a morning and aim for £500 orbit more for a day with myself climbing a good Groundy and a labourer with 9" chipper landy tipper and tipper trailer if need be.And I think I'm cheap! If I can't grow pricing like that I'll be getting out of thousand using what I did at uni!

[Andy Collins]

Can't understand how people can be so cheap. I quoted for one guy 3 seperate jobs coming to £4.5k, nothing easy about them. Found out all the work had been done for £1800. That was my total costs for one of the jobs to be done in 3-4 days. I saw them doing the odd day here and there for 3 weeks!

 

Ok, lets throw a hypothetical spanner into the works. Lets say you look at a job, using the gear you have every day, and you see 1.5 days work for 2 men, lets say for simplicity sake 2x man day truck and chipper is £400, and £300 for the half day = £700. Then i turn up, look at the job and think, with the kit available to me, 2x men + equipment = £550, but I (hypothetically of course) work faster and more Efficiently than your team can, get the job done in just under a day, done and dusted. Thats a saving to the client of £150, ive seemingly undercut you, but in fact my day rate is higher than yours, but greater experience and skill, more advanced vehicles etc, have won me the day. Now multiply that across every job you price and I win, i build an even bigger, more efficient business, and you blunder along wondering whats gone wrong.

[butler]

Ok, lets throw a hypothetical spanner into the works. Lets say you look at a job, using the gear you have every day, and you see 1.5 days work for 2 men, lets say for simplicity sake 2x man day truck and chipper is £400, and £300 for the half day = £700. Then i turn up, look at the job and think, with the kit available to me, 2x men + equipment = £550, but I (hypothetically of course) work faster and more Efficiently than your team can, get the job done in just under a day, done and dusted. Thats a saving to the client of £150, ive seemingly undercut you, but in fact my day rate is higher than yours, but greater experience and skill, more advanced vehicles etc, have won me the day. Now multiply that across every job you price and I win, i build an even bigger, more efficient business, and you blunder along wondering whats gone wrong.

 

[Old Mill Tree Care]

And if they can make a big enough saving they will accept a less proficient and less professional service, plus lets be honest a great many punters don't know the difference between a good firm and a bad one.

 

Sadly, very very true

[chrisgilltreesurgery]

Also, I have found on more than a few occasions that ill get a call from a customer with an enquiry for a reduction. I will price it to be done properly and lets say it will take a day and my day rate is £500, I will not hear anything back from the customer so ill have a drive past to see if the work has been done and to my horror someone has butchered the tree! This must have only taken the person 3 hours or so!

 

People are doing sub-standard work and getting away with it due to lack of customers knowledge, and customers being so price driven!

 

A lot of the time customers are more interested in how cheep they can get the job done for, rather than how well the job will be done.

 

Makes me sick