I don’t think it was offensive, but I wasn’t there.
If you said, “Is there any room on the price for doing all of the work at the same time?” that’s fairly inoffensive. If you said, “you’re killing me with this. I got a guy in Jersey can do it for half this.” He might not not call you back.
I find with contractors that resources likes Angie’s List or word of mouth referrals from friends and family are worth it.
I also find that if they won’t even return your phone calls, you’re probably better off out of it.
Why on earth do you think that haggling over the cost of labor carries an implication of dishonesty, any more than haggling over the cost of a car implies that the seller’s asking price is a rip-off?
Any seller of goods or provider of services sensibly tries to judge supply and demand, seeks to maximize profit, and may choose to test the waters with a high price to see what the market will bear. At the same time, any sensible consumer of goods or services will also try to judge supply and demand in the market, and may choose to haggle for either goods or services in order to minimize their cost. Neither of these behaviors is offensive, nor does either behavior carry an implication of dishonesty. It is simply the way a market economy works.
There is no set “fair” price for what your labor is worth, any more than there is for gold. The price is set by supply and demand.
I agree that good faith negotiating is not rude. But I also think its reasonable for for contractors to not go along with it, especially if they don’t have to because they have dozens of customers lined up who won’t. I think its a little rude to suddenly drop off the face of the earth though.
That said, I wouldn’t read too much into them suddenly disappearing and I wouldn’t assume it was because they were insulted by the negotiation. Recently we wanted some work done, had a contractor come over and give us a quote, we told him “great, go ahead!”, and he disappeared off the face of the earth. Some people are just like that. I honestly don’t know if he changed his mind about the job being worth it, just forgot about us, or died. I assume immediately agreeing with his quote wasn’t insulting, but who knows?
Of course. That’s the “demand” side of the supply-demand equation.
Another part of a free market is that you are free to run your business any way you choose, which may include refusing to negotiate on your estimates. If so, why not just say so.
In a recession, everything tends to be become much more negotiable.
It must be wonderful (for the contractor/service provider) to have “dozens” of customers panting for their services, wherever this Shangri-La is. More often there are plenty of options for customers who should not feel they’d be honored if someone takes the job.
Circumstances dictate how many bids one solicits or whether one attempts to negotiate the price. If there’s been a major storm that knocked down trees and limbs all over the area and you try for a major price cut on cleanup, good luck. Or if the work is relatively small potatoes, the company may question if it’s worth their time in the first place.
My strategy is usually to get at least 3 bids for a project, and consider price as an important (but not the only) factor when making a decision.
There are a number of situations in which negotiating price should be perfectly acceptable, but some people get offended if you try. One time there was a small chain going out of business and their local outlet was having a clearance. I was interested in one item but the “clearance price” was pretty high, so I made a lower offer. From the disdainful refusal, you’d have thought I was grievously insulting the salesperson.
I suspect the really good negotiators/bargainers don’t let negative responses like that bother them.
Yes, a pissy response is largely irrelevant if you have judged supply and demand correctly. If so, just come back a week later and offer 20% less. Keeping people sweet is more important when you’re on the wrong side of a supply-demand imbalance.
A good entrepreneur appreciates when someone gives them new information about market demand. Through his lack of response he’s informed you his demand is high enough that he can afford to be rude (or that he’s not smart enough to practice basic courtesy).
How much did you actually offer for the 5? If one is $100, asking $400-450 for five is reasonable. Asking if he’d do 5 for $250 is not. So it depends on the amount offered.
A lot depends on where you live. When we lived in LA we couldn’t get a single roofer to even show up to do an estimate. We finally got a guy who a friend referred to us and we surely didn’t haggle price with him. On the other hand, we own property in a small town in Illinois and can get multiple bids on any job. Those folks aren’t nearly as busy.
In talking with handymen, my impression is that they loathe the negotiation–not because it’s offensive per se, but because someone who wants to negotiate is likely to be a giant pain in their ass going forward. They may want to renegotiate halfway through the job, or may insist that the job was not done properly and try to negotiate a lower final payment, or may add constant tiny new demands, or may leave a bad review online over some trifling little thing.
I tend to err in the opposite direction, accepting subpar work because I hate the confrontation of telling someone they didn’t do it right. I wish I were spinier about such matters.
It’s always good to get more than one price if you can. For something in the few hundred dollars range I’d say two bids would be sufficient. If one presents as better or more trustworthy see if they’ll price match the other guy. If they’re more than a little off from each other you’ll know you need to talk to a third guy.
With my company we’d probably have just asked a few questions and given a ballpark on the phone if we felt like it would come out under 500$ or so.
In my experience hard negotiators on relatively small jobs tend to be very picky when it’s time to pay. Quite a few will even try to negotiate again after the job is done. Very few, but some, straight up refuse to pay. If he’s had a few of those lately he may just be following grandma’s sage advise.
That said it can be a LOT cheaper to do five of a thing at once than make five trips to do a thing.
I live in LA where $35/hour seems to be a standard rate, and you’ll pay for a minimum of an hour. You absolutely can negotiate, especially on a bigger job. But reliable handymen who show up and do good work are in heavy demand, so IMO it ultimately doesn’t do much good to haggle much. I’ll even overpay to make sure I get a response the next time I need help.
I would say this depends entirely on the scale of the task.
If the task is going to cost you less than a week’s pay, or it’s going to occupy your contractor for less than two or three man-hour days, it’s not worth negotiating.
People who work as handymen not negotiating can make a lot of sense if there is steady demand for their services. If you are niggling them on a job that costs a few hundred dollars the reality is that the potential PITA of that kind of tight fisted customer for a small job like that is not worth the risk or hassle. Better to pass. If work is scarce they may be more accommodating, but frankly work is rarely scarce for a good handyman. A good handyman is hard to find and satisfied clients rarely beat them up on price for little jobs. Doing work for someone who needs to beat them up on price is not a priority.
In the end it’s not morals or manners issue, it’s simply supply and demand. If he has other work he could be doing you have little negotiating leverage. Don’t take it personally he’s just making a logical business decision based on his experience.
I can’t tell you how many scumbags have blown me off during peak season, only to come begging for work when its cold and rainy. Sorry, Fucker. I did it myself for half your fucking quote. I would have paid you more to do it when I wanted it, but you didn’t return the call.
You are one in business. You want to earn money? It’s on you.
I was trying to get a room finished in my house in the recession and I was amazed how many people simply never responded to my first call to them. I figured they would really need the work during that time .
One guy gave me a high quote and I told him it was high and he responded back to me that price was firm. At least he did respond.