I also noticed a bunch of deal stickers and price knockdowns on other Metabo HPT stuff, anyone got an idea? Just a reshuffle to clear old stock? Potential Flex situation?
For me it’s probably cutting baseboard and door casing with a circular saw. I was too lazy to walk down stairs to the miter saw station. In my limited defense it was a slum rental akin to a crack house so the fact there was trim at all was a positive.
EDIT: I also shimmed a floating LVP floor with the cardboard boxes it came in. Same property.
So the last few estimates I’ve done I’ve been getting rebuked by the client for being too expensive. They seem to be operating on 2015 pricing. I’d a potential client reach out for me to build her a new deck 3’ wider and 2’ further off the house which would’ve made 19’x17’ and a 3 season room on it, encompassing about half of the deck, and when I asked about budget she was like I only want to spend $10k-$15k.
I’ve had another client who I’ve worked for before claim I’m trying to take advantage of the fact she’s wealthy because I priced an ADA compliant porch/ramp for her business at $13k. I live in a high COL area and after materials and paying my guys I wouldn’t be making that much on it’s kinda, you’re a repeat customer who I’ve worked for before and this is kinda a filler job to keep the boys busy for a few days type of price.
I’d another client I was referred to earlier in the year ask me to completely flip his bathroom in a week for about $5k. And when I try to explain to them why their preconceived numbers are inaccurate and explain my price to them I’m met with hostility and almost combativeness like “how dare this contractor try to fleece me” So I guess is anybody else having a similar experience recently?
Currently doing a bathroom remodel and the clients have cats, 3 or 4 of them. Every day there’s something with these cats, just finished grouting the bathroom floor and I come in this morning and there’s a massive puddle of cat piss in the middle of the floor this is the 2nd time. Earlier in the project after finishing the demo and moving to do some framing for new walls, I come back after lunch and there’s a cat turd in the corner of the room. It’s fucking gross and annoying but I will look back in 2 years and think it’s funny. Clients have apologized profusely in fairness but, since the shit incident I’ve been careful to keep the door closed when I’m not around but the clients after I leave come into the bathroom and look around which is fine I don’t have a problem with, but they leave the door open allowing their piss pirate and turd tyrant cats free reign.
I called a client to confirm start times for a project and to confirm a few design choices so I could order appropriate material and it turned into a 45 minute call about how her and her husband were getting divorced after he walked out a week earlier. I was like “I’m sorry to hear that, that’s so unfortunate. Anyway I’m going to send you an invoice so I can get material ordered and my guys will be there in 2 weeks”
I got hired by a company only to find out that they’d 2 crews and 3 project managers(one was more sales but he’d act like PM whenever he was around) that would often be on the same jobs and contradicting each other. I left after 6 weeks.
Would you ever consider subcontracting demo of the existing patio you’re replacing? In residential construction there’s specific demo companies because a lot of remodel and builders don’t want to do it because of various reasons, their guys are more profitable doing other tasks, it’s dirty work and it’s donkey work they’re happy to pay to have someone else deal with the headache. Does this exist in the hardscape/landscape world? Is it a line item that you’d delegate?