Wording on Quote: What if they don't do it all?

NickfromWI

King of Splices
Joined
Mar 30, 2005
Messages
4,992
Location
Snowless California
I occasionally encounter this annoying situation. I wanted to see what you folks do in these situations. I'll describe.

So lets say I go out and meet a prospective client. I send them a bid. Maybe it has 5 items on it, ranging in price from $100 up to maybe $1,500. Lets say it looks like this...

Magnolia: Prune to clear from building by a minimum of 5 ft. $300
Coast live oak: Prune to remove deadwood 1" diameter and larger $1,500
Dead birch: Remove ALAP $100

I see a potential $1,900 job. Few guys could get out there and knock it out in a day. Nice.

Client responds, "Thanks, but for now we'll just remove the dead birch tree."

Great- now I gotta send someone across town with a truck to be there for 10 minutes to cut down a measly $100 tree.

How do you protect yourself from that situation? I'm considering tacking on something to the quote that basically says, "this all assumes you hire us to do everything." or "this only counts if you hire us for at least X dollars."

Thoughts?

love
nick
 
Just tell them straight. You won't go for such a piddling job.
Or as I do, don't price things separately, when we walk around and they say "how much for that?" And how much for that?"
I say say "tell me what you want done and I'll price the lot"
 
Just tell them straight. You won't go for such a piddling job.
Or as I do, don't price things separately, when we walk around and they say "how much for that?" And how much for that?"
I say say "tell me what you want done and I'll price the lot"

yes this is what I do basically,Well while Im here I can get this and this done!If I have to come back for this job and come back for that job you will have to spend more mys well get it all done at once.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #5
I don't have that option. That's not how things can work any more. Here's now this would play out:

"Sorry Mrs Johnson...I don't wanna waste my time with that piddly job. Call your gardener. He'll be happy to do it."

I walk away happy.

Mrs. Johnson logs in to yelp.com "TreeCareLA didn't listen to my needs. He is a money grubbing con man that takes advantage of the elderly. I'm on a fixed income."

My phone stops ringing.

I'm exaggerating..kinda...but not really.
 
hmmm got ya
I get stuff like this all the time.
If Im able ill try to group a few little jods together to try to make it suck not so bad.
I know that's not answering your question,Im sure someone here has some wording you could use on your quote.
IM all ears.
 
When I add a $100 tree to the original proposal, I always try to add "Must be done with other work to be completed at this price."

In your situation I think I'd try to explain it was a small add on to a full day of work, and that I was trying to help her out, but our minimum for tree work is _____.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #9
I think that's it. And that's what it really is. Really I should bit JUST the birches at $350. Maybe the quote needs a line of like "minimum price to send a crew to your site is $350." and just leave it at that.

Truthfully, it's super rare that it happens and it's kindof a good time for me to just bite my tongue, gitterdun, and move on. But when it DOES happen ...GRRRRR
 
Give the same detailed tree list and specifications, but only include a total price. Or, if they want an itemized cost, make everything add up to $1900.00 but raise the birch from $100 to $300, and move the money from the other two items. This might keep them from cherry picking the cheaper stuff and having the rest done by someone else.
 
My phone stops ringing.

I'm exaggerating..kinda...but not really.

I wont totally derail here but would most people agree reputation means way less in the big city market??? That being said I wouldn't handle a neg review online very well at all.

Having the minimum call fee on the quote seems the way to go, simple and efficient way of protecting your interests.
 
Sometimes when I'm doing an estimate, and have some gear on hand with me, I'll quote price A and price B.
Price B is if they would like me to proceed with the work there and then. (simple job, obviously - like a notch 'n drop)
Price A is if they would like to think about it, get some other estimates, mebbe call me back.
Price C is when they call back after two years and would like the work done for the same price (ignoring the 60 or 90 days written on the quotation) or they want me to come back to give them a new estimate cause they lost or threw out the old one.
 
.... Maybe the quote needs a line of like "minimum price to send a crew to your site is $350." and just leave it at that.....

Set a minimum but give careful thought on what you will be satisfied with and still be competitive for your area. In our area we can group smaller jobs by location and route, reducing travel time and waste. This is also dependent on a flexible and extended completion date.
 
With a broken down estimate like that with different prices is good, because the customer likes to see what is what and then see what they can afford.
But what I would've done is price "no charge" for the little birch and then work that $100 into the rest of the job. Customers like that N.C. in the price bracket and feel it's a little freebee.
 
Same here regional differences alright. In my area I could never charge a minimum like say $350 as I can meet any customer in my city within 5 to 10 minutes.
Little priced jobs add up over the day for me if the big job calls are not coming in as quick.
 
What about a line item titled "transport" or "travel time" or "dump fees" . You could knock off your travel cost from the most expensive item and still be winning along the line everywhere.

Item A 1200$
Item B 300$
Item C 100$
Transportation/Dump fees 300$

This would make it more clear that everytime you drive there, you need to charge 300$. So if they decide to breakdown their estimate in three diffrrent items, they will be paying 3*300$.
 
The simplest least time consuming way is to just have a minimum. Mine used to be $150 for my area. And still people used to be pissed if I'd show up cut their twig off alap and chuck the thing through the chipper like a javelin. Quick rake up and five to fifteen minutes on site kind of thing.

If you think it's going to take closer to an hour on site? bid it for two.
 
Don't lower the expensive one. They can have the gardener do the dead birch for $50, and you lost a bunch when you do the discounted, expensive one. You lose.


With better wording...

I would write, a stand-alone price of $350, for minimum fee for A or C alone $350.

$400 for A and C.
$1500 for B.
$1900 for A, B, C contracted together, at the same visit.
 
and you lost a bunch when you do the discounted, expensive one. You lose.

Not really because you add te transport/dump fees. So they can pick and choose which ever items and the add the 300$. If they only choose the 100$ item, it cost them 400$ but if they go with the more expensive item, it cost the same that you had originally quoted anyway, in this case 1200$ + 300$ = 1500$
 
I just explain anytime I bid a line item below our minimum job price that "we have a minimum of $blank to roll a crew so if you only do the birches it'll be $??? But if we're doing other work it's $100. Office knows this, client knows this now so they can't play stupid when they schedule.
 
I agree a simple way is to write what minimum charge is for any job.

I frequently write "Remove small rear tree, $50.00 with other work, or $150.00 by itself," if I sense custy may just do the small item though there are several other large items in the estimate.

Once in a great while a custy will call and say do only a small item that I didn't annotate with the above language, I tell them it will be more cuz it is a small job, they always seem to understand and agree.
 
Back
Top