have you ever reduced your price when being rejected?

[Aston]

no, but i have done in the past, and maybe i will do in the future..who knows what round the corner hey

 

[White Room]

It's a means to an end at the end of the day, I've done both when things were tight in the last recession I had to earn money, when times are good then prices can be upped.

It's been the same as long as I've been in the building game.

 

[kilty55]

its a tricky one just now,,as ed says if there is little work and you have a family to feed then needs must however that is fine short term for survival but the only repeat work you will get of cheap jobs is customers wanting more cheap jobs which is no good long term

 

[kilty55]

i have lowered my prices slightly,i was losing 80 percent of my quotes as oppose to wining 80 percent of them and it was coming down to the price,i dont price cheaply but a happy medium as oppose to my higher rates that i was getting a while ago and i have started to pick more work up,its a balancing act just now tbh

 

[david campbell]

occasionally i will drop my price but not if it's dramatically reduced,if a customer phones and says i'm say £50 higher than the other quote on a job over £500 but would prefer me to do it if i would come down that £50 then i don't see it as a problem,if they asked me to to come down a £100 i look at it as if they are extracting the urine and politely refuse,i did walk out a house round the corner laughing when i gave someone a price for a kitchen splashback and he asked if i would match the polish guy who had just priced it's quote of £80 inc materials

 

[mikethetile]

one thing you can do if your in a dry spell and everyone around you is working for a bannana and three bent paperclips is to price as normal and then say due to the economic downturn and shortage of work I am offering a discounted price, this price is held untill march after which time it will no longer be discounted

 

[Spud]

I think a lot of you guys are missing the original point in the first post,Have you ever dropped a price because you fancied doing the job not because you are desperate for the work ,I have done this on a couple of prestige jobs that look good on the c.v and still covered my dayrate
Its interesting that there is a split where some guys defend their prices as they see it as their fair bottom line price and others see that their prices have room for negoitation as they factor in a profit margin above their bottom line ,many of my customers are Asian and Jewish and in these cultures they expect room for negotiation and expect some bartering over the price and wish to see that they have drove the negotiations and gained a good deal for themselves ,its just business I am never offended sometimes we can shake hands and agree a price and other times we shake hands and walk away

 

[mikethetile]

I hope your in business to make a profit

if you have your costs worked out which includes wages plus a profit what gives when you drop your price

profit goes first then your wages, if your only bringing home enough to pay your bills then wheres the float for your next job coming from. how do you invest in tools etc and market your business...........out of your own pocket?. where does that leave your wages

its madness to drop your rate

price one job cheap and you will struggle to raise your rates again, believe me Ive done it and have had to take drastic action to break the cycle

 

[poynton phil]

I'v never reduced the price i'v wanted when i work out an estimate. But if i get the feeling that the customer is going to try and knock the price down, while i'm there doing the measuring, then i'll put a bit on to the estimate so i can reduce the price without going under the price i wanted in the first place. Then the customer see's a reduction, and i still get my price, everybody's happy.

 

[mikethetile]

we used to have a name for that that began with p and ended in tax

dont do it now , I appreciate Garys point about cultural differences but its our culture to give a non negotiable price worked out properly

if your able to drop prices then you are overcharging in the first place and if you havent overcharged then you are giving away some of your self worth, no job is worth that

 

[Brindle]

Spot on Doug. I've got jobs up to my armpits waiting at home! I reduced my price once (in 3 years) as the customer had 4 prices, said mine was the dearest and would I be willing to drop price by £75?!!) I said I don't normally but split the difference with him...big deal, but got the job. A recent quotation visit quickly established the customers were not very nice people (a factor in my pricing) and were looking for a rock bottom quote for multi room polished porcelain/ wetroom. On giving my price, they wanted me to justify all of the pricings like I was ripping them off. He wanted me to drop my price, said I don't slash my prices to match someone elses. On that occasion I would definately rather be marketing/ working at home than working for less in order for THEM to save money for buying their next Jag/ holiday/ £5k bath/ whatever!

I disagree there Ed, there's always jobs around the house that need doing. If you pimp yourself you set a precedent and clients (most of mine from referrals) would start quoting what you did their friends job for.It's a slippery downward spiral if you start dropping your rates, if they want you because of the high standard of work you do, they have to pay for it

 

[Brindle]

Yes Gary, after reading this, my 'haggler' was Asian and as you say it is a cultural thing. I did go in with a cheapish price on the off for a job I really wanted though, which I got 🙂

I think a lot of you guys are missing the original point in the first post,Have you ever dropped a price because you fancied doing the job not because you are desperate for the work ,I have done this on a couple of prestige jobs that look good on the c.v and still covered my dayrate
Its interesting that there is a split where some guys defend their prices as they see it as their fair bottom line price and others see that their prices have room for negoitation as they factor in a profit margin above their bottom line ,many of my customers are Asian and Jewish and in these cultures they expect room for negotiation and expect some bartering over the price and wish to see that they have drove the negotiations and gained a good deal for themselves ,its just business I am never offended sometimes we can shake hands and agree a price and other times we shake hands and walk away