how many are seriously thinking about quitting the business?i know it sure is hard to keep going with gas prices and low pay
I am pretty sure these fellas get told what the job pays.katoman said:This is for every tradesman.
Up your prices. If everyone would just charge what they should be, then the buyers won't have a choice.
Stop selling/bidding so cheap. What's wrong with you people?
I've put my rates up the last 3 years running, as costs went up. People keep hiring me.
Whatever business the customer is in, you think they're not putting their prices up? Sure they are.
You're just killing yourselves. Up your prices.
Sorry, thought you were self employed.d+jhomeservices said:kato when you work for a company you dont decide pricing,if your working for yourself yes
long hours, you mean like how i am writing estimates at 9pm on a sunday?katoman said:Sorry, thought you were self employed.
Ok, if you're not making enough money where you are then start looking for better paying work. Do not quit your current job first. If you find better work, then go for it.
Hey, for what it's worth being self employed is no picnic either. It's long days, risk, headaches. But I'm not going to do it for no money.
All the best. :thumbsup:
Yup, I did my invoicing while on CT tonight. :thumbup:chris klee said:long hours, you mean like how i am writing estimates at 9pm on a sunday?
This is exactly the route I have gone too. On the rare ocassion I do bid a job I bid it for profit and do not care one wit whether I get it or not. If I do I make money, if I don't I lose nothing.JDRM said:I have switched to doing lawns only, it is profitable and less headaches, photo requests,etc.
Are you receiving a paycheck every week that is about the same amount? Or are you doing things job by job? Do they supply you with tools? Pay your insurance and WC? Do they tell you where to be, when and how to do the job, if so you are an employee.d+jhomeservices said:kato when you work for a company you dont decide pricing,if your working for yourself yes
Leo G said:Are you receiving a paycheck every week that is about the same amount? Or are you doing things job by job? Do they supply you with tools? Pay your insurance and WC? Do they tell you where to be, when and how to do the job, if so you are an employee.
If not then you are an independent contractor and you set your own pricing. If that is something they are not willing to pay then you don't accept the job.
If everyone in your field would say no to the lowball pricing they force on you then nothing would get done and they would be forced into paying you a better amount for the work you perform. If you keep accepting jobs at discount rates they that is what they are going to keep offering.
And yes, I am self employed, have been for nearly 20 years.
Your talking FAS talk. I feel your pain there man. :wallbash:E&C said:It's very discouraging, irratic work loads, do everything under the sun for a base price for qc to cut it as much as possible and then vendor b will take as much as possible. We are trying to restructure more with b of a and recurring services. There's a lot less overhead and you can at least guarantee your debris and jobs Not being cut. Good luck right now everyone really needs it in this business with all the ever changing stipulations
I wonder the same thing. I see hack work all the time and wonder how they get away with it. I miss one tiny thing and not only do I feel bad, but the HO always catches it and acts like it's the end of the world. Meanwhile, hack guy charges the same as me and forgets things like primer, caulking, sealing. You know, the optional things. :laughing:tedanderson said:The way that I figure is that if nobody wants to pay my price, I am shopping the wrong clients. And I admit that I am bad at taking my own advice sometimes.
But lately I've been studying the techniques and tactics of the hack contractors who swindle money out of old people and well off folks who are too naive to know the difference. I mean if a hack can charge someone $30K for a bathroom remodel and then walk away with ALL of the money without doing any of the work, he must know something that I don't.
I often ask myself, "Where was I?" when the old lady wrote that check. So if it means that I have to be a little pushy or use a few persuasive, sneaky, and underhanded scare tactics to get the gig... and in the long run I end up providing excellent service, then is that completely a bad thing?
So true. I wonder where a guy can buy such a conscience, or lack there of.Tom Struble said:it's not that they get away with it,it's just that they don't care...in the least
Better off doing commercial and residential work.E&C said:It's very discouraging, irratic work loads, do everything under the sun for a base price for qc to cut it as much as possible and then vendor b will take as much as possible. We are trying to restructure more with b of a and recurring services. There's a lot less overhead and you can at least guarantee your debris and jobs Not being cut. Good luck right now everyone really needs it in this business with all the ever changing stipulations
BPWY said:I've worked my self out of P&P over the last 6 months. I have some very attractive landscape contracts and dealing with local customers is so much easier than trying to explain to a national minimum wage employee why some thing should or should not be done.
In P&P all of the regular and recurring pricing is fixed. Starting with the amount that the gooberment pays for services and trickling its way down to the guy that actually does the work. SOME TIMES you are able to make a few bucks profit from bid work, that is if any of the bids are approved.
This is also why so many guys are getting out of the industry.
Guys that are experienced and have put in a lot of years.
Thats all good and well in theory. But when you're competing against guys who will drive 100 miles in a 2500 truck pulling a trailer to do a $40 dollar job what do you do? You can't get the price up in that market or they dump you for the next cheapest guy. You wait he'll be gone soon because he ran himself out of business and make the markups on your bids and hope they accept/pay. In this economy any one with a lawnmower and google thinks they can get into the PP game. As p3+ said its time to get out while you can. I branched out to private side in '10 and do very well now.katoman said:This is for every tradesman.
Up your prices. If everyone would just charge what they should be, then the buyers won't have a choice.
Stop selling/bidding so cheap. What's wrong with you people?
I've put my rates up the last 3 years running, as costs went up. People keep hiring me.
Whatever business the customer is in, you think they're not putting their prices up? Sure they are.
You're just killing yourselves. Up your prices.