Overbidding
I have a great detailed eye for laying tile.
But I have absolutely 0 business sense. I am obsessed with doing a great job, no exceptions, no shortcuts. In fact I'll add a few extras to make it better.
So.... I'm trying out new options for my labor.
Normally I work hourly. We give the client a ballpark number of hours and go for it. This allows them to add on to the job without fear of change orders.
My newer clients are a bit higher end. I think they prefer rigid numbers. Let's call it 4000$\wk for our labor.
So I know the hours it would take, I can translate that into number of weeks.
But what about down time? When I flood test at 8am and don't return till tomorrow. Dry times for hydroban, grout.
When we can't physically work, we go home. This makes a typical 3 week job bleed into the 4th week.
How do you justify a weekly or set rate when you aren't there all the time?
I estimate 4 weeks.... Get it done in 3 weeks. Do I NOT collect the 4th week of pay? But now I'm out a week of money and may not have future work exactly ready yet.
I'm very honest. It seems unfair to overcharge like that. I certainly don't want to be accused of overbidding these jobs.
How do I justify a set rate to a client when I'm not there? Paying someone that's not in the jobsite is infuriating. I don't want to be that guy.
Maybe 3 weeks set rate, hourly after that? I don't know. Then you get accused of milking it to get more money. I know you can't win in this life. Someone will always be unhappy. But I'm finally stepping thing up a bit, and I need to organize.
I rewatched Coach's live stream with Hamilton Tile in Atlanta. I really like how that 2 man crew was presenting themselves to the client
Thats exactly the way I look at it. Ive been doing this a long time and I know what my value is to clients. I see the workers on my competetors job sites. We offer much better service and peace of mind. Our job as "sales people' is to give them as accurate description as possible to what their outcome is going to be. Try to get them to envision the level of service and craftsamanship they will recieve. It's tough. But at the same time it's not because it the truth. You know what you are are going to provide them because you've done it many times before. They dont. So you need to explain it through words, or pictures, or testimonials from past clients.
Then you charge what you feel your value is worth!