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We are not the cheapest but far from the most expensive in the area.
It costs money to have an office staffed with a cal center, management, warehouses, drivers, plumbers, fleet of vehicles, employee benefits...
If your customers are making Customer Service Complaints?
Then something is wrong with the service!
How many jobs do you turn down each week?
It should be about 50% of the lowest paying jobs.
If you can't afford to give it away for free (to your lowest income customers) then you should not take the job and make sure they get a solid referral to a competent handyman that works for less.
The size you say you are you should have several low cost alternative and free community or church services handyman fixers to refer people to (after you assess their ability to pay) or it is unethical salesmanship.
A customer should not have to charge or finance or remortgage their house to afford a professional journeyman / craftsman.
If the job is over their average weekly take home there should be a lengthy sit down explanation of all costs similar to a loan application at a bank.
Anything less than that and you are risking their financial security and that aint cool.
As a professional craftsman it is your ethical duty to always do the right thing, just like a doctor or really any other profession.
If you can not be competitive without generating money complaints then do commercial work where every obligation and cost is spelled out in advance.
Unrealistically low. That kind of money pays for wages and benefits for the carpenter himself. It does not pay for supporting office staff, vehicles, tools, insurance, etc.
If that is all you want to pay, you will be able to find a general handyman with no particular skill, or you can become proficient as a DYI.
Which is what I end up doing most of the time. I feel sorry for all the old ladies who let their houses rot because they can't afford to pay a contractor $500 to change the flapper on their toilet or $5000 to replace some rotten facia and soffit wood.
It's stuff like this that made me leave the HVAC service industry a long time ago. Having to change compressors on top of tall buildings in sub zero weather and doing the same thing in the summer on white Goodyear roofs that microwave you in such a way that you get sunburn in places dogs don't have hair makes the pay dubious at best. On top of that you're in between a harried manager and pissed off customers. Not to mention having to pick up for your fellow techs a lot of the time because they don't know what they're doing.
If you're in it to stay just roll with the punches I guess. I bailed.
That’s too bad. But I can see where it would get to you.
Besides my day job I deal with quite a few tradespeople at the ranch. If plumbers & electricians & other subs did not come with a fully supplied truck & then ran around getting parts AND then wanted me to pay hourly rate for them to acquire parts--- I would not be a satisfied customer.
The bulk of your conflicts could be avoided by having a written & signed off on estimate that the job will not exceed. Nobody but our long time equipment operator- snow removal & dirt work guy- is allowed to just do a job & bill us. He is scrupulously fair & does excellent work.
Also it sounds like your employees are padding time sheets....3 hours to replace a house bib?
Well that’s just it. They don’t pay, but they will call daily, sometimes 3-4 times a day to complain or attempt to wear me down. I would rather they not call, wait 90 days and I turn it over to s lawyer. They can plead their case to him.
Some people are impossible to please. Do your best then move on.
My husband and I are seniors, we have been middle-class homeowners for 30 years, and we have NEVER been surprised by a bill. This is because the people we deal with are always upfront about what they anticipate the costs to be and then give us an idea of what additional costs might come into play. If it is more than a $400 repair, a phone quote is fine with us, but otherwise they will almost always give us a written quote ahead of time.
I was surprised by a bill when I called a handyman service to replace a vanity/sink, medicine cabinet, and light fixture in my bathroom (I bought the items).
Pleasantly surprised. It came in $125 under the estimate.
If you are shocked by a bill because you didn't get an estimate first, then it's on you. I always ask for worst-case scenario.
Besides my day job I deal with quite a few tradespeople at the ranch. If plumbers & electricians & other subs did not come with a fully supplied truck & then ran around getting parts AND then wanted me to pay hourly rate for them to acquire parts--- I would not be a satisfied customer.
The bulk of your conflicts could be avoided by having a written & signed off on estimate that the job will not exceed. Nobody but our long time equipment operator- snow removal & dirt work guy- is allowed to just do a job & bill us. He is scrupulously fair & does excellent work.
Also it sounds like your employees are padding time sheets....3 hours to replace a house bib?
Unfortunately it is impossible to stock everything on a truck. There is 100’s of different cartridges, maybe different toilet brands and many are not universal.
I three hours he replaced a hose bib, repaired a leak in a ceiling and something else.
It is a common myth that if someone writes “paid in full” on the memo line of a check, and the check is cashed, then the person cashing it has actually agreed to accept that amount as payment in full and is barred from attempting to collect any further balance due. Fortunately for creditors, businesses, merchants and service people—though unfortunately for debtors—this is not the case at all.
One person may not unilaterally alter a contract, such as a contract for the provision of goods or services or a promissory note. This includes oral, or spoken, agreements as well as written ones. Instead, changing the terms, such as to reduce the amount owed, requires the agreement of both parties.
Local small claims court judge ruled that since we cashed a check with Payment in Full clearly written on the front of the check we had agreed to the modification of the terms. This was about 15 years ago. Since then the boss made it policy not to accept such checks and to send them back with a preworded notes that we do not accept the amount of the check as Payment in Full and to either send a check without that annotation or contact us to make other arrangements. We get one or two a year.
Local small claims court judge ruled that since we cashed a check with Payment in Full clearly written on the front of the check we had agreed to the modification of the terms. This was about 15 years ago. Since then the boss made it policy not to accept such checks and to send them back with a preworded notes that we do not accept the amount of the check as Payment in Full and to either send a check without that annotation or contact us to make other arrangements. We get one or two a year.
Defacing a check - company lawyer quashed that. He disagreed with the judges ruling but said it wasn't worth appealing
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