# Customers



## hedrickplumbing (Dec 1, 2013)

I do all commercial service work two of my customers wanted a quote for work to be done so I did it that they ask for it broken down with parts and labor and then have you sign in and out and only wanna pay those hours . Even no you bid it . How do you guys handle it when that happens


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

hedrickplumbing said:


> I do all commercial service work two of my customers wanted a quote for work to be done so I did it that they ask for it broken down with parts and labor and then have you sign in and out and only wanna pay those hours . Even no you bid it . How do you guys handle it when that happens


Tell'em to call someone else. If they backdown, I'd still walk away.

That is the most absurd request I have heard in recent years.


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## dhal22 (Jul 30, 2010)

Utterly ridiculous. 

David


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## luv2plum (May 16, 2012)

My question to them would be: what happens if you go over on hours? It has to be a 2 way street.


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## hedrickplumbing (Dec 1, 2013)

I hear ya trying to be nice it's a great account other then the bid jobs other than that time and material


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## mytxplumber (Jul 28, 2013)

I would remind them that we had an agreement in writing. This is why I keep everything in writing and never do just word of mouth bids. I have disclosures for different kinds of work so guys can't forget to discuss something with the customer. I would find me some new customers to replace this one if I was you and my bill would be the same and on my terms they agreed to. There are to many good customers that appreciate our work out there to put up with an as*****. I never wanted to be known as the cheapest plumber in town call him. You get what you pay for experience is not cheap and I am not running a classroom. Good luck


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## Richard Hilliard (Apr 10, 2010)

I understand, we have accounts that are similar that are commercial property management companies. We call them when we arrive at their stores and then call when we are complete. Everything is discussed up front before the job is given with us. They know how we operate and we understand what the requirements are for us. Calling in and then calling when you’re done is not a big deal. Plumbers have a difficult time with is due to not knowing how to reply without thinking their skills are being questioned.

We’ve been a flat rate company since 1998. We stopped breaking down prices between parts and labor since that time. These commercial property management companies also have a 250 dollar minimum and you must call to get approval of pricing over that price. You call them tell them the work scope give them a price get the approval number and you’re done. The other day I had a company give my office a difficult time so they passed this person over to me. All I had to say is: what do you want me to do that we did not explain to you prior to contracting the job? I can say I am sorry or we can do the job which one do you want and how often do you want me to say I am sorry? I do not break down pricing and if I start now I have lied to all of my customers and I will not start doing that. What do you want me to do order the part or file the contract? Like others I am not a fan of these management companies and will be extremely blunt with them as they are not bread winners. With a residential customer I will become more tactful but commercial customers I lose interest due to low volume with each job.

Stop being afraid of your customers they don’t bite much.


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## mtfallsmikey (Jan 11, 2010)

Since I work for a property management company myself, what I will do with a contractor for repairs on occasion is to give me a "not to exceed" price, some of us do realize that there is no way that a repair, with unforeseen labor/parts can be firmly priced.


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

mtfallsmikey said:


> Since I work for a property management company myself, what I will do with a contractor for repairs on occasion is to give me a "not to exceed" price, some of us do realize that there is no way that a repair, with unforeseen labor/parts can be firmly priced.


Then how can you determine a "not to exceed" number?


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## justme (Jul 4, 2012)

plbgbiz said:


> Then how can you determine a "not to exceed" number?


You work up your best quote then double that , then you list every exclusion in the proposal that you can possibly think of. I do it all the time you just have to CYA.


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## mtfallsmikey (Jan 11, 2010)

And most of the time the repairs do not come close to the NOE number... It's up to the contractor to determine that number, not me. We do this very rarely, I've gotten pretty good at calculating costs of repairs, do a lot of my work in house anyway.


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## 422 plumber (Jul 31, 2008)

We have a few industrial customers like this. Whichever foreman who runs all the work in that plant goes out and looks at the job. He breaks it down hour wise, prices material and uses those numbers to give them their price breakdown. The reason they do it, is that every project has to be approved by upper management, and gets a purchase order cut to the exact amount. To get their projects approved, the project managers and maintenance planner need detailed info to present to their superiors. If a job might take 3 hours, you round up to 4, etc. We usually come out ahead, which makes up for the odd money loser.

Sent from my iPhone using PlumbingZone


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