Anonymous wrote:Nothing worse than a contractor who doesn’t want to work for you because you ask normal questions and are able to spot mistakes.

I write off any contractor who seems annoyed by basic questions at the look see, especially if I get a doesn’t-want-to-deal-with-intelligent-women vibe.

This has been my life for 18 months. It's beyond irritating.

My house my prior owner did a lot of work. He hired two young single guys from Portugal at time and put them up his house for a few months, free room and board and paid them a cash salary and they renovated house.

It is beautiful work. Average salary back then was only around 20,000 Euro in Portugal. He told me he paid them $10,000 USD each and the stayed almost five months. There is a lot of taxes in Portugal and he just paid them cash. And since they lived with him rent free and ate meals with him they left with a lot of money.

He has beautiful custom woodwork in house, wired sound systems, they installed cabinets. Funny part nearly everything from Home Depot or Lowes near house. Not high end. He could do a bathroom for like nothing. I saw delivery receipts.

Nothing required permits really. He kept house as is just updated everything. My house had good plumbing and electric as only around 32 years old when he did it. Was all orginal from build date.

But really that is only cheap way to do it.

Also this may suprise you. When I sold my house in NY my realtor recommended a "Flip Crew" they speciality was when people buy a house at a foreclosure auction, estate sale etc to flip they come in and work super fast and get house ready. There rules was no work that requires permits and full access house at all time. My house was empty so they knocked it out to get ready for sale after I moved out in three days.

Anyhow he told me he has been to Potomac and Mclean and Great Falls a few times. I go what. Yea he goes I did a huge house Potomac. Estate sale. We drove up there in two trucks 8 of us. Slept in Basement on cots owner left and stayed for a month and did whole house. Then we took a month vacation. We travel. Once again cash price. These guys fly. Is a price whole job nothing broken out. You get what you get. But man they do home flips and know what looks good and what will pass inspection. My house after they did it sold in a week.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a remodeler in Fairfield County, Ct.

I have never priced by zip code.

But I am changing that and it is because of client expectations.

In the affluent towns clients have very high expectations - not for construction per se but contractor availability, construction schedule and timelines, etc.

So I am raising prices in certain towns among other criteria because demanding clients limit my ability to manage multiple concurrent projects.

I am also trying to do more work in other parts of the state because of this.

And I know a lot of mechanical trades are trying to not do construction work only service work.

I also find the architects and interior designers that service these clients are also a PITA.

Nice. Charge more because people have standards. I want a contractor who has high standards regardless of the job size.

PP - no that’s not what I said.

I am charging more because client asks for a weekly schedule to be delivered Sunday night.

I am charging more because the client decides that the construction should complete so decides to hold back 1/2 my payment.

I am charging more because the client texts at 7:30 pm and then follows up in the morning referencing yesterday’s text.

I am charging more because their interior designer keeps changing her mind.

I am charging more because their father needs everyone to move their trucks because he wants to leave with no notice. And no he can’t wait.

I am charging more because their Architect wants to run the job - well except for the bid part because they don’t want to lose money.

The list goes on and on…

But you also are charging more for their next door neighbor, who doesn't do any of that.

Our zip code includes such a huge range of wealth and housing. We have voucher housing and 25 million dollar mansions and everything in between. Guess which end of the spectrum our quotes come from for our modest 1930s 3-br brick colonial (so small we can't get modern furniture through the doors).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You aren't special because of your zip code. I price by the job but also in consideration of the client. From experience, I can tell right away which clients are going to be a real problem costing me extra time and money on the job with extra demands along the way, or just really difficult to deal with in the first place. They get priced accordingly. And guess what, almost all those people tend to be in the more affluent neighborhoods. Attorneys are some of the worst people to deal with.

+1. Attorneys are horrific and I simply won’t take them on as clients.

How would you know they are attorneys?

Have you heard of google?

Exactly my point. You price the job with the help of google and what you find out about the customer.

As long as you are ok with your doctor, dentist, lawyer, etc. charging you more because you're a shifty contractor, cool.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You aren't special because of your zip code. I price by the job but also in consideration of the client. From experience, I can tell right away which clients are going to be a real problem costing me extra time and money on the job with extra demands along the way, or just really difficult to deal with in the first place. They get priced accordingly. And guess what, almost all those people tend to be in the more affluent neighborhoods. Attorneys are some of the worst people to deal with.

+1. Attorneys are horrific and I simply won’t take them on as clients.

How would you know they are attorneys?

Have you heard of google?

Exactly my point. You price the job with the help of google and what you find out about the customer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You aren't special because of your zip code. I price by the job but also in consideration of the client. From experience, I can tell right away which clients are going to be a real problem costing me extra time and money on the job with extra demands along the way, or just really difficult to deal with in the first place. They get priced accordingly. And guess what, almost all those people tend to be in the more affluent neighborhoods. Attorneys are some of the worst people to deal with.

+1. Attorneys are horrific and I simply won’t take them on as clients.

Got something to hide?

Anonymous wrote:I’m a remodeler in Fairfield County, Ct.

I have never priced by zip code.

But I am changing that and it is because of client expectations.

In the affluent towns clients have very high expectations - not for construction per se but contractor availability, construction schedule and timelines, etc.

So I am raising prices in certain towns among other criteria because demanding clients limit my ability to manage multiple concurrent projects.

I am also trying to do more work in other parts of the state because of this.

And I know a lot of mechanical trades are trying to not do construction work only service work.

I also find the architects and interior designers that service these clients are also a PITA.

Perhaps you are the pita contractor? “High expectations” include schedule, availability, timeliness? I thought these are fairly basic requirements? No?

Anonymous wrote:Multiple quotes. Exact work quoted, all were relatively close in price except one that was $20k more.

That contractor didn't like you / didn't want the job.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You aren't special because of your zip code. I price by the job but also in consideration of the client. From experience, I can tell right away which clients are going to be a real problem costing me extra time and money on the job with extra demands along the way, or just really difficult to deal with in the first place. They get priced accordingly. And guess what, almost all those people tend to be in the more affluent neighborhoods. Attorneys are some of the worst people to deal with.

+1. Attorneys are horrific and I simply won’t take them on as clients.

How would you know they are attorneys?

Have you heard of google?

It sounds like you can't afford the work, OP.