Anonymous wrote:

OBXbound wrote:While the rationale for it is so that they can close the deal, I will say that having worked in this space, having both of the homeowners there is preferable. You'd be surprised how much variability it introduces if there are different opinions about options.

That’s fine, but that’s the couples issue…. If they know their dynamic, and that they usually or may disagree, and they decide to have one there for the estimate. But a company To “require” both spouses is absurd.

Again...like I stated before...the organizations that require it do so that they can close the deal in the house.

If, however, you think that this doesn't introduce a degree of variability into the project scope when both aren't there and talking about options and decisions, you haven't worked in this space. It absolutely does and I can see where a company would want to request that so as to mitigate that potential.

I have personally observed where a project was completed and a spouse claimed that it wasn't done "correctly" and was unhappy with the contracted result, albeit exactly reflective of the signed agreement. Does it happen much, no. But enough to where a company would want to avoid it in the future.

The idea that it's discriminatory is false. The companies that require it aren't doing it because they are "Anti-Women". They are doing it for legal reasons so that they can close the deal in the house and overcome objections. Please stop attempting to make this about "discrimination". That is complete bunk.

Anonymous wrote:

OBXbound wrote:While the rationale for it is so that they can close the deal, I will say that having worked in this space, having both of the homeowners there is preferable. You'd be surprised how much variability it introduces if there are different opinions about options.

That’s fine, but that’s the couples issue…. If they know their dynamic, and that they usually or may disagree, and they decide to have one there for the estimate. But a company To “require” both spouses is absurd.

I'd caution companies against claiming to "require" the spouse to be present. More often than not, they are doing this to women, not to men. It's clearly discriminatory and it opens them to liability.

I haven’t had this problem and I worked on several projects where I am the only spouse meeting with contractors and the only one on the contract.

I am now working on a complex project of over 100k and again haven’t had this problem. My husband may have met some contractors in passing or briefly chatted with them, but he is busy and apprehensive about house projects so I deal with them myself. By now he trusts me with them and we are on the same page. I think contractors also feel that I know exactly what I want and what I am doing.

OBXbound wrote:While the rationale for it is so that they can close the deal, I will say that having worked in this space, having both of the homeowners there is preferable. You'd be surprised how much variability it introduces if there are different opinions about options.

That’s fine, but that’s the couples issue…. If they know their dynamic, and that they usually or may disagree, and they decide to have one there for the estimate. But a company To “require” both spouses is absurd.

Anonymous wrote:I agree with what others have said. I will never ever agree to this ever again. We scheduled an 'estimate' based on what we had been told that the estimate was good for 1 year, since we were not planning to replace the windows right then. We thought we were having someone come out to measure and give an estimate. What we got was a salesman who barely measured, but who pitched his windows for hours and would not leave. Ex- I say, I need to get the kids to bed, he says oh that's fine, I'll wait. We told him multiple times that we would not be making a purchase that night, he didn't let up. The only way I got him to leave my house was by saying, I have made it abundantly clear to you that we are not buying windows tonight, what we signed up for was an estimate that would be good for a year. The longer you stay the greater the chance that we will never by windows from you. He finally said we would be mailed an estimate, which of course never actually came.

This happened to me with a flooring company.

Funny thing is I am divorced and living alone.

While the rationale for it is so that they can close the deal, I will say that having worked in this space, having both of the homeowners there is preferable. You'd be surprised how much variability it introduces if there are different opinions about options.

Anonymous wrote:Renewal by Andersen does it too. That's the only reason we decided not to deal with them. So disrespectful!

Came here to say the same. And then they keep sending mail/calling forever.

I experienced this with a closet company and pushed back rabidly. It is so sexist and archaic.

It's good but not essential to have both joint homeowners there for discussions large custom projects. It saves the hassle of one partner complaining later that they never consented.

Anyone who offers a discount for an immediate answer should be told to leave and never called back.

God do I hate these tactics....
I had Empire flooring call ME and ask if I was interested in a free estimate. Actually I was. The salesperson came in the morning and I told her I would like to have the hardwood flooring present in the rest of the house matched in the kitchen. She said that thin planks like that were no longer made (FALSE) and I would have to get wide plank flooring throughout the entire house. Well I'm not interested in that, have a nice day. She then proceeded to berate me that she had driven from out of state to make this sale and I had wasted her time and gas money. Ok? You're not selling me the product I want, please leave. I had to pretty much kick her out and if it had been a man I would have been really scared.

Anonymous wrote:Because it's usually a spending decision you both make. Nearly 100% when I give an estimate to one spouse, the response is, "I need to talk to my spouse." It's nearly always a waste of my time.

This isn't the 1950s. You don't get to dictate which spouse you pitch to. People like you need to be driven out of business. It's tiring, disrespectful, and exist. Guarantee that you don't require the wife to be present.

Because it's usually a spending decision you both make. Nearly 100% when I give an estimate to one spouse, the response is, "I need to talk to my spouse." It's nearly always a waste of my time.

Anonymous wrote:Yep, definitely high pressure sales-tatic. We fell for it once as well.

Another company tried it when we were looking for an HVAC replacement. Both other companies gave me their estimate on the spot. The 3rd looked around and said "When can I come back to go over the possibilities with both you and your husband?" I said, never, since one of us would need to be watching our toddler if we were both home since she would be as well. I kept asking him for the quote and he just kept trying to get me to agree to a second presentation. We never did get a quote from him and went with one of the other people.

Omg this happened to us with FH Furr except we were stupid enough to agree to the second presentation. My DH still insists he is glad we did it because he "learned so much". In the end we spent 5 hours with this guy who had the gall to say he was "giving us of his time for free". What about our time? You get a commission, so no you are not working for free. It took so long to get a quote out of him and then it was so horrifically expensive. He also tried to discourage us from getting other quotes. Of course we did, and got a much better system for thousands less. Oh, and the guy who sold us the system was here for an hour, maybe an hour and a half. We didn't need him to explain why it costs what it does. He did (much more clearly and succinctly than the FH Furr guy) explain why he was recommending the approach he was recommending.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's so you can't watch the whole presentation and then say "Oh, that sounds great, but I need to check with my spouse."

or they want you both to commit right away
shady, pushy sales tactic

Yup. Pushy sales tactic. Likely they are the types that will give you a "steep" discount that you need to sign at the estimate meeting or it goes away.

I tell people right up front that I do not make on the spot commitments and that I do not respond well to pushy sales tactics. If they are going to use any of those tactics, they might as well just skip coming out to do an estimate and I'll look for other vendors for my work. I also had a window guy come. Literally within the first 2 minutes he was there, I told him, no pushy sales tactics and that I don't make on the spot commitments. He got through and when talking about pricing, he said that he could make a discount if we signed tonight. I reminded him that I had explicitly stated up front that I did not want pushy sales tactics and that I didn't make on the spot commitments, so I told him he just lost the sale and I asked him to leave.

Anonymous wrote:It's so you can't watch the whole presentation and then say "Oh, that sounds great, but I need to check with my spouse."

Exactly. So when door and replacement guys act like this, I don't do business with them