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What sort of jobs are you talking about? maintenance, landscaping, patios, etc...?
I think customers sometimes feel embarrased to say to someone that their price is too high........ they just get a few quotes and pick the cheapest. I suppose you could always say to them that if they get a cheaper quote, you'll try and match/beat it.
It`s often a good idea to give some sort of rough estimate to establish what they value the proposed works at, before you spend too much time quoting, you can also try to break the works down if they are on a budget, but I wouldn`t spend too much time in a price war.
many people have differant ways of pricing their work, this is how i do it and it works for me anyway, i go to the customers house i always take photo album with work that i have done in the past so when measuring up i give them the pics to look at, never give a figure off the top of my head, never ask them if they have a budget, go home and work their quote out and either email it over or drop it off myself if not to far away, never tell them if they get a cheaper quote then i will match it, the price on the quotation is the final price unless they ask me to something else then i will give them another quotation and get them to sign if the want the extra work done, never start any job until my quotation has been signed, always write everything that is to be done on the quotation then they cant say (you said you would also do this, that or the other) you get paid for what is on the quote.
hope this helps if it makes sence
phil
If I feel like clients might be trying to drag me into a price war, then I will simply walk away no point in being a busy fool. Remember turnover isn't important, your turnover could be huge but you may not make any money. You may have a smaller turnover than a competitor but your net profit may be far greater than that associated with the competitior who has a higher turnover.
i do garden maintenance and i think that sometimes when i quote for a job that some people already have it in their head that they are going to do it themselves but would probably like to hear that i'll do it for far cheaper than they expected so i guess they are paying for their time to not do it. i try to give people a few options-easiest, and one that suits me, is to leave them to dispose of any waste and you can offer the customer a welcome price reduction. in your case i would have offered the price of only laying the lawn as an option for example leaving the customer to clear the site and also maybe deal with the spoil disposal. or you can let them buy materials for example although this can get a little messy, especially if they are going for budget products that you might not purchase yourself..but it adds to your options and gives you the chance to tailor the figures. obviously some people want nothing to do with the actual work or organisation of a job and i find that they are the ones that generally accept the price you put to them with minimal quibbling.
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