11/18/2020
A customer asked me how much it cost to paint his two story foyer
I answered him: $1500
He said: Why so much for this job?
This estimate includes for the non productive factors.
- What is nonproductive factors?"
- Just the usually, taxes, insurance, rent, fuel etc, etc.
I asked: How much do you think it would cost you?
He responds: $800 at the most... It's just painting and a fairly simple job right?
- For $800 I invite you to do it yourself.
- But.... I don't know how to.
- Okay for $800 I'll teach you. So besides saving you $700, you'll get the knowledge for the next time.
- It seemed right to him and he agreed.
- But to get started: you need tools: Ladders, scaffolds, brushes, poles etc...
- But I don't have all these equipment and I can't buy all of these just to do one job.
- Okay then, for an additional $200 more I'll rent my equipment to you.
- Okay, he says.
- Okay! Tuesday I'm available to start teaching you.
- But I can't on Tuesday I only have time today.
- I'm sorry, but I'm only available Tuesday to teach you and lend you my equipment. Other days are already scheduled for other customers.
- Damn! That means I'm going to have to rearrange my schedule and sacrifice my Tuesday.
- I'll also make you a list of all the materials you will need to go and purchase for this job.
-Loading the van for your job will be done Monday evening or Tuesday morning around 6am.
- At 6am??? Nope! Way too early for me!
- You know what, I've been doing some serious thinking and I've decided that it would better if you just went ahead and did the job. $1500 seems fair now and I'd rather it be done right by true professionals.
When you hire a professional to do a job, you pay not only for the material being used, but also:
- Knowledge
15% tax rate for the self employed
- Experience
- Tools
- Services
- punctuality
- Accountability
- Professionalism
- Accuracy
- Guaranteed
- Sacrifices
- Safety and security
No one can denigrate other people's work by judging prices.
Only by knowing all the elements necessary for the production of a certain project can you estimate the actual cost.
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