Do you haggle when making a deal?
A lot of contractors won't haggle at all. Like if I could tell you that at Griffin air more times than not if somebody tries to haggle with me or if they try to say is this your bottom line in most cases, I'm giving them the best price I Can I'm giving them a competitive price one that I can pay my employees what they deserve to be paid and still cover the job and also make a little bit of a profit for the company. Always a horrible thing to say these days, but most companies that's what they're in business for is to make a little profit and so we usually won't mess with the pricing or anything. We've got it where we needed to.
but I've heard other people report and a few folks we've helped with our guide say that haggling in the right way, they've actually been able to lower the price a little bit.
All companies handle this differently. Look at the big franchise companies. They charge exorbitant prices on homeowners and then they offer extreme discounts out of thin air.
The sad part of doing bids on contracting work is figuring in the unknowns that might develop with the work needed for the particular circumstances. So, if the HVAC bid includes a bunch of unknowns and theres padding in it to cover the unknowns if they arise, will the bid be adjusted down after the job is finished and there were no unknowns or concerns. This is where bids are critical in getting the job because if there is padding in your price, that can make your price not competitive with other bidders and risks not getting the job. My thoughts would be to bid the job with what you can see and then disclose to the customer once hidden issues are exposed, price might need to be adjusted. At least this way, you have the best bid vs. being forced to do the work regardless of issues for said price. Thats where the quality of the work gets lowered because the bid didn't leave any room for surprises etc. Customer gets less in that case.
It’s all about selling yourself and your install. 90% of the other cheaper bidder is cutting corners somewhere. From installation practices, design, not looking at ducting or plenums, or cheaper equipment. Are you in Nepean ?
That’s not haggling per se and your contractor responded professionally- esp if you disclose the other bidder and show you aren’t juts making it up, and it’s a reputable reliable, firm like his, he won’t and should not be insulted. There are often differences that are even substantive and quantifiable to make up the difference in price beyond intangibles you mention. At worse all he can, and should say, say is that’s a quality firm and a very good price. We have plenty of work , so it make sense for us both for you to use him.
I had two offers on the Same equipment. One contractor was closer and I thought would be good for any warranty work, call backs, etc. They were asking a bit more though. So I just informed the higher priced contractor that he was higher than another contractor a bit farther away and that I would choose him if he could match the offer. He did.