Received a call from a price shopper yesterday. Asked for my price (details are not relevant) and I told her. She said that she had her home inspected recently for much less and it was a larger home (1500sf and she said the inspector charged her $150). I explained that inexperienced inspectors and contractors tend to charge less etc. and that, well you get the drift.
Any where you go, you have low ballers. Like Doug said just deal with it And the best way to deal with it is by doing your best. Most of the contractors that i know that got the HI license have the license because it was there for them to take. But they don’t do anything with it. It just pads there credentials
That does not seem to hold true for this area. Most of the contractors I have seen do home inspections for $150 to$200 and that can be a home 2000sf to 2500sf. They do the inspection in about an hour and a half and do a very limited report, often in Word. Not many home inspectors do them for that little. Of course the home inspector is also spending more like 3 hours for the inspection.
Low ballers and price shoppers are everywhere and of all types of licenses. It’s not just contractors. We see it with newly licensed HI’s trying to do $50 Wind Mits. Either way, its usually the new guy that HAS to compete with price.
Just focus on what you do and providing the best product at a price the you can live with.
We get these calls and we give the same response,
“These are our prices and I’m sure you can find an inexperienced inspector that would be happy to do your inspection for less. Good luck and please feel free to call us if you have any questions or we can help you with any future inspections.”
At that point, they usually go ahead and book the inspection.
I agree with Jay. When the question is asked if you can lower your price, stand your ground and give an answer similar to what Jay has mentioned. Remember, its human nature to haggle over price. For some cultures, its expected.
I agree with your comment Eric. And would add, The ones you don’t "land’ were probably not worth “landing” in the first place. I have had some decide to go with me and afterwards, wished I had quoted “double” or “triple” what I quoted…
So true. The clients that seem the most concerned with getting the cheapet price seem to be the most difficult. But its no wonder. If an inspector is going to undervalue their inspection, why should the client.
We have a policy: If the client starts to give us issues(including price) the price goes up. There is enough work out there not to compete on price alone.
My roofer had a similar policy:
Client: How much to replace a valley?
Roofer: $1,500.00.
Can you do it for $1,200.00?
Roofer: $1,800.00.
Client: What?
Roofer: $2,000.00. :mrgreen:
