Response from R & R Landscape Services Inc
We were contacted by the member for a renovation, it was pretty vague on what they wanted and we provided an estimate which proved to be more than what they wanted to spend. They asked for a revision which we provided but my guess is that it was still higher than expected. I've experienced a lot of these situations through out the years to a point I n which I have to be blunt and ask what kind of budget the client has. A lot of clients feel that exposing this number may put them at a disadvantage because then the contractor can simply adjust his numbers to that budget. But if the members do their do diligence and ask for three estimates for the exact same line items from different contractors that have no way of knowing each other, then I think this a good way of averaging out the project cost. Let me be clear, my potential customers are very suspicious of contractors because they've heard all kind of nightmare stories from contractors not being clear and the project skyrocketing. I've been doing this since I was five years old, I grew up in the business and I've seen everything, the way we do business actually puts me at a disadvantage because most times I provide a free design up front if we are not back logged and if the property is not larger than a half acre, we provide an estimate with that concept drawing and the numbers are HARD, no funny business, unless the homeowner makes change orders. Straight and simple which is why we are very busy, we do bulk in landscape services. No sub contractors. Sometimes our number may be a little higher than others sometimes average or lower, it depends on the situation but would you rather have the cheapest bid and then have to pay for unexpected cost because of some electrical line unknown to everyone? If it's minuscule and the project is is large enough I just say F it ,lets just get the job done. ASAP To all contractors in this new era, long gone are the days in which you sit on a job and milk it with change orders, this is a new era, we live in a different world where we are responsible for our actions, our employees actions and there are no excuses, we either own up and rise to the challenge or get a new job and forget about it. Angie's list makes everything simpler it connects people who want a job done with contractors that are good enough to do them. It's not easy meeting the requirements and the stress that comes with reviews and feeling like as a contractor with sometimes high demand clients, getting the job done may be more than what you bargained for but it it's part of the job description and if as a contractor you're not up to it well. Good luck!