Customer keeps telling me to ask for more money.

[Tree Pig]

so he's not likely to be any kind of guy giving me the "ol' checkeroo."

spoken like a true tree worker. Got to hate when they hand you a check.

 

[ForTheArborist]

spoken like a true tree worker. Got to hate when they hand you a check.

The "ol' checkeroos" don't hand checks. They hand out the bill and/or a billet for nice staying at a select get away.

Not that I'm beyond paying the ol' checkerruse for the priviledge to practice on the territory. It's just another part of the game rules. Can't play big if you don't want to pay in.

 

[newsawtooth]

{I didn't see many people that could say a word about this in the Management Forum, so I brought it here. I doubt doing so is a felony on any continent. Thanks though}

I've never encountered this in my business practice so far. I'm working on a nice estate taking out a few trees and some other tasks.

As far as how I've been handling business I've developed my prices for services around the average craigs list customer only as of yet. My prices are competitive on the chicken scratch level craigs list market. I've just got this particular customer through another customer instead of craigs list. It's his boss.

I keep giving him numbers for the services, and he keeps telling me to ask for more. "I'm going to pay you. Don't be scared to ask for more" he says. He actually scoffed about it in one instance. Usually my customers pee themselves when I tell them the truth about what these things cost, but this guy is insinuating something else all together.

What should I do with this guy? I could really use some extra money to expand my gear and service forte here. Should I just ask for the same price I get from everybody else, or should I round those digits up? How far up?

Don't listen to him, customers are always wrong.

 

[JTinaTree]

I hear you.Work ain't paying what it did 2 years ago.







Btw,just noticed your location .
Is Henderson way up on the hill there before you go into the gorge heading into Tn.?
I used to love the ride thru there when I was driving a truck.
Very nice scenery.

Yeh, Im glad im still small time without the big payments right now..

Your thinking of Hendersonville alot of people get them mixed up, Im over
above Raleigh..

 

[Rftreeman]

Yeh, Im glad im still small time without the big payments right now..

Your thinking of Hendersonville alot of people get them mixed up, Im over
above Raleigh..

yeah, Henderson is that little hick town before you get to Virginia on 85.....







JT...I'm just messing with ya........I spent some time there back in the 80's putting siding one houses, and I use to make a few stops there when I drove truck, stopped at Jackson enterprises, they make tool boxes and dressed up trucks, also stopped at a tire store on business Highway 1 right off 85, can't remember the name........

it's a nice little quite town, I also have a newspaper from there dated 1931 that my wife found in the bottom of an old print press (the company she worked for restored old print equipment) and some of the stuff printed in it would get a paper shut down these days..

 

[ForTheArborist]

This is wrecking my mind. I came up with a bill for the oil refinery owner, and it's roughly $1800. I kind of think that is just the answer, but I also think that might be insulting to him.

Going rate for a truck load of anything to the landfill around here is $150 or worse. There are 6 of those. There's $900.

I cut up the trees, rounded off damaged bushes the roofers mangled, pruned a bunch of little trees around the estate. That's $200.

I still have to sell him on grinding out the stumps, one on flat ground, and two on a steep and akward hill. That's $350.

Then he's got a bunch of 20ft eucalyptus trees at the bottom of his property that he wants topped to relieve the view from the house. That's another load to the landfill ($150) and $50 more for me to use my saw on them. There's $200 more.

Am I bull####ting this guy, or is this right on the money? No matter what I'm getting my dump truck on the road, my 395 or 1320, and my climbing/rigging gear out of this job. The guy told me to charge more, and acted like I was off for not doing so.

The total seems overboard, but it seems nice too. He has been insinuating that I charge him more. I could charge him more than this. I see where I could stick another $200 in there at least

 

[newsawtooth]

This is wrecking my mind. I came up with a bill for the oil refinery owner, and it's roughly $1800. I kind of think that is just the answer, but I also think that might be insulting to him.

Going rate for a truck load of anything to the landfill around here is $150 or worse. There are 6 of those. There's $900.

I cut up the trees, rounded off damaged bushes the roofers mangled, pruned a bunch of little trees around the estate. That's $200.

I still have to sell him on grinding out the stumps, one on flat ground, and two on a steep and akward hill. That's $350.

Then he's got a bunch of 20ft eucalyptus trees at the bottom of his property that he wants topped to relieve the view from the house. That's another load to the landfill ($150) and $50 more for me to use my saw on them. There's $200 more.

Am I bull####ting this guy, or is this right on the money? No matter what I'm getting my dump truck on the road, my 395 or 1320, and my climbing/rigging gear out of this job. The guy told me to charge more, and acted like I was off for not doing so.

The total seems overboard, but it seems nice too. He has been insinuating that I charge him more. I could charge him more than this. I see where I could stick another $200 in there at least

How have you gone from red to green rep with questions like this? Do you work for the landfill? Because they are the only ones making money on this deal.