Referral or finders fee

[mckeetree]

I sense hostility in your post and I really have no idea why.

I dunno...you always did bring out the worst in people.

 

[rlsaloga]

They are two different subjects, but closely related in my mind. Offering a referral fee doesn't have all the downsides as subbing, but in terms of price, in order to give the referral fee you still must choose between either offering the customer a fair price and working for less than a fair price yourself, or overcharging your customer so that you can still get paid your normal price. Neither of those options appeal to me.

Maybe it's a cultural thing also... it seems to be common practice in most parts of the states, but here in aus less so. Giving a person money to refer you seems to imply that you need to pay them to get the work, and that if you didn't pay them, they would refer a different contractor. That isn't a quality referral in my mind. I get referral work from time to time, sometimes from related trades, and sometimes from other tree companies who were either too busy or couldn't do the job for some reason. I also give referral work to others. In all cases, no money changes hands. I would only refer someone who I feel works to the same standard as I do, because by referring them they are somewhat representing me. If they do a poor job, it will reflect poorly on me also. I also use sub contractors from time to time (chipping, stump grinding), but don't generally markup their work.

Shaun

I look at it as a cost of advertising - why should I charge any more or work for less than than a fair price if I get a new customer this way than if they called me from an ad I ran?

 

[mckeetree]

I don't care if I estimate the job at 1800 and the scaper gets 5k for it , I say that because I did a day cleanup for a scaper charged exactly that and he charged the management company 5500.00 and they paid happily .

I can't get on board with that and no offense but if I give some jackass land scraper a decent price that he can mark up a little and the turdhead goes and more than triples the damn price then F that bastard. He is screwing somebody and I'm not into that. I'm not going to give some quote out to anybody that should be marked up over 300 freaking percent. That's why as of about 15 years ago I don't mess with these jackrag contractors around here and have stayed plenty busy without them. ALL of my competition (man I'm using that word loosely) in my immediate area just east of Dallas still jacks with them and it is obvious as hell it hasn't done them any good.

 

[dbl612]

I don't care if I estimate the job at 1800 and the scaper gets 5k for it , I say that because I did a day cleanup for a scaper charged exactly that and he charged the management company 5500.00 and they paid happily .

a finders fee/commission/bonus/gratuity/ is standard procedure is many industries. general contractors mark up work done by their subs, manufacturers reps get a commission for getting work for manufacturing companies every day of the week. many salesmen work on direct commission, some have a draw plus commission. all your advertisement costs are overhead that doesn't necessarily guarantee that you will get the job or sale of an item. if somebody comes to my company and says we will get you this job and when you get paid we would like x percent, (and it is a reasonable percentage), what is the difference between that and paying a salesman or advertising fees?

 

[mckeetree]

I look at it as a cost of advertising - why should I charge any more or work for less than than a fair price if I get a new customer this way than if they called me from an ad I ran?

It looks like you are going to do what you want to regardless so.......

 

[treeclimber101]

I can't get on board with that and no offense but if I give some jackass land scraper a decent price that he can mark up a little and the turdhead goes and more than triples the damn price then F that bastard. He is screwing somebody and I'm not into that. I'm not going to give some quote out to anybody that should be marked up over 300 freaking percent. That's why as of about 15 years ago I don't mess with these jackrag contractors around here and have stayed plenty busy without them. ALL of my competition (man I'm using that word loosely) in my immediate area just east of Dallas still jacks with them and it is obvious as hell it hasn't done them any good.

Because I don't have to do a ####ing thing , and made the money I wanted , didn't have to sell it deal with it other then my work order . That's why ...... You have your ways , again I don't give two ####s what he charges , he knows that ..... With that said I make more then 50k annually just doing tree work with that company alone , no ball sucking ####ing around waiting I get my money in 10 days he waited almost 65 ...... I would have told the management company 1800 , and yea he made money but not off me off them .

 

[treeclimber101]

a finders fee/commission/bonus/gratuity/ is standard procedure is many industries. general contractors mark up work done by their subs, manufacturers reps get a commission for getting work for manufacturing companies every day of the week. many salesmen work on direct commission, some have a draw plus commission. all your advertisement costs are overhead that doesn't necessarily guarantee that you will get the job or sale of an item. if somebody comes to my company and says we will get you this job and when you get paid we would like x percent, (and it is a reasonable percentage), what is the difference between that and paying a salesman or advertising fees?

I am content with the money I make off my work , I don't need to be shady with any of it . I give a price they pay it , easy peasy lemon squeasy LOL

 

[mckeetree]

a finders fee/commission/bonus/gratuity/ is standard procedure is many industries. general contractors mark up work done by their subs, manufacturers reps get a commission for getting work for manufacturing companies every day of the week. many salesmen work on direct commission, some have a draw plus commission. all your advertisement costs are overhead that doesn't necessarily guarantee that you will get the job or sale of an item. if somebody comes to my company and says we will get you this job and when you get paid we would like x percent, (and it is a reasonable percentage), what is the difference between that and paying a salesman or advertising fees?

And, some of this all boils down to what you have to do to stay busy. If paying out commissions is what it takes to stay busy or letting folks mark up your work, like in the Canadian guy's deal, then that's what a company has to do I suppose. Thankful here we don't have to do that to stay busy.

 

[mckeetree]

Because I don't have to do a ####ing thing , and made the money I wanted , didn't have to sell it deal with it other then my work order . That's why ...... You have your ways , again I don't give two ####s what he charges , he knows that ..... With that said I make more then 50k annually just doing tree work with that company alone , no ball sucking ####ing around waiting I get my money in 10 days he waited almost 65 ...... I would have told the management company 1800 , and yea he made money but not off me off them .

Yeah, he made money, he ####ing more than tripled the quote.

 

[treeclimber101]

And, some of this all boils down to what you have to do to stay busy. If paying out commissions is what it takes to stay busy or letting folks mark up your work, like in the Canadian guy's deal, then that's what a company has to do I suppose. Thankful here we don't have to do that to stay busy.

You say that #### but your a bit narrow minded , I set my price and get my price even if they don't , there's been times where they've ####ed up the estimate and still paid me with a smile , I don't need to worry about staying busy they worry for me , I just do what I like to do ........ Work ......

 

[treeclimber101]

Yeah, he made money, he ####ing more than tripled the quote.

Happens all the time , I am a commercial tree company ....... There is always someone marking soe #### up . Go ask around you'll see , that's prolly not even the worst one , I did a storm job 20 minutes charged 300 dollars the scaper charged almost 2000.00 , because they were out there the nite before cloning off the area and door knocking to move cars . LOL that's what my price xs 6/7

 

[Groundman One]

Because I don't have to do a ####ing thing , and made the money I wanted , didn't have to sell it deal with it other then my work order . That's why ...... You have your ways , again I don't give two ####s what he charges , he knows that ..... With that said I make more then 50k annually just doing tree work with that company alone , no ball sucking ####ing around waiting I get my money in 10 days he waited almost 65 ...... I would have told the management company 1800 , and yea he made money but not off me off them .

Agreed.

I don't see why some people are so overtly hostile to the way others work. We're hired, we get a fair wage or better, we do our job, we get paid, and we go home.

If another guy going to work makes someone so angry that they feel the need to throw insults around, then I think that other person has a problem.

 

[mckeetree]

You say that #### but your a bit narrow minded , I set my price and get my price even if they don't , there's been times where they've ####ed up the estimate and still paid me with a smile , I don't need to worry about staying busy they worry for me , I just do what I like to do ........ Work ......

Well, everybody has the way they choose to do things and now y'all know mine when it comes to this subject.

 

[treeclimber101]

Agreed.

I don't see why some people are so overtly hostile to the way others work. We're hired, we get a fair wage or better, we do our job, we get paid, and we go home.

If another guy going to work makes someone so angry that they feel the need to throw insults around, then I think that other person has a problem.

I look at this way we are employees of these multimillion dollar landscape companies , and I am well paid .... I constantly ask them to just buy it , open a tree division and hire me , but why should they ? They are making money on phone calls and not fixing or maintaining 3 trucks and all the machinery and all the drama with the guys , that's my end of the deal ... And I am fine with that

 

[mckeetree]

If another guy going to work makes someone so angry that they feel the need to throw insults around, then I think that other person has a problem.

Nobody is insulting you here, cupcake. We were just discussing stuff. I'm not angry.

 

[Groundman One]

Yeah, he made money, he ####ing more than tripled the quote.

It's called free market capitalism up here.

Do you have the nanny state controlling prices down where you are, some kind of government controlled profit margins?

Up here we do business. What works, works. What doesn't, doesn't. We leave it to individuals to work it out as they see best.

 

[treeclimber101]

Well, everybody has the way they choose to do things and now y'all know mine when it comes to this subject.

And I am fine with that , different strokes for different folks ..... You wanna sub me for tree work and make a million of my sweat and hard work .... That's fine throw me plenty of work and when the checks stop we stop ..... Simple as that . I have 21 days of pruning that I haven't even seen yet other then a few emails ! LOL everyday is an adventure here at BUCKS ! LOL :hmm3grin2orange: set the GPS for margate city tomorrow morning for a bank job I've never seen but heard its gonna pay well , the weather at the shore is beautiful this time of year

 

[mckeetree]

It's called free market capitalism up here.

We have free market capitalism down here too but I still have an opinion on some of this stuff.

 

[rlsaloga]

It looks like you are going to do what you want to regardless so.......

And it looks like you are going to do what you want regardless.......

Regardless of what? So What?

I only posted this to see what others are doing - not for someone to try to tell me how to run my business.

 

[treeclimber101]

I talked to another residential tree contractor around here the other day , he said and I quote I thought you folded up and moved on I haven't heard your name with bids from customers or seen you around any neighborhoods , what's up , I said I found my niche 3 companies to be loyal too and they are loyal to me , I still whack out some resi. Work but primarily all commercial . I feel like I have finally gotten close to where I'm super comfy with the business , I see these guys buying cranes big chippers, lifts , log grapples , I run 2 late model 350's a medium size chipper and stump cutter and I guarantee when the smoke clears we prolly still make the same money . No ads to pay for no wasted fuel chasing work . If I need a bigger truck or loader I tell them they drop off what I need , if treemandan was still here he'd vouch for that , he has helped me out where I was just a hired saw