Customer Wants Detail Estimate | She Lost Her Mind | THE HANDYMAN BUSINESS | 

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Those full estimate breakdown types I have run across are the same ones that say "You're making $75 or $100 an hour and that's double what I get paid" I tell them they should have dropped out in 10 th grade and went into construction like me haha.

I just had this happen to me last week on a big estimate. The client has a designer that is giving many many suggestions for her vacation rental condo. We're floating walls flat, taking out deco bands, adding floating shelves and on and on. It's a bunch of really time consuming and hard to do tasks. I bid the job higher than normal because I know it will be a total pain in the a$$, upstairs unit with small stairs and parking is a nightmare. She came back with asking for an itemized bid. I thought about it for a couple days then responded by saying I can do that but I charge for my time to break it down which would be 4-6 hours. She came back with wanting an explanation for the floating of the drywall to a flat finish and approved my estimate. I don't break down my estimates so clients can delete items they may find too expensive or argue with me about costs. It has worked for me over the years and maybe every market is different. But if a client is asking me right away to itemize and trying to tell me what it will cost then I don't want that job anyway. my 2 cents

5 years ago i quit being a handyman and retired, i am now 70, i gained 100 pounds and can bearly move around. since i have been watching your show i have made up my mind to lose weight and get off my lazy ass and get back to work. your show has inspired me to get back in the game. i actually miss working as a handyman. please keep doing your show , it is very inspiring to people like myself. good job mr. handyman. you can never run out of reasons to pick up a tool.

HAHAHAHA I just went through this with a lady who works for a "construction company" she does data entry for a company that does off-shore wind turbines and somehow that qualified her to tell me how I should do my job. I do remodeling and I don't break down estimates. I give my price and detailed description of what they can expect for that price. She flipped and told me off. 2 weeks later she called me and let me know that she clicked accept on my estimate. I told her that the relationship has been soured and would rather not do any work for her.

Nearly all my business is word of mouth. Im currently in a neighborhood that before I can get done with a job the neighbor will come over and ask me to come look at their house when I get done. Im also lucky in the fact that I have several repeat customers that we are to the point they don’t ask a price anymore they just say tell me how much when you’re done. This biggest tip I got from you is this neighbor is mainly wealthy retired people and they just don’t want to be bothered with it. Take care of their problems and they pay very well so they can enjoy retirement. Thanks for all your advice and help.

I walk away from those customers. Anyone who wants a detailed estimate is usually cheap af and a huge pita! I've done it once before and it took up a lot of my time and that customer didn't proceed with the project. I learned early on to walk away.... Thanks for another great video 👍

I generally give everyone a price range rather than a one number quote, and ask for their budget for the job they want done so that way we’re both working with realistic numbers. Always explain the range is due to the unknowns that you can’t see, and gives us both room to add materials if needed. My bracketing for prices has treated me nicely and a lot less stress not worrying about going over the one quoted price, plus allows for much better profit margins. Just making sure I’m honest and thorough up front usually saves me from having to give detailed quotes. If I get questioned once on pricing I usually won’t take the job because they will nickel and dime me until the end

Ive had some customers that get stressed out when you give them too many details. They just want to know the bottom line and when you can start. Then others want to nit pick and haggle every line item. It’s honestly been the most challenging part of the job for me.

Last summer I had a lady ask for a detailed invoice after the day was done. She knew the price beforehand, yet claimed she didn't. (She didn't sign a contract, mistake #1) Anyway, after learning how much I was making she told me that she had a crew of guys come in and drywall her bathroom for less than what I was charging ($400) to repair multiple small things that took about 7 hours out of my day. I was actually screwing myself over by only charging $400. Well long story short she decided to refuse to pay me full price and I had to eat it since we didn't have a contract. But nowadays I just attach pics of my receipts to the invoice and explain the overhead, especially taxes, in depth. AND ALWAYS HAVE A FREAKING CONTRACT

I'm a painting contractor. When I encounter a difficult customer that wants everything listed, I judge how the future of our interactions will be to decide if I want to take the time to itemize anything. If I determine the customer will try my patience every day I am on the job, I don't invest any more time with that person. If they just want to know labor vs a lump materials cost, I will do that. Usually I just give a single number for the total cost of the project.

"Well, if you're not going to use the whole sheet of plywood... I don't see why I should have to pay for the whole sheet of plywood."

Thanks for taking on this subject! I personally under promise and over deliver, it brings smiles to customers real easily. I also give 2 estimates, 1 if the job turns out easy and 1 if everything goes wrong and there’s lots more involved. If everything goes wrong at the very least the customer was pre-warned and it’s less stress on them and not a complete surprise.

I work up my estimates line by line for my internal records in my database software, then provide a single line price detailing what the project entails to the customer. For my internal records I have every material, tax, delivery, material acquisition, design time, clean-up, milage, disposal fees, labor, etc for each step. I build in my profit by adding 15% to each of those lines. If the project is not all related, for instance, paint master bedroom, replace bathroom faucet, and new flooring in dining room, each of those 3 things will be a separate line. If there are unknowns, such as will I have to replace the drywall after removing paneling, will the subfloor under the toilet need to be replaced, I'll include the full cost of doing that in the estimate, then include a "contingency discount" line on the estimate that reduces the bottom line cost if those specific items do not need to be done.

I got burned by doing this. Sent their neighbor to get materials I wrote up for them. He screwed up the job and they couldn't figure out why I wouldn't help them out. I didn't explain...I just told them to figure it out themselves. Lesson learned.

I work alone for the most part. I haven’t had anyone in the three years I been in business ask me to do a cost breakdown. I’m in north central Florida. I change $76 per hour, $96 for the 1st hour and 30% markup on all materials. I don’t advertise. It’s all word of mouth. I do what I say I’m going to do and I show up when I say I’m going to show up. I’m honest and I have integrity. Work and think this way and you’ll be a success.

I never give a breakdown on a bid. I'm not the best at bids and you give a lot of solid advice. The most I'm willing to break it down is to separate labor from materials. Anything other than that and you can take it or leave it....cuz every time I've ever broken my bid down they handed it to another contractor and asked them 'can you beat these numbers?' So I choose to not give them the info to low-ball me....because I've also had these same people call me later to try and come and fix the work of the other contractor they gave my bid to beat. He starts it, he can finish it.

I've only been self employed since last June. I'm from CT. I do all residential as a general contractor in home improvement. Most of my customers do not ask for a detailed estimate. All they care about is the final price. but when they do ask how much the labor cost is, I tell honestly tell them and the reasons why. In my area I have to charge $100-$150 an hour or i'm not making any money.

I’m all word of mouth as well no apps. I used to break things down for customers. That led to nothing but pain in the butt customers. Prices for materials changed so much last year that I only quote labor now sometimes. And add materials at the end. If they ask for breakdown now I say $5,000 to do the job $0 to not do the job. Love your channel. Everything makes sense 👍🏼

I can see where this is coming from. I'm normally do most projects myself, but a couple years ago we were renovating our house to get it on the market after living in it for 15+ years. We were limited on time, and some of the work I just haven't done before. We hired a contractor to do some window replacements, and also a contractor to renovate the bathroom since we only had 1 and downtime wasn't an option if I did it myself. That being said, the contractor was horrible. Not only did he mislead me on the timeframe to get things completed by almost double, he went with the cheapest items he could, but charged 6X the amount he was getting them for and didn't install what was asked for and had to redo it. Example, the valves on the existing sink were seized and since we were putting in a new vanity, I wanted the valves changed out. It was written in their quote to have a plumber there to solder on new valves and specifically said no shark bite type fittings. Well, when they changed the vanity, there was no plumber, and the guy used shark bites. When I asked about it, they said a plumber wasn't in the scope and he didn't want to solder new fittings on. Luckily, I had that specific line item in writing and they fixed the issue, but there were several more instances where they took the absolute cheapest way out of things and cut corners that should not have been cut and wanted more money to do it they way I asked them to do things from the beginning. I can absolutely see why people would want a detailed bid with contractors like that out there.

15k to do it, $0 to not do it lol

I'm early in this handyman adventure and am pretty sure I prefer the non-itemized approach. I don't want to deal with entertaining hagglers and cheapskates. Fixed price, take it or leave it. And I'm still booked out for weeks. The reviews, references, and portfolio speak for themselves.

I usually explain my price if someone asks nicely just like you've done. If they don't like the profit or wage I'm going to make. I usually won't bother explaining my overhead costs or the fact that they are paying for experience ect. Chances are that isn't my customer and I move on.

In the past four weeks I have spent many hours preparing highly detailed estimates and every single one of them decided to go elsewhere. That's their prerogative of course, but I've decided to stop giving them a detailed breakout of the costs. Yes, they can see the bottom line, but I'm not doing all this work for them for free anymore!!

Great topic to discuss Handydude. As a customer, I’m a “give me the total price” kinda guy. I don’t need a break down.

It's $Xxxx to do the job and it's $0 not to do the job. My experience is that as soon as you start to break down things itemized, then that's when the tire kicking starts. And then they expect you to compromise on your price or they want to compare you to the other guy. Itemized estimates require extra time and that's not free. Better off weeding out those customers and moving on to the next

Estimator for custom home builder in the Southeast projects ranging from 800k-5M - if I am given a preliminary set of plans I go through and use all of my historic data for some of the material estimates in the interest of time. I have been able to get within 5% of the true cost of the project about 90% of the time doing this. If I am asked for a full itemized estimate at the preliminary stage there are 2 things that I say: 1- I say "why do you need my full priceout at this phase of the project when the plans aren't developed? I don't give out this information so you can pass along to someone else as this estimate and it's templated information is proprietary to my company" or 2- "if you are willing to pay 1% of this estimate as a part of a construction agreement, I will be happy to share all of the information you request as the plans are developed further and will assist in finding cost saving alternatives if that is what you are looking for"

A coworker of mine was having a house built. The builder gave her a detailed list of items like how much a light will cost, faucet price and install cost. She was on the phone at work arguing with the poor guy on why he was charging x for something when she found it cheaper at x place. 😂 Na, I am good. No thanks, I’ll move on to the next job.

I do a detailed estimate for myself and that’s what is used to give a quote to the customer but I don’t give them a line item breakdown. For items that they need to pick out I give an allowance cost in the estimate that I give them but that’s it. If they want a detailed invoice then I tell them it will be done as an hourly rate job and I’ll detail everything and it’s on their time.

Mr. Handyman, I love this video and have been awaiting it with anticipation. Thank you very much. I sincerely appreciate your approach and will take it to heart. Also love the discussion you provoked and to learn how others in the business are dealing with "crazy" customers and how they handle them.

I have several repeat customers that don't ask for an estimate, they just want me to do the work and bill them... Those are the best customers to have. Other customers want an estimates. I give line items for each job I'll perform like "replace exhaust fan & add new duct for exhaust to outside: $600.00 ". I have a supplies section on my estimate to describe the materials I'll be using to let them know why its so expensive like stainless steel 3" deck screws, Azek siding trim, or Grey Sherwin Williams interior satin paint. That way if they want to take something off the list its already clear how much that will reduce the cost. and if they want to change materials its clear that it will adjust the materials cost. Then I have a total labor cost & a total supplies cost and a grand total. I make sure to add terms such as full Materials cost due before work begins if its a large project, & full payment due at completion of work.

Good points! I find with the higher priced projects the customer would want at least a simplified breakdown materials, labor, etc. itemized estimates certainly require high levels of customer service due to expected questioning by the customer on items.

Just recently had a potential client do this. We went and looked at 4 properties (didn’t charge her), she and the realtor picked my brain, we chose one and made an extensive list of improvements. Then she countered back wanting to take items out and get an itemized before she decided on the property. If she wants to pay for my time to write out how many pieces of sheet rock, tape, hours, etc. happy to but this “free estimation” shit is getting old and the number I’m giving for free is the number you get unless you pay for more detail.

Good topic Handy. Only did a detailed estimate once for a friend on a bath remodel. Basically gave them allowances for materials and my cost to do the job. Worked out great for me and they were happy!

As soon as they ask for a full break out, that is no longer an estimate that is the bill. I got into an argument over cut off wood scraps and left over screws. "I paid for an eight foot 2x4, I get a eight foot 2x4, not a seven foot. . ." and "I paid for a pound of screws, I get a pound of screws." It's not like some custom mixed paint that's useless to everyone else. Collecting up the extras is what makes it possible to cut corners on odd jobs. I've run into other problems and I now have a line on my invoices: "Until paid in full, all materials remain the property of the contracted worker(s) whether consumed in the commission of the job or not. So long as the bill is unpaid, the contractor may enter the premises to nullify their labor and/or remove their property. After the client has paid the agreed upon final bill, and the contractor confirms it, the materials consumed in the commission of the job become the property of the client. Any remaining materials are the property of the contractor to use or dispose of as they choose." Haven't had any problems or unpaid jobs since.

Thanks for all the good content as usual brother. This is a good and important topic. I almost always do detailed estimates, (handyman business, year 2) because I need to do them anyway to make the quote as close as possible, so i just throw all the line items in the estimate so the customer knows where their money is going. BUT, I don't charge for estimates, so if someone doesn't hire me, then I've just given them a detailed recipe for how to do the job, courtesy of my knowledge and experience. They could take my detailed estimate elsewhere or go DIY and probably mess it up. That hasn't happened to me that I know of, but I suppose it could. That has me wondering if I should be charging for estimates. What do you do? What about charging for estimates only if you don't get hired....meaning drop the estimate fee off the cost of the job if you end up doing it. That might work. I also usually give the customer a range on the final estimate, $$$ if easy, $$$$ if unforeseen challenges appear. If the customer is happy within that range, we're good to go.

I worked at a restoration company for 20 years as a production manager and part of my job was to review estimates that salesman had prepared. When the estimate was for insurance companies, we used Xactimate software which have everything listed by line item. The number for us was a hard number and nonnegotiable and if they wanted to get it done cheaper, we would need to remove part of the work from the estimate.

I have a landscape construction company and I always break down estimates by tasks, ie demo and prep, dumping fees, patio installation etc, With those line items I ahve a full description of what we are going to do. Never usually have a problem. If someone wants more detail than that, they are often not going to be very easy to work with. Regarding unknowns, the best thing you can do is to have well worded contracts with contingencies for unforeseen circumstances. Also just communicate with the customer that things may change depending on what we find. I find that good communication goes a long way. My problem I have is normally is that a lot of customers communicate very poorly with me or their spouse and sometimes things get misconstrued in the process. There's always something. Its not easy but someone's gotta do it. lol

I've dealt with this with a specific investor(I mostly work for investors in my area). I break everything out and then add in a Documentation fee/Doc Fee just like a car dealership. The way I justified it to them because they absolutely said it was malarkey was that my standard estimates included a labor cost and description, and a materials cost and description. Neither broken out. If they wished for me to break down individual materials after the fact(meaning creating a second estimate practically speaking) that time would be billed regardless of the acceptance of the estimate. Where I'm at I have a minimum billable charge of $100 (I use this at my discretion however it is posted on my invoices.) . So that's what they'd get billed.

Once again, you hit absolutely every nail on the head. I can relate almost all of this to my job in an entirely different industry (one-man limited company Content Director).

I know how many days a job will take me. I charge so much a day for my labor. My day starts when I pull up to the store about 6/7am. I never mark up materials but I have leftovers in my shop from other jobs. I never charge a customer more than estimated but do charge less sometimes. I never ever give detailed estimates except time of start estimated time to complete, 50% money upfront, when the balance is due etc. I've never had a problem usually always finish early and I never hire help. I'd never waste my time doing detailed estimates of materials. Its just not necessary...too many other customers who need help. My customers have always been happy. I feel so blessed to be a business owner, keeping my own time and making people happy. Its a good life.

I have owned a single guy custom cabinet shop for over 20 years and totally agree with all the points made. In my experience be very careful with breaking a job down to that level. It gives the wrong type of client the tools to gut your quotation of any profit and leave you with endless re-quotes removing more and more profit and more paperwork. Be especially careful if like myself you are supplying trade only materials not available to the general public as this will come back to haunt you in the future when it's word of mouth work. Personally I always supply a full written fixed price quotation with a specification of works but never a cost breakdown.

Love the emphasis on customer service and and how it seems to be a rare commodity these days. It plays a much larger roll in my decision making process when it comes to hiring someone than it has in the past.

Clear and concise the big dawg holds it down!

I once had a guy tell that he knew a guy who would do the same work for literally half of what I bid. I told him good luck, and told him to keep my card in case he needed it. A few weeks later he called me to come and fix what his friend had done. I wound up making more on that job than I original estimated. As to detailed pricing, I do that on every job I do that is over $500, and I detail every nail and screw. I usually don't show that to the customer. I do that to protect myself. I can give it to the customer if they want it, but very seldom do I have to, and even then, when they see 150 or more line items and the tally, they usually skim it and never look at it again. By the way, once you do a couple of those, you have a template and it becomes easy and fairly quick to do.

The best practice I have found is to give 1 round number for the project. This has significantly reduced the amount of times I have had customers ask to break everything down. Part of this is also due to building an online presence. Building up your reviews so that customers know if they can trust you or not. Google my business is huge and needs to be leveraged. The only time I really break anything down is when insurance is involved and the customer needs these documents for their claim. Even then, I’m vanguarding and letting the customer know that insurance doesn’t like to pay what it takes to get the project done. These are good tips, but I would work on knowing your numbers and establishing trust through online reviews, then, you focus marketing to your target customer base and you eliminate a lot of these problems.

I do tile & grout ccleaning, sealing and minor repairs including showers. Not too many unknown variables at this point (10 years) and I just give one price per component. In the description I give enough detail to justify the cost. Many people have no idea what it takes to actually get something done. I can't tell you how many times someone has baulked at the price to replace a broken tile. They think you just 'pop it out' and stick down a replacement... It's a fantastic place to get to the point when the phone rings with zero dollars spent on marketing. Higher end customers are the best. Just this week I was told "I trusted you from the minute I met you, do whatever you think we need done and add it to the bill."

That was a very honest video. I totally agree with what you said. I once had a client who wanted to add a penalty to the job if I didn't get it done in time. I told her I would do that if she gave me a bonus if I got it done before the deadline. Needless to say she didn't do that. But she did want the whole job line itemized. I charge $250 on the line item to cover my cost

I usually skip jobs like that. Just not worth the effort and the customer is usually harder to work with if they want a quote like that. What do you think?

I grew up surrounded by people who lived through "The Great Depression". Their sense of value was always pretty far off, the most common one I'd hear would be at a restaurant; "They want 25 cents for a piece of cheese", I had a great conversation with my Mother in Law right after she said that. "You aren't buying a piece of cheese, how much electricity does it take to refrigerate that piece of cheese?", ever cut yourself in the kitchen, that happens at every restaurant. You need insurance, you need a first aid kit, you need someone onsite that understands labor laws (if you have employees). You have to pay the extended costs of any business. If you roll to a job in a nicely branded shirt and hat, those cost money. Gotta maintain tools and vehicles. Nothing is free.

With any job I am bidding on, I ALWAYS discuss unforseen hidden damages. I tell them that I can't see it now, so I'm not charging for it now; BUT if there is something found that must be replaced/fixed while doing the original scope of work, I will let them know right away. I back this up with the worst case scenario - replacing a huge picture window in a living room, after getting the old window out, found termite damage in the framing. Showed her told her that we had to keep removing until we found solid wood. We ended up literally taking down the entire wall on the front of her home! Drywall, electrical, framing, siding, oh and the window.

If I'm having to do a line item estimate then I didn't do a good job building rapport and building trust. If a customer is a type that they want line items so they can argue, question, and try to negotiate each item they won't like the line I add "difficult customer fee"

Some people can be difficult and understandably so nowadays. Been coming across more and more people who want everything but do not want to pay for it. Had a lady recently tell me she needed an estimate for a deckbuild. I provided one and she then asked how much I charge per hour. The back and forth really makes me think it is not worth pursuing. Tired of people who do not value my time, I would never waste it, nor theirs ever. After saying my estimate was too high and realizing my per hour was more than she thought she asked me to give her the original estimated price. I explained to her that I had taken on other work.

You can group items together .... like .... "Materials" (list the materials) and add 25%(wiggle room) to what you estimate it'll actually cost. "Labour" through in "sourcing materials" and add %25 (wiggle room) to what you want to be making in case something unexpected comes up. I don't mind throwing all the key words in an estimate and make it clear to the customer that unexpected problems may come up and it WILL cost more. how do you have such a nice head of hair handyman?

This is my favorite angle of your shop, video wise.

Also for extremely common stuff like screws, if you can estimate how many you will use, you can buy the industrial pack or multiple industrial packs, and then sell them bit by bit. I do this with various cabinet related screws and nails. Customer has to buy a minimum of 1 box, whatever that amounts to. Then after 10 or 20 projects, you can buy the industrial packs with the greatest price break and sell them box by box. For example, my supplier will sell 10 boxes 1 1/2 16 GA nails for 8.97. HD sells them for 18ish, so after you do a couple small bathroom remodels ( I am strictly trim/ cabinets), you can pay for all 10 boxes, and still have 8 left. I use line item estimates like that internally, that way I can break out my money into different piles to pay for screws, nails etc.

I itemize, but keep it fairly vague. Materials, labor, O&P for GC jobs etc. Try to get more granular if it's being seen by an insurance company - I've had a few of those in the last couple of years. It totally depends on the job how I group things together, whether it's a new or established customer, small or larger job - with certain established clientele it could be just a guess and a handshake. Sometimes the "baseboards" line item will be described as material, install and finish and others I have all trim materials as a line item and all painting as another and so on. Try to keep it as broad as possible while breaking down a potentially five figure number somewhat to make it digestible. I saw a line item for "contents manipulation" in a competing bid once for a large company so now I always use that one. I like to incentivize people to move their shit out of the way and if I have to do it I know I'm at least making money.

I'm in NE TN. Last summer we got a call about a tree that had fallen on a house. Insurance company wanted to see an itemized list for repairs! Pain in the butt, but in the end I got paid for the headache.

great information. question: if you sit down with a customer to go over the bid, do you charge for that time some how?

One problem I find after having done this for 6 years for a living is that, even in a fairly affluent area, when you advertise as a "handyman' people are expecting a bargain. You generally don't get the respect of a general contractor or electrician or plumber. They are looking for a deal and if you charge what your time is worth, many (or even the majority) will bail. And then of course the irony is that they are more likely to complain about the work. They equate you to some guy walking around mindlessly waving a blower. I've walked on quite a few jobs where the customer was being unreasonable. I might be out a day's pay but now it's on them to find someone who will do it as well as cheaply. No hard feelings I simply say "Good luck!"

If they select the lumber you may be OK with the correct business. Many 2x4 could be great to make hockey sticks. Another variant is wonderful for canoe gunnels. Only about 50 percent are good for studs or other construction requiring something approaching straight and not twisted.

I don’t line item things, when you do that not only do you need to charge more for the additional time it took to do that but guaranteed you’ll end up answering and explaining a hundred questions about each line item as well as customers wanting to keep boxes of screws and such because “they paid for it” I go over the project with potential clients, give them my input and ideas, cone to a consensus on what the bid will entail and then I give them a price that includes all my labor and materials with my markups for profit and overhead costs etc. I tell them when I can start and when I will finish, and thats it. If they want to know how reasonable my price is they can get bids from other contractors and then see where I land and either accept my bid or don’t accept my bid. I work on a first come first serve basis and I only book people in my schedule after I get a signed contract and down payment. Been at it 7 years working for myself now and have never been without work.

I don’t take those customers. I live in a very upscale suburb and find if someone is a pain about little things they’re going to be nickel and dime-ing me on everything. I started my handyman business a year ago in large part due to your channel. I have more work than i can handle. Partly because i only work 3 days a week. I take bigger jobs with my brother to help me. Hard work but this has been one of the best things I’ve done in my life.

I lost a bid for a basement remodel. I was supposed to pick up where the last guy left off. I gave me my price and he said it was to much! Then said he would only think about it if it was half of what I quoted. I lost the job, but I gained knowledge. Cheap people don’t want to pay

I did a bathroom remodel and re-pipe last year and I asked for the details so It was specified that I wanted all ball valves. I also appreciated the plumber left the extra PEX in my crawl space.

I have recently started charging for certain estimates and of course if they contract with me then the estimate charge is credited towards the job but if they don’t I keep it for the time I spend traveling to and from the potential job site and the 45-an hour plus I usually spend going over the live in person sales explanation. I’ve yet to have a customer say no to the estimate fee once I break down the fact that an estimate could take 3 hours of travel time and an hour of actual estimate prep and writing.

I learned through out my experiences that you have to prepare a customer with a (discovery)fee, as what I learned to call it…lol which is usually $200-$300 extra (Labor) fee added in case the job requires extra work to complete “Bid” agreement.

2019 changed things for me because I couldn't track the material increases. I went to 75$ hr including some drive time to offset gas. Often the customer opens their own lumber yard account that I can charge to. It's nice to not handle money that's not for me. I tell them light heartedly but serious you pay the bill on Friday, I come back on Monday. Our work has to speak for itself and quickly build confidence.

It's can be difficult to explain this to a new independent contractor. I always tell them to give a fair quote, and move on. The customer will call you when they can't find anyone that can do better work for lower cost. Don't adjust your standards just to get one fussy customer.

I had a few projects just went point blank whatever it costs me 25% is added to it. Situation was unique as the projects were for short term rentals and just a small cash infusion was provided from property owner. The cost of project was mostly compensated from future income from the bookings. Owner got nice digs with little out of pocket and everyone was a winner.

In the auto repair business, software is available to provide line item material and labor as well as shop expense for cleaners and disposal of waste. The software has connection with suppliers, providing costs as well as ordering capabilities.

I usually have rough item pricing for things. $10/little items. $20/medium items. $35/odd items. $50/bigger items. This includes my markup and travel time for the pieces in-between and allows me to count it out really fast. If anyone asks for a break down I give them that explanation and let em count them out themselves.

I have always itemized estimates for customers because it helps me not forget anything (I have 60-80 line items set up in QB) but sometimes I end up spending 4-6 hours on a house remodel or addition estimate just for them to take it and then possibly use as a template for another contractor to underbid me if they share this estimate with the competition. It's disheartening and has made me either choose wisely as to how I present an estimate, or simply only give them the total bottom line number and explain I will itemize their invoices for them. Alternatively, I have considered charging for an estimate but in today's economic climate, that is not easy to do. It seems that everyone around here is a self proclaimed handyman now. And with a recession coming, that does make things more competitive. The problem is potential customers will price shop, not quality shop.

Thanks for the Great practical advice !

The "potatoes chip" 2x4's!! I almost spit my soda out!! Well played Handyman, Dirty Jersey out!!

I live in a small town, and most of my work is for repeat customers or word-of-mouth referrals. More often than not they don't even ask what it will cost, they tell me what they want, and when the job's done they ask what it cost. I'm not sure I would even want to work for someone who wanted everything itemized, since I really don't have to. One of the benefits of being a small business in a small town.

Love the content... The beardless mustache is killin' me!! Keep up the good work!

I Fire Difficult Clients. And of course I can do this because of WOMouth. MOST of the time I give all of my clients a estimate/guestimate to the range of labor costs and materials. If I don't do this then most of the time I get burned and I will most likely lose that client. Now for the ones that want an detailed estimate, I am happy to do that. More often than not I end up charging them more than folks I charge by the hour.

I get the curve ball here. Where I live in the SFO bay area, there is a huge diversity of cultures and each one of them is different when it comes to home repair cost. So I have to strategize my estimates depending. Some give the persona to me as being a simple man, a laborer so they don't want to pay. Although I hold three college degrees! I have to inform them of this. Some cultures insist to remove shoes and wear masks before entering. I have to walk around in my socks when working these jobs. I may have to start refusing these jobs. I can't climb ladders in socks! Oh the stories I have to tell. Luckily I am working for a few property managers now and it's much better. Although I still have to remove my shoes with some tenants!

I refuse line items like this. When I was starting I might have done it, but I'm not quoting you the cost of each little thing. Customers like this are almost always a nightmare to deal with. I also don't work with customers who want to nickle and dime everything or claim "I can get it cheaper elsewhere", these are more red flags.

Spread sheet for yourself line itemized out materials labor markups etc Cust gets workorder with all work detailed out and one price at bottom The spreadsheets works as a task list for you and it should be same as workorder without prices nor materials

I give pretty detailed invoices. Probably more in depth than is typical. I do not give detailed quoates. I'll do an estimate but I preface this with the fact that this price is an estimate. Not a quote. I just did one of these for a tile tub surround. I nailed it. I dislike having a figure out there though because it puts me under pressure to get things done which isn't the best for my mental state. I will be adding a lot of padding in the future to estimates. Think I'll take it as an opportunity to up my prices.

I hardly ever have issues because I’m a painter mostly and I give one price for everything and say it’s final no matter what, or I offer them a portion of my paint discount so they always feel like they are getting a good deal on materials

BOOKKEEPING is KEY. The estimate turns into the budget, turns into the invoice, then payment - and this all goes into the books together. Estimates can be created with apps that plug into bookkeeping software. Until I started using BK software it was a huge pain for me anytime a customer wanted a detailed invoice or even a basic receipt. Tax time and loans were a PITA early on and I'm sure a lot of people here have had the same experience. Love the videos.

Hahahaaa! @5:10 the lumberyard gives you the potato chips of 2x4s. If you don’t pick out your own lumber. Amen brother 😂

I charge for detailed estimates, luckily not many people ask for them. Did one for state farm today, had one line item, we'll see if they accept it

This topic evolves as your business evolves. It also depends on the types of jobs you are doing. Handyman/service few hour jobs don’t get itemized treatment. It depends on if I want the customer to be part of my network if I do itemized on remodel/bigger job. Hopefully it will be the last time if I do.

I want to buy a caulk gun sweater... Please show me the itemized breakdown?

What I’ve been doing now with fairly good success is telling customers I will give them a ballpark budget within 10% of the job and I’ll add in a few of the details outside on a standard project as well. It’s been cutting down my time working on bids for people who aren’t serious or had not expected the “high” price. Then a guarantee my price won’t change when I do the full breakdown budget after. And for “unknown” items, I add a contingency to the invoice saying “in these scenarios we often see underlying issues such as…. so budget an additional 10% of the over all total to cover unforeseen issues. We will show and discuss the issues once they are discovered” Disclaimer, I prepare the customer in the initial meeting that this is exactly how I handle things so it’s never been an issue.

My SOP is giving my customer the excel spreadsheet (line item) with my estimate. It includes material, my estimate of man hours needed (TIP- double how long u think it's going to take). Totaled up then P&O on top of that with a grand total. The customers that enjoy getting that are the customers that you want.

I always have the customer pay for the materials when I am at the checkout stand. We work a 2 man team, hours are from 9-3. Rate 100 an hour or 600 per trip. Give them a range of trips. Some customers I collect each day. And never leave tools on the job site...

I've seen customers demand their extra screws because they say they purchased them . Some customers are a pain. But it's all about you charging what you're worth and them deciding if they want to be cheap or fair Last year I quoted a job for a business and they didn't want to pay me $2,000 for 8 hours with $800 in materials ( I would have profited $1200) So they hired a plumbing company that used the same supplier and charged them $3000 in labor because it was $1500 for 2 guys each plus the $800 materials from the same guy I used. So their total became $3800 They wanted a estimate from me but didn't require one from them

Great info. If they want to know what they're paying for you to do the job, I see no harm in presenting that. If they don't want to pay what you're worth then you don't want that customer. Sometimes you have to fire customers.

I don't really do remodels or anything like that. They just end up being a quagmire and it's faster going from little job to little job. Cash daily vs cash later is nice too.

To me usually more line items means more profit so I’m all game for someone that wants to do it that way

If it’s a big to me job(150k plus) with lots of different scopes and trades I’ll break it down to things like, excavation/concrete, framing, finishing ect but I generally give one price and a detailed easy to follow explanation of what is involved and what isn’t. Like you say if they want a detailed breakdown you can move numbers around abit as some will look much bigger than others and the average home owners will be shocked. With this said early in my experience as a builder/business owner I broke it down and showed too much for painting and they said they would do the painting assuming that what I showed for quoting paint would be reduced from the total quote, which killed my profit. What I do now if they find the price alittle high I ask them to pick up all washroom/kitchen fixtures and tile. I then take some off the quote. I get approximately 40% off tile and washroom fixtures so I give them 10% off retail and the are happy. Also like you said, I always charge for the price of screws, Simpson hardware, paint caulking, mud,tapes,board ect. Regardless if I need it or not. You can make really good money on jobs this way. I have never advertised and I’m typically booked out six months. Be clean and tidy, show up on time, be polite , have excellent communication and give a high quality product and it snowballs. Cheers from Vancouver canada

If it's your first interaction with the customer it pays to kindly humor their quote request because they probably know nothing about you & they're just being cautious - it's not personal, agree. If you get the job & all works out nicely (no added surprises) they'll likely confidently recommend you to others, no problem. (We have a lot of bar-fly shiesters & hustlers where we live who prey on retirees & HmB has talked about this conflict. How frustrating it can be for honest contractors because older people tend to ask lots of questions & be nit-picky or request clear detailed quotes. (And admittedly, also be unrealistically frugal.) It's because many "contractors" will briefly start the project with the customer's deposit money then disappear, leaving an unfinished mess behind. Sometimes because they honestly underestimated the project cost & need more money than expected to continue. But too often because they're just sleazy opportunists. It's why many homeowners resort to tackling projects themselves, if they can manage it, rather than risk letting potential creeps into their homes & being taken.)

Worked with my father for 10 years in HVAC. If they asked for a detailed break down we told them they needed someone else. Never, ever advertised our business and never had a slow day. Word of mouth purely. Train your customers, payment is due upon completion not 30 days later, and we kept track of who referred someone on to us in case they didn't pay we would go back and say, "hey, why did person xyz you referred on to us not pay?" 10 years, only one person didn't pay, and it was such a small bill it wasn't worth the time in small claims court. But if you want to waste time doing a line item estimate, go for it, your choice and your time. Still doesnt mean you get the job though.

Aw naw….! I worked for a ‘Handyman company’ in which we had to give breakdown estimates. I quoted a job with customer supplied paint. My quote was like $900 labor plus $20 materials. Customer asked what materials. I said, roller covers and brushes etc. Customer lost his shit- ‘You don’t have brushes?’ and i didn’t get the job. Last time I broke down the estimate like that.

None have asked for one (yet)...I generally just give them one anyways though, and most really appreciate it. Like you said, money's getting tighter! It's nice to see where your money's going.