Made a mistake on a bid

[kingstownquad]

I have been advertising the last couple weeks. A got a call a couple days ago regarding a bid. The bid I left on the door was 35. I look at each house and this one seemed reasonable. I assumed the fenced in area enclosed the entire back yard. She called and told that that was just part of it. There is a huge hill behind the house 45 degree angle that is also part of the yard. The bid really should have been 60. What should I do? Take the bid of 35.00 and loose money on the job. Up the price? Thanks in advance? How can I make this mistake into a solution.
ted

[MASTERMOWER]

I say give a revised quote because she knows you assumed wrongly....correct?

The most valuable thing I learned from my old boss was to never assume anything...

[steve-o]

I have been advertising the last couple weeks. A got a call a couple days ago regarding a bid. The bid I left on the door was 35. I look at each house and this one seemed reasonable. I assumed the fenced in area enclosed the entire back yard. She called and told that that was just part of it. There is a huge hill behind the house 45 degree angle that is also part of the yard. The bid really should have been 60. What should I do? Take the bid of 35.00 and loose money on the job. Up the price? Thanks in advance? How can I make this mistake into a solution.
ted

buy a measuring wheel and walk each yard with the homeowner. no surprises that way. just be honest with the person. cut them some slack on the 60. 35 to 60 is a big difference. good luck!

steve

[kingstownquad]

I say give a revised quote because she knows you assumed wrongly....correct? Yes she assumed I made a mistake on my quote. She asked me to stop by and give her a new quote.
I stopped by later and gave a revised quote of 50. which was as low as I would really want to mow. I knew 60 would be a huge hike. I guess what I am asking is if this happens again should I do the same thing tell them I made and mistake and move on or stick with the original quote. I'm putting out 5000 doorhangers with quotes so it may a happen. Hopefully it will not happen again. thanks in advance.
ted

[steve-o]

what is your range of quotes and how do you determine what the quote is ?

steve

[Scaper-S2k]

You didn't know it was part of the yard. Now if you went there, met with her, and she told you it was hers then that's different.

No problem. Just tell her you didn't know, give her a new price. It's not like they are a customer yet anyway. If she doesn't like the new price, move on to the next.


You shouldn't feel bad, it's not as if you advertise $15 just so they call you, and then you raise the price. It was a simple mistake.

[Stephen M.]

Scaper is right on the nail. If she didn't tell you what the whole job entailed, then just tell her that the $35 was for xyz area. Since you didn't know that you also had to do abc area, you will have to requote the job. If she doesn't like the new quote, oh well, at least you aren't in a losing deal.

[turfman]

I bid on an install last year and was asked to call with my price. So that's what I did. I was able to hear in the customers voice that he thought I was high. It became obvious to me that I would not be awarded the job. I knocked on his door the next day, mentioned how EMBARRASED I was for reading the numbers from a different quote. I adjusted my price and landed the job. That got my foot inthe door and he sent me work all year long!

Another property was misjudged later on in the season. I bid on what I thought was the entire property, little did I know they owned the lot next door. (I did post this situation in a thread last year). I realized I should have known Everything before giving a number and decided to lean from the mistake and stick to my original pice. A few days had passed and I received a call from the homowner asking me if the lot next door was included. When I mentioned NO, we talked numbers for a minute or two, increased the price accordingly, and moved on.

Honesty is the best policy.

[Littleriver1]

I say, Stuff happens. Customers know when the deal is too good to be true and if they don't, then it's time to inform them. It's better to admit a mistake than to regret it later. A bigger mistake would be to service the account and because you are not making the money you know you should be getting, find yourself doing a poor job and loseing the account because of that. You must need this accound baddly to give up $10.00 a cut to get it. If she would have agreed to the $60.00 you would be kissing her butt all summer. Just remember when your climbing that old hill all year, you did it to your self. I would try to get some extra work out of it and try to make some of it back that way.

[MortNuke]

Make your life easier, and make better use of your time: Instead of leaving an exact quote for each house, simply list your fee for certain areas, for example:

Year Round Mowing Services
1/3 Acre Lot - $XX/month
1/2 Acre Lot - $XX/month
3/4 Acre Lot - $XX/month

Prices are approximate, call for your FREE QUOTE!

When they call, that is the time to get a good measurement and take into account difficulty, pets, fences, etc. and provide a number that is hopefully very close to the listed fees.

Mort

[Team Gopher]

Hey MortNuke,

That is a very neat idea. I haven't seen any flyers created with that idea in mind but I can see how it could be very helpful for the customer to ballpark a price.