what’s up with older people not understanding remodels are costly?
I run into this pretty often, but this one in particular really bugged me. I went to a customer’s house to quote a bathroom remodel, and she also asked me for a price to remove two 20 gallon electric water heaters and replace them with one 40 gallon. The quote was around $700, which included removing and disposing of both old heaters, rerouting some plumbing, and installing the new unit.
She got pretty frustrated with the price and spent about 30 minutes complaining about it before saying she was just going to do it herself. During that same conversation she was also criticizing my prices in general, even though I know I’m on the more affordable side compared to a lot of contractors in my area.
At one point she said, “I’m 67 years old and only make $45 an hour. You’re a young guy making $100 an hour or more.” I honestly didn’t even know how to respond, so I just wrapped up the conversation and left.
I feel like I run into people like this every other job lately, and it gets frustrating after a while. How do you guys handle customers like this, and is there any good way to avoid attracting them in the first place?