Dispute over price

Had something happen today for the first time. I worked for a lady last year for about 9 hours washing her house and decks. Most houses I can do in less than 2 hours so that explains how big the job is. Last year I done the job for $300. I went back this year and done the same job plus a few extras. She asked what the total was and I told her $300 was fine (no charge for the extras). She then claims that I only charged her $175 last year. I told her I even looked it up to make sure before I came out. I told her if it wasnt worth $300 to her that she could just keep her money. She paid me but this has me so pissed off. I know she cant honestly think someone is going to do that much work for $175. Has anyone else had problems like this or is it just me?

$300 is crazy low for 9 hours. We average $100 hr for pressure washing.

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I agree. Most of my jobs are $60-$80 per hour. I basically done this job as a favor last year because it was someone we know pretty well. I would normally be at least $500 on that job. It just really got to me that she thought I was going to accept $175

She is crazy to think she can pay less than $20 an hour for pressure washing. Be happy and celebrate that next year you can tell her the price is $600 :grinning:

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Even is i know someone i still need to make a profit.

Also dont you have a invoice or CRM software where you could just pull up the old invoice/quote?

I never gave her an invoice. Just a verbal quote. That has always worked fine.

you give all your customers a verbal quote?

How do you keep track of your customers?
Also what if you show up to a job that not a “family friend” and once your done they think you told them it would be X price but you really told them something different. How are you going to prove the original quoted price?

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I just write it down in a book in the truck if they agree to the price. I usually write the quote on the back of a business card. May not be the best way but it has worked good so far.

There are several invoice/quote forms you can download from the internet. If you don’t have a system for quotes and the like you can you these free templates. They are easy to use as you only have to fill in the blanks. Makes you look more professional as well and you can send these quotes via email from virtually anywhere. Just my two cents.

No good deed goes unpunished, huh?

Personally, if a friend needs that much of a discount to be able to afford my services, I work out some way to do it for free, or just cost of materials.

I washed a house this spring for friends of mine who are putting their home on the market. They’re on a really tight budget. So $25 to cover my gas and bleach, and we’re trading labor. They’ll be helping me for a few hours when I build a barn/garage later this summer.

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I’m not sure there’s much you can do to explain why we charge what we do in this industry. Even if you mention all your operating costs if they don’t think it’s worth that much at that moment then that’s it. They can think about it more later. Move on. But I’d hate to lose a repeat because they don’t understand expenses.
Best we can do is prove why we’re worth it.

I had one went over job gave $400 price to wife she said yes do it. Did the job and husband said he was only going to pay $300 I was not doing the job very long. yea I got mad we talked he then said he would do $350… I just went on

:rage:. I would be so ticked. I’d probably tell the guy,

"You know, there’s a term for what you’re saying. It’s called THEFT OF SERVICES. Your wife and I agreed on a price for services rendered (how long it took me is really irrelevant - I don’t charge by the hour, and my efficiency is proof of my experience and skill). If you felt the cost was too high for the scope of work, you should have said something before I started.

If you don’t like the work I did, I’d be happy to UNDO IT for no charge. If you are pleased with the work, then pay me the amount agreed upon."