I have forever been troubled by the bid / proposal type process
could take twice as long and maybe twice as long as that
tend to lean toward time & material work but even that entails a couple hours of acquaintance w/ the project ( at the very least ) and of my sharing professional advice, opinion, design etc…….
which finally leads me to why I’m writing
we’ve got a corner lot and some failing lavender on the northern slope ( way too much shade ) and a few other issues – transplanted rhodies not doing as well as we hoped – anyway wanted some professional advice
inquired w/ a professional landscape lady for some consult work and she flat out said $75 for first hour and $35 / hour for any subsequent work
we did it and my wife and I both barraged her w/ questions and ideas and she was up to it and $104 later we had our verbal exchange and a printed out kinda of summary of our talk w/ some pictures
don’t think she really charged us for the time to prepare written / printed matter but she did come out of it after all considered ( inc. written ) at more than $50 / hr in her favor
I think we can all learn from this / our time is all we have and we must be compensated
Replies
and of my sharing professional advice, opinion, design etc
John, if you're willing to share it free, they'll take it!
Carpenters are notorious for giving their stuff away. Businessmen are not.
While I was at the show, I had one guy trying to drag my professional recomendations regarding the best lumber yards to use for his homeower builder projects. I simply evaded his question, telling him that after we reach agreement on us doing his carpentry work, I would review his plans and offer some value engineering ideas as well as sharing my professional contacts. He ignored my explanation and persisted in trying to drag the info out of me.
At that point I relized that this guy is just a "TAKER". We all know some "TAKERS" and in my naive days, I'd try to win them over. Not any more. I just repeated the same line, using different words. After repeating it three times in different words, the guy left without exchanging information. He never intended to solicit our services, all he wanted was free information.
Our information and experience is valuable. Of course, it's only valuable if we recognize it's value. A guy could toss a stone across the water to see if it would skip, not knowing that is was pure gold!
We owe it to ourselves and to our families to properly manage our gifts and skills. There is a time to give them away, there is always someone more in need than ourselves. If we give our time, and therefore money, away to affluent people, how will we have enough to take care of those that are depending on us?
There are skills and techniques available for all of us to capture what is due to us. Sometimes it might put us out of our comfort zone, but that will only happen for a few times. After a few trys, our comfort zone will expand.
blue
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should!
Warning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. There are some in here who think I'm a hackmeister...they might be right! Of course, they might be wrong too!
hey Blue
I appreciate your response very much as it serves to reinforce the business aspect of our work.
Over time I've read the threads of charging for bids to taking a week to prepare a bid and not getting the job to walking away from the consideration process because one had enough on his plate for that week. I've been all over this map and just wanted to share this one person's ( landscaper ) approach. I can't think of another profession where so much is given away in the hope / prospect of winning a bid.
your reply is exactly what I'm hoping to elicit. thanks John