What's your budget?

[Mbella]

Who asks at the initial meeting with a potential coustomer? That one question has saved me a lot of wasted time.

[chardscapes]

That's a fine line. Most people get offended with that one.

[Mbella]

That's a fine line. Most people get offended with that one.

In my experience, that hasn't been true. The biggest problem I see is many contractors feel uncomortable asking.

90% of the time, I will ask. Sometimes, I get a figure. Othe times, I get the "Well we're not sure how much this stuff costs." My response to the "we're not sure" is to give them a guesstimate on the spot. It goes something like this:

Mbella: Do you folks have a budget for this project? Potential Customer(PT): Well, we don't know how much this stuff costs." Mbella: Well, for what we just discussed, you are probably looking at x amount of dollars." PT responds with one of three responses:

1. "Ok, that is kind of what we were thinking."
2. "Well, that's more than what we were thinking, but it's doable."
3. "Are you kidding me? For pavers?

[kris]

They are asked before the initial meeting from our guy who has a long list of questions before they even get to talk to a designer.

[tthomass]

Depends on the project we're looking at and overall feel I get from the customer. Most of the time I throw a number (high) out there and see their reaction.......then procede with more detail or the design itself.

What are some of the 'questions' people are asked prior to proceeding? How to come across professionally and screen out the bad leads without losing the good ones.

[mrusk]

I throw out high ballpark numbers. "It won't be expensive. I think we can do it all for under 150k."

[mckeeland]

i pose it like this. "I know this can a be touchy question, but did you have an approx budget in mind for your project? the reason i ask is so that i can design your project to work with the budget you had in mind."

[Mbella]

I throw out high ballpark numbers. "It won't be expensive. I think we can do it all for under 150k.""

Why "throw out" high numbers? Why not "throw out" what you believe to be realistic numbers? I'm curious.

[NewHorizon's Land]

We ask simply so we know how much the person is looking to spend. Its a waste of my time to design something that is $20,000 if they only had $10,000 in mind.

[mckeeland]

the hardest thing is to over come the fear that if you throw a high number at them they will get scared. this is easier done when you schedule is booked for 3 months than when you really need the job. i have found that people who are comfortable talking about their budget have a more realistic understanding of what the project is going to cost. some have not clue.

[Mbella]

the hardest thing is to over come the fear that if you throw a high number at them they will get scared. this is easier done when you schedule is booked for 3 months than when you really need the job. i have found that people who are comfortable talking about their budget have a more realistic understanding of what the project is going to cost. some have not clue.

Your right, it's easier when you schedule is packed. However, it costs the same to install the job when your schedule is empty. You should have an idea what it "costs" you to perform the install.

Maybe, you make some concessions when you don't have much on the table, but either way, if you know your business, you should be able to offer up guesstimates on the spot.

[NewHorizon's Land]

We have gone to a potential customers house and they say "what can you do to fix this area?" Our response sometimes will be " Well we can do this, this and this." PT : "How much will that cost?" Me: Aprox $XX,XXX. PT Well thats more than (once we got a thats less than) we want to spend. ME Ok how much do you want to spend. I find it easier that way.

[mckeeland]

no doubt, it is always better to go high on ur guesstimates than when you beat it with the actual estimate you look like the hero. as long as the next guy doesn't give them some crazy low guesstimate and make you look like ur out of ur mind.

[Mbella]

Justin, I find that to be a common experience as well.

The bottom line, if you want to avoid potentially wasting some time, discuss the budget.

I waste enough time working on projects where we are on the same page with regard to budget. If I can eliminate the ones where we aren't even in the same book with regard to budget, I'll do it ASAP.

[cgland]

Sometimes it's extremely hard to throw out a guesstimate (especially if you don't have alot of field experience) My guesstimate is always a little on the high side, for the same reason as Mckee said "If you come in below that number you look like a hero" But in order to do this effectively, you MUST have some field experience in knowing how long a job will take. Doing a materials take-off is easy...estimating man hours is the biggest challenge we all face.

Chris

[NewHorizon's Land]

Mike and Chris you guys said it :amen:

[mrusk]

Overall, i do not ask a budget or give a ball park. If the people acctually get me to come out and met with them, they are qaulified enough! lol

Lets face it, people have no idea what this stuff cost. People may think something will cost 40k. That does not mean they can't afford to spend 150k. Moreover, most people have no idea what the possiblies are for there property. I have had people sign retainers so we could start plans with a estimated project price of 35k sell for 100k do to additional stuff being added that the homeowner never thought about.

[MuirView Design]

I find myself shying away from the word budget. I will always ask a customer what type of investment they are looking to put forth on this project though. I've never had anyone get offended over putting it that way.

[STLPONDS]

I must be in the wrong markets. My home is in a town with low to high income family's. I have more budget/sales conflicts with the wealthy than the working man.

[cgland]

Very true! I often find that the richer the HO the more difficult it is to extract money from them.

Chris

[ScottSears]

When I did design work for clients we always started with a wish list that encompassed all of their potential wants. Just because they have a "Budget" for now does not mean that they would not consider a 3 or a 5 year plan for their property. We always found that if there was only one phone number to call for everything they want to do outside then we always had first refusal or referral on a particular aspect of their needs. Their budget for this year may be $30,000.00; however what will their budget be over the next 5 years. If landscaping increases the value of the home by 25% then what is the total amount that they can spend and still get a return on their investment?

[Mbella]

When I did design work for clients we always started with a wish list that encompassed all of their potential wants. Just because they have a "Budget" for now does not mean that they would not consider a 3 or a 5 year plan for their property. We always found that if there was only one phone number to call for everything they want to do outside then we always had first refusal or referral on a particular aspect of their needs. Their budget for this year may be $30,000.00; however what will their budget be over the next 5 years. If landscaping increases the value of the home by 25% then what is the total amount that they can spend and still get a return on their investment?


Very, very good points Scott. Bottom line, you were discussing budget. Whether it was the budget for the current year, or years to come, it was being discussed.

[GDK]

The HO is always given a higher budget number than what is realistic.....I have never worked on a job where some extra isn't added...With a high price, it doesn't appear to cost them for the extra.

[yardpro]

i always try and get some numbers from them. sometimes i can, and sometimes i can't

I always give them a number after they tell me what they want and see if that is in thier budget range.

[Colonial]

We always ask, nothing worse then spedning the time on the design and pricing for a "BMW" and all they want is a Moped. IMO you hope to god you dont offend someone and hopefully hey understand that you just want to give them what they want.

[mrusk]

Before i present the proposal i always ask the people what they think the price will be before i tell them.

Its a good thing to do. If they say 90 grand but my price is really 75k i say "OMG i have never had a customer acctually guess the right price. We came in just under 90k!"


Naaa i wouldn't do that!

[Mbella]

Overall, i do not ask a budget or give a ball park. If the people acctually get me to come out and met with them, they are qaulified enough! lol

Lets face it, people have no idea what this stuff cost. People may think something will cost 40k. That does not mean they can't afford to spend 150k. Moreover, most people have no idea what the possiblies are for there property. I have had people sign retainers so we could start plans with a estimated project price of 35k sell for 100k do to additional stuff being added that the homeowner never thought about.

People might not know what something costs, but I guarantee you they know what they are willing to spend.