Business Coach for Contractors | Pricing | Collaboration

Construction firms working with homeowners could all benefit from working with a business
coach for contractors.  The business-to-consumer (B2C) world is tough –  you are working with
homeowners who work hard for their money and are getting ready to invest more in their
home building project than they have ever invested in anything ever before.   Tough pricing
conversations are bound to take place and your business coach can help you through those
situations.
 
Clients want the best price, we all do, so when it comes to sending a project out to bid
contractors are pushed into an interesting dilemma, especially when there is not a detailed
scope of work or plans. Do we tell the client what they want to hear or what it will cost?
 
Most small projects do not come with a full set of architectural plans, so the scope of work is a
lot of hand waving and question answering. Each contractor is asking different questions and
hearing different answers.
 
Even with plans, many selections remain undecided, yet the client needs a price to finalize
decisions.  This is the chicken and the egg dilemma. With a lot of variables come a lot of
guessing and pricing options.  That leaves the contractor having to make some hard decisions.
 
Since the client’s focus is all on price and less on the scope, we as contractors must decide. Your
business coach for contractors will know the best strategy depending on the situation you have
found yourself in.  You will collaborate with one another to decipher what the best plan of
attack is based on the custom situation you are in.

Do we give the client a low price, get the job and deal with changes down the road?  The
industry outfall giving a low price is that “good pricing but he change-ordered me to death”. 
Unknowingly this is what the client asked for, or at a minimum that is the perception they
broadcast to the contractors, that who they hire comes down to price – and price alone.
 
Or do we be honest, lose the job, and be satisfied in knowing what the project will really end up
costing?   This results in no money in the bank – just the satisfaction of knowing you were
honest with the client.   
 

Then there are clients who do not want to meet with the contractor at all.  They went through
the scope of work with the architect and don’t want to have to do it all over again to get a bid
from the contractor.
 
If you must bid on a project without the opportunity of meeting with the client – only the
architect, you have no opportunity to distinguish the company or the services you provide, so
the message is price, not service. 
 
This is a tough place to be when you are in the service industry of custom construction.   Yes,
even your remodeled bathroom is custom construction, only built once and to your
specifications. It is all custom, a service not a commodity.  Any business coach for contractors
you work with will have the expertise to prepare you for conversations like these.
 
There are clients who are not willing to meet the contractor either because they either “already
know what they are doing”, don’t want to listen, or think builders are trying to rip them off at
the outset.  So what do you, as the contractor, do in this type of situation?
 
These are all situations that come up, literally weekly, when you own a construction company. 
How you deal with each situation determines how successful your company will become.  I am
a business coach for contractors, and I would love an opportunity to collaborate with you. 
Contact me today for a free consultation at 203-826-8096.