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How do you pass on a job you know you don't want? What do you say to them?

6K views 46 replies 14 participants last post by  juniperidge 
#1 ·
We all get them. Calls we just don't care for. When you get a call that you know off the top you don't want, how do you go about passing it off, or do you just book it anyway?
 
#4 ·
I get people all the time telling me that they have a crawl space full of crap and
they want a free estimate as to what is wrong and how much is it gonna cost...

I ALWAYS pass on these because it is just too demoralizeing to fool with
and I say that I have pulled my back out recently or just pulled a groin muscle
and cannot help them for at least a month out....

Believe it or not I have a had a few morons who did not take the hint and
actually WAITED on me to get well and called back a few weeks later and
asked me if I was well enough to fool around in their crap now... after it has been
pouring down into the crawl space for an extra 3 weeks.....
😆 😆 😠
 
#18 ·
I say that a lot, not the type of work I do.

Many new Canadians don't get it either one guy last week wanted a reno, I told him no but he went on arguing I did plumbing and wanted to explain his complete tear down, I told him no I don't do renos in several different ways at least 6 times. I had enough I cut him off listen stop explaining it'll be the same answer!

Again last week I told a local woman it could be complicated and I didn't want to get involved when she hired a company to swap the water heater and still had hot water issues. Well damnit she left me a bad review! Now you know why in every store, post office, hospital etc. all have large signs they do not tolerate verbal abuse., people are angry.
 
#21 · (Edited)
I passed on at least 5+ jobs today, several where my license doesn't cover those, I tell them they need to call a commercial plumber, when they argue I have to educate them their building falls under commercial licencing.

Just now a woman had a huge list of things like wanting to replace a sump pump, wanted to install a special kind of water heater/ thermo pump???, fix faulty sewage pumps. I told her it's too big of a project for me. She said you have the highest rating and it's going to be one thing at a time, mam I specialize in service calls not big projects, and you need to hire a company who will do everything otherwise it will create friction. I didn't tell her but the other company will back stab the other.

Friday I passed on a condo job that I first I was going to tackle until I found out it was a 12 storey building, I told him I wouldn't do the job because of insurance.
 
#27 ·
Being a one man shop you want to find the 10% that will pay top dollar. The other 90%,,,can Fk off.

That 10% doesn’t read reviews because they know reviews can be horsepoop.

and they probably got your name from a friend of theirs Or family member anyway that vouched for you ., and they’ll be another member of the 10% club I spoke about.
 
#37 ·
Actually Terry-toto you are a service provider and in some peoples eyes
you are trying to help them find another service provider... they are more offended
when you tell them to take a hike... or tell them /uck off

It is snowing like hell today and I have referred 3 dog crap kind of calls to my "overburden" company that
takes anything I throw at them....
 
#30 ·
I’ll bid anything plumbing. The more I don’t want to do the job the higher the bid.
If it’s a job that’s hard on the guys like attic work in the summer, or “live” sewer repair, replacement, I’ll bid high plus a daily hazard pay bonus for the guys.

I don’t get that many of the high high bids but once in a while some desperate party pulls that trigger.
 
#31 ·
I’ll bid anything plumbing. The more I don’t want to do the job the higher the bid.
If it’s a job that’s hard on the guys like attic work in the summer, or “live” sewer repair, replacement, I’ll bid high plus a daily hazard pay bonus for the guys.

I don’t get that many of the high high bids but once in a while some desperate party pulls that trigger.
You are lucky not be where I'm at, if they file a complaint you have to prove and justify your price.
 
#41 ·
I don’t give free estimates except for certain Contractors I do a lot of work with. Even them if I have to diagnose things with tools then I charge a diagnostic fee. As far as people I don’t want to work for I tell them I’m not the right plumber for you, thanks for the call and Have a nice day. On the sewage in crawl space, get a restoration company to clean it up then I’ll go in.
i Had one the other day that had an extremely tight crawl space and it was filthy Underneath. I informed them that there was no access that was acceptable or safe to work from. Open up the floor from above and make it accessible. Not my problem whoever built it didn’t make it accessible, it’s their problem cause it’s their house.
 
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#46 · (Edited)
I HAVE to? Ummm no.

The only things I “HAVE” to do in this life is stay white and die.

I cannot disagree with you more. Are you even a plumbing contractor?

Your vague intro blows by the way.

Even if you are, I’m already not a fan of you.

Giving a high price in hopes of rejection by a customer has its place, but to use it as strategy instead of straight up saying “no”, is AWFUL advice IMHO.
 
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