I was reading a thread where everyone had a tale of woe because of customers etc. I’ve had my share of those stories as well… BUT today I want to share a good news story that happened to me.
I work as a trim carpenter and was finishing my second home for a high end builder. I gave him an estimate at the start of the job and he says OK. I figure my stuff out with a spreadsheet so I don’t make any mistakes (that comes back to haunt me) I figure the number of doors, windows, base etc at a certain rate and it calculates it all out for me and totals it all and adds in taxes etc. I add in the extras but run out of room so I add a few lines (fact: if you add new lines in EXCEL you have to redo the sums to include the new added cells) Being in a hurry I don’t recheck my estimate and I gave him the number. (he doesn’t get my spreadsheet- just the total)
Start working on the job and keeping track of the time spent to do certain jobs. Everything seems to be OK but then I start running pretty tight (hours vs estimate). Recheck estimate- very sick feeeling when I realize that $1200 is missing from my estimate. (the added cells don’t get added in the sum )PANIC…. check math OOOOOPPPPSSSS. (boy do I feel like %^&*)
Next day talk to the builder. I explain I made $1200 mistake on estimate so if you are repricing this house for future quote use the new number. I’m ready to eat it. He says ” OK – I’ll do something for you”
Day after that he says” Give me a new estimate that includes the $1200 and I’ll rip up the old one”.
Talk about feeling good, and think I won’t go the extra mile for him. A few extras that the HO added all of sudden disappeared from any of my invoices.
Gave him the invoice today – he’ll pay me next week and has another job for me in 2 weeks. says nothing .. Some people are class acts
P.S. this is not an effort to get a warm fuzzy thread going. I just thought I might share this …… there are class acts out there and I know one.
Replies
I think the sum function of Excel will automatically include added lines/columns if you insert them between the ends of the range, not after the end. But boy do you need to go to church on Sunday!
Do it right, or do it twice.
Man that doesn't happen everyday. Sure is nice to have your faith in humanity boosted now and again.
I'm glad you ran into a class act.... ( he might have been go'n on cost plus so you just made him a few extra dollars also )... I run into this a few times a year... being a jack of all trades and master of none... there isn't much i won't or can't do... i'm just slow... but some days you just feel better if you are on the bobcat ot track hoe all day and can't hear ur cell phone... so when a guy gives me a price and i know it just can't be done and the guy still feed his kids... I then shoot the guy back a price that i think is fair (if i like and want him to do the work) I refuse to let a hard working honest guy not come out on one of my jobs... maybe i'm the odd ball but it's the way i was raised... I needed an estimate today for and insurance deal that i know i'll end up fix'n myself... but they wanted an outside bid (they wanted 3 but no way i was waste'n 3 guys time)... so i explained to the guy... i wanted to pay him for his time ...he told me he just wanted the work... i explained the deal that unless i just got super snowed I'd end up doing it because with the deductable I'd still be out thousands that i couldn't afford... he told me he got $30 to write up an est.... but that he didn't feel right take'n it... so i gave him $60 and already refered some work to him... I preach this way too much... but people deal with people they like ... i just want to be the one they want to work for...
pony
i started out with nothing... and have most of it left
Good for you. I bet you sleep weel every night.
I also give gift certificates to customer that give me referrals that produce jobs for me. I have given WallyWorld, OutBack, Lowes, and a local sporting goods gift certificates, depending on what I remember of the clients interest. Even if I don't land a job from the referral, I send a thank you card to them.
Dave
Been there, done that. An I is and accountant too.!
On the bigger bids, I foot all calculations manually with a calculator and tick them off.
At a minimum, I eyeball the spreadsheet, and make sure its close.
When you set up your formulas, leave a few blank spaces at the bottom, that way when you insert rows, the formula is good.
You were lucky this time.
Tom
My revised, updated, foolproof, can't miss, perfect, proof read, double-checked, DW approved, non-mistakable(?) spreadsheet now has the extra spaces in it that you talk about... did it the first night I found my mistake- much muttering..........LOL
Man, deja vu. Last week I started a job for a builder I've never worked for before. Have to learn his layout. Everythings going dandy, except the stair rail. I won't bore you with details, but it was more of a fight than it should have been and required some invention along the way. The more I thought about it, the less I liked it, and convinced myself that all hell and fury was going to come down on me and I would be redoing it. I couldn't let it go. On a site visit, I told him all my concerns, what I thought, and that I'd already checked with the yard on replacement parts and would foot the bill. He looked at the rail, raised an eyebrow, and said "what, are ya kidding? That looks great. I like how you made it work by yada yada yada." 'Bout peed myself.
By the way, he says, the rail wasn't in the price we agreed on for trim, so I'm going to add a couple days for it.
His mantle was spec'd as el cheapo central. two 1x6 with a 1x8 cap, a shelf, and some crown. I worked something else out. Good people are hard to find.
"The child is grown / The dream is gone / And I have become / Comfortably numb " lyrics by Roger Waters
I'll say you worked something else out! That mantle is something else..
Excellence is its own reward!
"I worked something else out."
I'd say you did. Nice work!
(That's Crawford's is good stuff.)
Oh, Rugby, not to hijack, but you gotta get to town sometime. That saw is dream central. I gave her a diamond this week. We're getting hitched. And thanks for the compliment. Did I tell ya or did I tell ya. Crawfords is the king of spackle.
More good news, same builder (see, dividends already) - just closed today on a $3M project. "Wanna do more trim?" Are you S***TING Me? This'll make the Hilti guy happy too. I got a dream list to attend to."The child is grown / The dream is gone / And I have become / Comfortably numb " lyrics by Roger Waters
RW & tickyboy: It's good to see how quality work teamed up with an honest, up-front work ethic can pay big future dividends. Maybe it's a Karma thing.
Rugby
Nice piece of work for a class act of a customer. Good things just keep going....
some guys get it...some don't.
Ever notice how those that "get it" tend to have less stress in their lives...
and those that try to screw everyone are running as hard and fast as they can to avoid all the pissed off subs and customers?
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite
Can't agree with you more!!
I am usually on the GC's end of things so I can give you two reasons for his actions (aside from being a class act). First, he must be happy with your work and wants to keep doing business with you. This little gesture (to him) will help establish a long term relationship which is the key to producing high quality work at reasonable prices. Second, he may have estimated a higher number for your work in his bid. We often figure as many phases of the work at what it would cost us to do ourselves with our own employees. After we have the job we shop for subs for a combination of quality, price and availability. We use this procedure because it is faster than waiting for a quote from the subs but it has the benefit of letting us find extra profit either for our own pockets or, as in this case, to cement our sub relationships.
finished a 3rd fl attic in a victorian for a play room for the guy that got me started in this thing 30 yrs ago .didnt want to but he bugged me i say ok. wife asks how much. 5000 ballpark my work. 3" sag in rafters good stuff like that . leave bill for 5, she asks for itemized bill ,comes to 5220. hes paying 1st invoice. she thought that included electrican and spackler .sorry hon. he knows. still friends. could have been a disaster. everything in writing
Glad it worked out for you. Adding rows or column within the range will work, like ELCID72 said, but if you want to keep those lines at the bottom, make sure the range for your sum extends down into blank cells. When you add your extra lines, they'll be included without you having to remember, as long as you don't add more lines than blank cells.
Some body ought to build a statue of that guy!
I know that this place (BT) is full of good guys, but in the RW they just seem to be few and far between.
Every decent carp would love to work for someone like this, but the trouble is they don't have to hire as often, because they keep their men around by treating them right.
Nice work ticky!
Mr T
Do not try this at home!
I am an Experienced Professional!