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When I first traveled to Vietnam at 11 years old, I was able to witness my grandmother’s strong and relentless attitude when it comes to dealing with market vendors and contractors. She may like a fragile, elderly woman but she is everything but. She knows what she wants and she knows how to get the best possible price for it. No matter what the vendor would say and no matter how much they pleaded that Grandma’s suggested price would not be able to provide for their families, Grandma always walk away with good in hands.

I always admired Grandma’s business sense and strive to be just like her. I learned too never be shy when asking for a price reduction. Contractors are  out there to get the most out of your pockets so  your job is to keep the most in your pocket. Here are some effective ways to negotiate to get the most for your money:

1. Negotiate Low and Work Your Way Up

To get the negotiating process going, have a contractor give you a quote and then offer a much lower price. Don’t insult the contractor by giving him a ridiculously low price or else you run the risk of losing a finger. Instead, give him a price that you think is reasonable. Then use that price as a baseline and negotiate upward until your contractor agrees. This tactic simply lowers his expectations and gives him the impression that you are increasing the price.

2. Get Multiple Quotes

By getting multiple quotes from different contractors, you will find what is reasonable and what is not. There are a few bad apples out there who will take you for a ride, and you need to weed them out.

3. Let Them Know that You Are Looking at Other Contractors

It never hurts to hint your contractor that he is not the only contractor you are dealing with. This will compel them to give you a competitive price to win you over.

4. Ask for Package Quotes

There are vendors that offer great package deals when you go with them for multiple services. Prime examples are travel deals when you book both your flight, hotel and car rentals together. So when it comes to getting a contractor for your project, ask if there’s a discount for multiple projects. You will find that 90% of the time, there is a discount and you will never know if you don’t ask. 

5. Ask for Individual Quotes

This advice I got my from my brother-in-law who was surprised that my package quote was really high when I was remodeling my bathroom. He suggested that I ask the contractor to quote me for each item instead of packaging everything. Surprisingly, what added up when the services were broken down was a lot less than the original package price. So if you are in a situation where you think you are being ripped off with an unreasonable so-called package quote, ask him to break it down.

Try to be clever when asking for a price breakdown. Don’t ask for a break down immediately after he gives you the package quote. Otherwise he thinks you are second-guessing his estimate and that just creates animosity and who needs that. Instead, wait a day or two. Then call him back and tell him you changed your mind about doing the package and would rather do a few items. Then ask him to quote you on each item. This way, you get a second quote without hurting anyone’s feeling, and you may find yourself getting a better than your package quote.

6. Don’t Quote the Little Stuff

Don’t ask your contractor to quote the little things. Since the contractor will be there to do your project, he just might throw in some small projects free of charge. In the case of my bathroom remodel, I never asked him for a quote on replacing my old toilet. Since he was redoing my floors, he was going to remove my old toilet anyways and put it back in. Why not then put back in a new one instead? If I have volunteered that I was planning to replace my old toilet, then he would have calculated that into my quote.

7. Be Nice

This goes without saying, but I will state it here for emphasis. Always be nice. You will never get your way when you are an ass. Build a relationship with your contractor. Ask them how their day is going. Ask them about their family, and insert a joke here and there to mellow out the business deal. Just don’t go over or you’ll just look creepy. Contractors are more than likely to accommodate customers with whom they have good relationships.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at 5:03 pm and is filed under Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.