I call a reputable siding company out to give me an estimate on some home siding replacement.
He tells me that it's fortunate that there is a SALE on.
Of course there is.
But the end of the SALE is within two weeks.
Of course it is.
I don't like being played for a fool. How the crap do I quantify the SALE price when I have no PRE-SALE quote on which to base the "savings"?
I just despise this sort of sales tactic. Just give me a stinking fair price. That's all I ask. Don't toy with me.
/rant off

did he try to sell you a mattress as well?

Do they still sell siding by the square? I've always been convinced that the "square of siding" is a huge part of their profit margin.

If I were you, I'd call back in three weeks using a different name and see if you get the same pitch.

-Rob

I bet it was 5K. It's always 5K.

quote:

Originally posted by Paragon:
did he try to sell you a mattress as well?

Good one! There's a store in town that has a sign saying: "Matress Sale Today" ........PAINTED ON THE SIDE OF THE BUILDING!

Looks like you have some hail damage. I can write you a damage assessment and you can get the siding replaced by your insurance for the cost of your deductible.

quote:

Do they still sell siding by the square? I've always been convinced that the "square of siding" is a huge part of their profit margin.

A "square" is 100 square feet. A unit of measurement, not profit.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:

quote:

Do they still sell siding by the square? I've always been convinced that the "square of siding" is a huge part of their profit margin.

A "square" is 100 square feet. A unit of measurement, not profit.

Right. Except for the fractional square left over at the end. They don't leave you with the extra short bits, do they? Or bill you by the fractional square? And I bet most jobs are X.y squares with "y" being < 5.

-Rob

quote:

Right. Except for the fractional square left over at the end. They don't leave you with the extra short bits, do they? Or bill you by the fractional square? And I bet most jobs are X.y squares with "y" being < 5.

I'm not an estimator, but I do have a lot of family and friends in the building business. I'm fairly certain they figure out the actual square footage, and then add a percentage to it to account for waste.

Take your siding as an example. Let's say you have a section of wall that's 8' tall x 10' long. That is only 80 square feet, but you'll use 100 square feet of material. You'll cut the siding down to the 10' length from the 12'sections. The 2' pieces will likely end up in the trash.

Then to complicate matters, you have to deduct for windows or other places void of siding.

My sink clogged up a couple months back. So I call a plumber and he comes out and gets the clog out total cost $69. While he's working on it he's telling me it's a good idea to have my pipes water jetted every 10 years so things like this don't happen (he describes it basically they shoot very high pressure water through your pipes and it cleans them out). So I ask him for a quote for that because I'm thinking if it's $500-1000 maybe it's worth looking into. He comes back with $5000.. WTF I've lived in the house for almost 10 years and this is the first problem I've had (and it's 100% because I'm an idiot and put things down the sink that I shouldn't). I told him I can get a lot of drains unclogged at $69 a time for the $5000 cost of this water jetting every 10 years sooo no thanks and I'll call you again when/if I need another pipe unclogged.

Maybe there's plumbers here that know more about plumbing than I do and maybe there's more perks to this than I realize but the way he described it was just to make sure pipes don't clog... if that is it I will take my chances that 80 pipes don't clog every 10 years because that's what it would take to make this worth it at $69 per unclogging

There are also the carpet companies ready to give you 50% off. They never tell you the actual price upfront so what is 50% off. Oh yea it is the price the sales person makes up! Anything goes....

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:
Do they still sell siding by the square? I've always been convinced that the "square of siding" is a huge part of their profit margin.

If I were you, I'd call back in three weeks using a different name and see if you get the same pitch.

-Rob

While there are easy parts when siding a house, there are also parts of houses such as a porch or a chimney chase that can take up a lot of time and you still get paid by the square.

Very interesting thread. I have a Saturday appointment with an estimator from Lowes for a bid on Hardie siding.

People always want a discount, some know how to negotiate, others like to get the estimated total cost and a "discounted" amount it's easier for them.

We were looking at new hardwood, all the local places wanted to charge $50 to $100 to come out and do an estimate, 50 floors does it for free as part of the shtick, you get x pct off this month only blah blah. So we get the estimate, the total amount of product needed, and his prices, $30K, discounted by 50%, plus plus, minus minus net out to about $17K. Thank you no I can buy a floating floor hard product for less than half.. Get labor quotes from local contractors and come in less, or DIY...

Now I can shop and have the measurements I need to get competitive bids.

I love the arrogance of some of the contractors.

Big box store "approved" contractor does estimate. I had two others bid on the job, both physically went on the roof to inspect it. Big box guy estimated it from the ground, no way his fat ass could have gotten up on a ladder IF he had brought one in his sub compact car.

He then tells my wife and I that the one spot that had buckled up was no big deal, they would just nail it down and that a second layer is all that it needed and that actually was better than doing a tearoff, more insulation and leak resistance was his excuse.

Finally ended with him trying to browbeat my wife and I into signing with him even after he pissed her off by telling her (yes) that she would not understand and he and I should discuss the roofing. That went over with both of us like the proverbial turd in a punchbowl.....

To my telling him I would not sign at that time he replied "So you are going to make me come back out here in a few days to sign the contract? Just do it now and save us both some time" to which I replied "don't count on it"

And no, he did not get the job either.

quote:

Originally posted by dgshooter:
Very interesting thread. I have a Saturday appointment with an estimator from Lowes for a bid on Hardie siding.

James Hardie is the only way to go.

If we have a hail storm around here, contractors come out of the woodwork's with all kinds of ways they can get you a new roof or siding for the insurance deductible.

I had several neighbors take them up on the offer when they had no or only slight damage on a house that was 24+ years old. It is no wonder insurance rates are high.

About 8 years ago, my wife decided she wanted the kitchen cabinets in our vacation condo redone. This is a small kitchen, maybe 6X12 feet . Rather than replace or repaint them, the trend is to reface them. She contacted Sears, who sent two guys over for an estimate. They were not Sears employees but someone used by Sears. So they measure the cabinets, sit down with my wife at the breakfast room table to make their pitch. They come up with $13,000 to cover the fronts of about 10 cabinets. We were fortunate, however, because if we signed the contract that day, they were authorized to offer a $1000 discount. If was all I could do not to physically throw them out!

If you can even get them to call back or show up that's almost a victory right there.

I halve a contractor that I trust totally. any work I need starts there. not the cheapest but it's done right the first time.