Thirty thousand and not a penny more...

A woman called looking for a full bathroom renovation and was dissatisfied with the price and treatment from a nearby firm. The lead came to me so I was dispatched to her place to see what she wants and gather enough information to create an estimate. Estimates are free.

The entire meeting was prefaced with "My budget is thirty thousand and not a penny more."

I went to her house, took measurements, listed some of the points for her design, made a followup appointment at our showroom to go over the layout and prices. She came in and we showed her drawings and a line item for everything we can do and keep the price within her budget. Everything is transparent. No hidden charges.

We did good and I worked a design that was just around $28 thousand.

She looks over the layout. Decides on a more expensive door style, more expensive bathroom fixtures, add more drawers to the layout. that brings us right up to $30 thousand.

We don't supply lighting so she would have to purchase 4 of her own fixtures (that we will install) and they could be as low as $50 each to $250 each if she buys something ornate.

One issue is her want to change a swing door to the water closet into a pocket door.
The existing opening would have to be completely rebuilt, electric moved, new door, pocket door cage with sliding track installed. I explained while it's not in my normal scope, I have a carpenter who could do the work but I'm estimating the cost to be around $1,600 and that's taking her over the budget.

The woman's mood changed and she became angry. I explained every thing is clearly listed and she has choices to simplify the layout, choose less expensive fixtures and forget about the pocket door. I'm offering choices.

She waved a check in front of us thinking we would come down in price and my associate explained she needs to go home and make some decisions. We priced what she asked for with options and cannot bend a few thousand to make the deal.

With a huffy attitude we couldn't come down to her price, she wanted to take our design drawings on leaving. The estimate is free, giving away drawings that took a few hours to make isn't.

After she left, my boss wanted to know the outcome of the meeting and we told him the details. His comment was it's better she walked as his experience is customers who are difficult in the beginning are like that through the entire job.