Installing a passenger side mirror?

[mikeyis4dcats.]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

He's not charging for anything not on the quote, but he is putting things on the quote that aren't actually happening. He is intentionally quoting the job to take longer than it will and should require.

He can put blinker fluid and muffler bearings in the quote in hopes that the customer won't know any better, and it's the same thing.

so? You obviously have never performed a labor-intensive estimate for a business. I do similar in construction. I may know that installing a door takes my carpenters 24 minutes on average. But I can damn sure tell you I'm bidding it at 30 minutes because there are unknowns and unforeseen circumstances on every installation. They may find that the door is damaged or mis-prepped. This takes additional time to get addressed. They may find that the hardware set is missing screws, that takes time.

If you bid EXACTLY what a task "should" take, you will lose money, because there is no line item for "mistakes, errors, miscalculations, making phone calls, guys taking a shit, the power going out, etc.". There is no line item for "installing the cabinets took 7.5hrs but there was no way the carpenters were going home half an hour early, so they stood around and told jokes".

That is in no way unethical, screwing the customer, illegal, or anything of the sort. That is accommodating the nature of the business in an effective, manageable manner.