You Get What You Pay For-When It Comes To Renovations

Recently we completed a renovation for clients, it was an interior renovation only and mostly cosmetic.

We had to bring in Electrician and Plumbers and our own carpenters to a lot of the work, but when it came to us bringing in a painter the homeowner refused to pay the prices that we found for them. We got multiple quotes and the homeowner still believed that the prices were to high.

Once our work was completed the homeowner brought in their own painter to finish the job, a painter that they found that fit their smaller budget.

Later when I returned to talk to the homeowner and pick up the final payment I asked about how their painting ended up with the painter that they hired.

It didn't go well, to the point the homeowner had asked the painters to leave before the job was completed and they were now finishing the job themselves and actually repainting a lot of the area's that the painters had already completed because of the poor workmenship.

At the time when I had presented the prices to the homeowner they had made comments that "those prices are ridicules, its just paint for crying out load!"

Now I stood there listening to my client trying to justify to herself and (trying to justify to me) about her choice, but the bottom line is that she was now painting the house herself and if you look at the work that was completed by the painting contractor (that doesn't have to be redone by the homeowner) and the cost of the homeowners time and their own materials that they had to buy to finish the job, my painters were actually cheaper in the long run. That doesn't even talk about the wasted time from everyone involved and the job is still not finished.

The old saying "You Get What You Pay For" is true. There's a reason that some trades are cheap and other trades are not, one party is paying for quality professional employee's that take time to do the job right with a high degree of quality, the cheaper trades pay employee's less (because they have less experience) and want to get in and out quickly so the costs don't run up.

No matter if it's your contractor bringing you a price from a sub-trade or you hiring a trade on your own the lowest price is usually not the right choice, especially a sub-trade that is significantly lower then its competitor. There's usually a reason that they are cheaper and those reasons are usually not good for you and your home.

Remember You Get What You Pay For!

Rob Abbott