The first gentleman came in, measured some windows, and then started talking about how great his windows were. Fun little demonstrations of how effective his windows were at stopping heat and such. Finally, the price: for our 1,300 square foot house, 14 windows total, with one of them a large picture window: $10,000. I’m rounding up here — it was nine something. I thought, “Wow — quite a bit more than I was expecting.”
The next fellow came in. Same deal. Why in the world did I not stop him earlier? “I know you’re going to show me all these wonderful ways your windows are going to save us money, but I just need a price.” It would have been so easy. Finally, a quote. This one was going to be big — I knew it. In fact, before K went up to give L her bath, I muttered in Polish, “It will be the same price as the other guy, or higher.” The gentleman wrote it on a piece of paper and slide it over to me. It was difficult to maintain composure.
$20,000.
Twenty grand to change fourteen windows. “We could remodel our kitchen and get a good bit done in one of the bathrooms for that,” I thought.
Finally, some simple, honest contractors came in. We ended up paying less than 25% of the highest bid. The results: K insists on keeping all the blinds up now.
An honest price.
Good quality work.
Guess who’ll get our business again?
Wow…just goes to show that you really must do some research. Your windows look amazing, by the way!
We did have a budget, and we knew we could get it done for under $6k. The first one was a mild surprise; the second, shock. I still wish I’d said what came to mind when he slid that paper across the table. I’d share it here, but this is a family blog.
This is a great lesson in life – good research – patience – and a plan well executed I might add. You two are doing a fantastic job with making a plan and working your plan. It’s amazing how many people make a plan but do not work it. The windows look great.