Question about that $200 gig I turned down in El Paso

I heard a guy at the hardware store say he never takes jobs under $50 an hour because it attracts the wrong kind of customers. Last week I passed on a $200 offer to fix a fence because the homeowner wanted me to also haul away old lumber for free. Has anyone else found a hard floor price that keeps bad deals away?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_drew6d agoMost Upvoted

Oh wow, did he actually try to pay you in gnomes or was it something worse?

fionamurphy6d ago

Oh man, that El Paso thing sounds like a classic bad deal trying to dress itself up. I once took $150 to paint a garage and the guy spent the whole day "helping" by telling me I was doing it wrong and then tried to pay me in old lawn ornaments because his Venmo was "acting up." Now I won't touch anything under $75 unless it's for my mom, and even then I make her sign a contract saying she can't critique my work. Somehow setting a floor price just makes people respect your time more, even when they still try to sneak in the free lumber.

gracej995d ago

Nah, sometimes taking a low gig pays off if you negotiate add-ons upfront before starting work.

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