[fintstone]

Originally Posted by masraum

...

My wife watches "Flip This House" occasionally and sees the Flippers play hardball on price. That's another thing that I'm not sure about. I have this scenario in mind.

contractor: "Our job will cost $10k"
me: "I'm only willing to pay $6k"
contractor: "how about $8k"
me: "I'll pay $7k, or not have the work done"
contractor: "ok, I'll do it for $7k"
As the contractor thinks to himself, "I'll use the cheapest piece of crap materials that'll last 2 years and Labor from the local 7-11 parking lot and still make a mint."

I'm all for paying a fair price, but how the hell do you know.

Thanks for any insight/advice.

Since most jobs (roof, HVAC, carpet, etc) are one-time jobs and, as a homeowner you will likely never use the guy/company again, both sides have little incentive to do right by the other. The person that does multiple projects has a little more leverage.

If I cannot find somene I know, I prefer to hire a guy/company for a small job and then use their performance to determine whether or not to give them more work.