I had Joe out Wednesday to give me an estimate for a patio cover having already told them what I wanted. Upon his arrival, there was no smile, no warm hello or anything. All I was met with was a sourpuss face & no personality at all. Nothing to make me want to do business with him. Even on the way to the backyard in my head I was thinking "this guy is just heaps of fun".
Once we got back there I again told him what I wanted which was just a simple wood frame with sheet metal roof. That's it, nothing fancy or too expensive. Then he starts talking about removing the eve of the house & raising the roof line & adding 2"x12" beams and doing this & that, none of which I wanted. I have a AAS degree in architectural design & know that a 2"x12" beam is only needed for long spans or heavy weight loads, neither of which was the case for what I wanted. When I asked why he wanted to use such large lumber his only response was "That's what you need". No , no its not. Even my full roof only uses 2"x6"s.
No way in same hell does a sheet of metal require such a large piece of lumber to support it. Hell, even if I had wanted shingles, that size lumber isnt required for that weight load.
It was very clear that he was trying to give me what he wanted to build instead of what I wanted. Once he said that he wouldn't build what I wanted, I told him "then we are done here" and started to escort him off the property.
As I did, he asked me "did you look at the pics on our website?" "Yes I did. I thought you were custom patio builders who would give the customer what they wanted but it appears you only want to build what you want, not the customer"
On the way out he decided to be an ass and sarcastically wished me luck on my project which I just ignored because I was pissed about him trying to give me his vision instead of mine. He then repeated his comment and said "no need to be rude". That's when I lost it. I turned around and said "Excuse me?! But you are the one that showed up here with a sourpuss face & and made it seem like you didn't want to be here from the start. Then you tried taking me down a totally different path than what I wanted. I've already spent $100k in upgrades to my house and I don't want nor need a $50,000 patio cover."
At some point he mentioned that he was good enough to come out to give me an estimate & how I wasted his time. No Joe, you wasted mine. I was clear & upfront about what I wanted from the beginning. You are the one that decided to try & ignore your clients wishes, you wasted your own time be even agreeing to come out. read more