Price-sensitive homeowners may tempt you to cut profit margins, but Case Handyman and Remodeling of Charlotte, in N.C., has another strategy for making sales: proposing specific ways to trim the bottom line, says Brad Little, president.
For instance, by painting backsplash areas instead of tiling, clients can save $1,000 to $3,000. “This is a logical compromise, as it is always easy to add a tile backsplash later,” Little says.
Little also keeps tabs on nearby appliance vendors that offer package discounts, and identifies cabinet lines whose basic box construction makes them cost as much as $3,500 less than cabinets with comparable design and finish of doors and face frames.
“Clients trust us to suggest where the value is,” Little says. He won’t hesitate, for example, to discourage the purchase of a pot-filler “for someone who only cooks big meals around the holidays,” especially given the $2,000 to $3,000 cost.
About half of Case Charlotte clients opt for a money-saving option, Little says. Each is “a sale we would not have had if we had come across as trying to maximize the ticket price.”
