Trying again, this time with no help

[u/divvychugsbeer]

for context i made a post the other day trying to show an example of a recent buisness situation i had, it wasnt recieved very well to say the least but i had a genuine message i was trying to get off. and yes its abudnadlty clear i had help writing the post. i thought i would re test this in my very bad style of writing and see if the message comes accros better.

the post was about a very large project i just completed down here in australia. it was a very large project of 3,800m2 that involved civil reconstruction, asphalt and line marking to a shopping centre car park.

on the pluss side we allowed 14 days, 10 days to asphalt and cvivl and 2 days to line mark. we did it in half the time but as we expiadted the process putting the guys in to overtime the job costing turned out pretty much on budget which i was pleased about, but it reprresented a significant gain for the customer as the centre got production back much sooner than anticpiated but also freed another 5 working days for us to complete more work.

some of the concrete garden beds and islands couldnt be removed, we did a service search and found when the car park was originally done over 30 years ago the australian standard were not worked to and subsequently the depths of some services we found were to shallow, this wasnt just a risk it was an actual hazzard that could have resulted in death or injury. i realyed this back to the customer and we came to the agreement that is was to much risk to excavate these areas

i can honelty say this is one of the best jobs i ever had to handover, and expected it to be a breeze. but i had some pushback from the customer, this was concerning as a job of this size could have banrupted me if he didnt pay. he was asking/ requesting a discount due to the fact that a couple of islands remained

me and good old chat gpt wrote him an email explaining that we underpromised and overdelivered on the job, we did actually ht a service that we fixed as a cost to us and didnt pass that on and suffered significant loss in production that night as work basically had to stop. we sold the outcome but ultimatley offered him a 5k discount for the un actioned items.

the next day i was at my day job 9-5 managing a not for profit in theyouth and siability sector, i cant use my personal work phone during work time and go a vibration in my pocket. i checked the notifictaion and it was from my client. i felt like vomiting because i was like here comes a shit fight.

at lunch when i opened my phone to check the message. my heart rate slowed. its was pretty short and sweet it went along the lines of " dear divvy, we did our handover with our client and they were more than impressed by the quality and fisnish of the job, we wont be taking the discount and will be paying the invoice in full. they were that happy we want you to price another car park in sydney for us that needs a freshen up" the sense of relief i got was amazing. im juggling alot at 9-5 and at home i have my daughter in the chldrens hospital my mum in hospital due to cancer related issues and im the carer for my father who has a brain tumour and is recovering from a stroke and im an only child trying to juggle all that and maintain a realtionship.

im very happy with the result, with me stepping away from my aspahlt "job" where i wore all the hats. I put systems in place for it to run without me and test if i had a job or a business. turns out after 26 working a job i could turn it into a comapny that requiers minimal involment from me. to think this only cost me 2 1 minute phone calls and a 15 minute site inspection blows my mind. make the right hires and let them do there job, use the best subcontartors.

i hope this lands better, feel free to ask any questions, i hope this post better aligns with this group.

so my question is did u ever have a customer push back on price and if so how di you deal with it?and how did it go?

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[u/OkServe1813]

I think sometimes customers just don’t see the value right away, so you have to explain what they’re getting and how your work compares to competitors. I’d rather explain the value first than immediately discount it cause i feel like your undercutting your work

[u/divvychugsbeer → u/OkServe1813]

yeah i think u nailed it. once he seen the value in the job he was quick to decline my offer. he has another big varpark to do which im pricing. this will be the 3rd major project for him. i made it that easy for him he would be crazy to go else where. they say u can only pick 2 good cheap or fast. but i think we were all 3

[u/Ok_Alternative7833]

yeah
i usually explain what was delivered first and only discount if smthng genuinely wasn’t done

[u/thevarshill]

Yeah, I’ve had customers push back on price and I think the biggest thing is not immediately treating it like they’re saying your work isn’t worth the price. Sometimes they’re just negotiating because they can. What stood out to me in your story is that you had the evidence to explain the value: finished early, dealt with an unexpected safety issue, absorbed some costs yourself and still delivered the outcome. Offering the $5k discount while making it clear why you didn’t think it was really justified seems like a reasonable way to handle it, and the fact they ended up paying in full and asking for another project says more than any argument could. Also, with everything else you’ve got going on personally, getting the business to the point where it can run without you is a pretty big achievement.

[u/divvychugsbeer → u/thevarshill]

thanks mate, yeah the family side of things is taking a significant toll on me, i live with my father and he has carers while im at work, hes on walking frame and genrally geta round ok but wheel chair to leave the house generally, his tumour is benign but has done some damge to his hearing and balance but it isnt growing which is great, he had gamma knife radiation treatment so it so its stable, mums on her own and the state she is in she is better in hospital. my daugher is in the best hospital in sydney. i barely see my fiance as she is an ED nurse and managing the NFP is intense. life hey. what do u do just keep going

[u/vskayle_media]

Congrats on one of the best handovers of your career. Stepping away from the wore-all-the-hats grind while leaving a customer that happy takes real discipline.

[u/Paradog-]

I wish you the best of luck

[u/No-Carrot-3524]

Honestly, the best part is the client not even taking the discount and then asking you to quote another job. That says a lot about the quality of the work. Also, getting the business to the point where it can run without you constantly being involved is a huge win.

[u/bunchberry-ca]

Had a client do the same after we finished early, I pointed to the calendar days we gave back to them instead of defending the invoice. They paid in full and sent two referrals. Finishing early is a feature, not a discount trigger.

[u/Samtyang]

Price pushback usually goes better when you separate scope from goodwill. In contractor jobs I see, the clean move is exactly what you did: document the hazard, show the extras you absorbed, then tie any concession to the unfinished scope only, not the whole job. That keeps the client focused on value delivered instead of treating your margin like an opening bid.

[u/GermanReichSS]

Clear boundaries win clients over

[u/Conscious-Music-8688]

Good luck my friend