1. What is the difference between price and cost?
Price is the actual money or investment made in the product or service and cost is the amount of time that you enjoyed that product or service before needing another one.
In the renovation industry, everyone is looking to see if they can get a better bang for their buck. “Maybe the contractor will let my brother-in-law do the electrical so I don’t have to pay his expensive electrician.” This is hilarious but it has actually been requested. What if I pick up all the drywall and strap it to the roof of my Honda Civic to save the delivery charge. This is so funny I’m almost laughing just thinking about it but it does happen.
Sometimes it is just worth the price so it doesn’t cost you more in the long run. Like all that drywall dust you have to scrub off the roof of your car.
2. A car carrying a bunch of wooden fixtures
Should I get six quotes and then try to get an additional deal?
I think this depends on what you’re looking at. In the renovation and construction market, the cheapest guy might be the perfect guy to dig out your pool. After all, all you’re doing is moving dirt. If the guy does what you need him to do everything is good. If he backs his truck into the side of your house and he doesn’t have insurance then it costs you the cheap price plus what it cost you to fix the side of your house. LOL, this is obviously an extreme example but it happens.
I know this seems like a slightly humorous subject but it’s important to realize sometimes it is just worth the money to see if the cost of frustration or additional expenses that you didn’t anticipate. A perfect example is I was meeting with a potential client recently and they mentioned that they had installed a stone material during one of the renovations and it was never properly sealed. At some point, something got on it and stained it and now they can’t get it off. They will never get it off and the only way to fix the problem is to change the surface at some point. I bet if they had the choice now to spend the extra couple of bucks for the company that was going to seal the stone properly and show them how to do it afterwards, it would’ve been worth the extra.
3. "Do you want the high-end paint or the low-end paint?"
Probably one of the best examples is paint.
When you’re painting the guy always asks you do you want the high-end paint or do you want the low-end paint?
And of course, you answer “what’s the difference?” Assuming obviously it’s just the price.
The price itself is let’s say $5000 to paint with cheap paint or $7000 to paint with better paint. Obviously, the better deal is paying $5000 and then you can do something you really want to do with the rest of the money like go to Cuba for vacation.
How much does the $5000 paint job cost? You’re using the same company for both jobs the only difference is the paint and materials that they will be using. Some builders’ grade paints will start to go see-through or turn yellowish in five years. Also, they can be a lot thinner which means two coats don’t cover as much as you think. Other higher-end brands can not only be washable – so you don’t have to repaint as often, but last 15 to 20 years depending on the household.
The difference in the price is $2000 on day one but the difference in cost is $12,000 if you get sick of looking at marked-up walls that started to change colour five years down the road and having to decide to paint again with better quality paint.
Always choose the lowest cost, not the lowest price. You’ll save money, in the end, every tim
