And sometimes those with the experience flat make a mistake! Over the years I have put out a few bids that were half of 2nd place, stressed out the entire time as to what I missed only to end up with a 50% margin. I know on one occasion I asked the 2nd place bidder what he saw that put his bid amount so much higher and his response was that he didn

I tell all my potential customers this... you call a plumber fix your pipes, a landscaper to plant your shrubs and a demo man to knock down your house. I own a pipe wrench and a shovel but I don't pretend to be a plumber or a landscaper. Just because they own the machinery doesn't mean they have the skill to do it right. This is what I do. Demolition. Anybody can give you a low price, but what are you buying? A low price, or the satifaction of a job put into competent hands with years of experience, knowlege and contacts to get you not only a fair price, but the job completed on time, safely, and without rookie mistakes. You have only one chance to do a demo job right. You have many chances to do it wrong. Those wrong choices will be more expensive than the right one. Everytime.

We all hear it all the time sometimes people do it 4 cash flow sometimes misteaks but the lowballers do not last it all catches up to them we know what it takes to make money but it is very irratating to say the least.....................

Never had a competitor tell me off, but have had a property manager call me to do a job, and after I show up, had another crew on the way. It was a scrap metal salvage out of a small 3 bdr home, and here I was in a Mexican standoff between me and this other scrapper and his flunky in the livingroom of an abandonded house. We ended up staring each other down and then agreed to work together to split the take. So the guy tells his flunky..."get the tools" and now I have to out-work these two kids 15 years younger than me so I can rightfully take half of a meager scrap out....I was exhausted, and eventually the other fella and me came back the next day, got what we had torn out, and agreed to work with each other again.

The property manager on the other hand, I give him a call to bust his balls about it every once in awhile, and especially about the 3 months it took the "demo" contractor...(term used loosey, the guy was a landscaper and used a backhoe) to finish the site clean up...but the PM got a "good deal" on the price...about half of what anybody else who was undercutting even the most modest bid. My price- $7500, 2 days site level back to grade. His price-$4300, 3 days to tear down, 3 months to clean up, site still not to grade, and side walk remains...unbelieveable...:confused:

It happens in all fields, in fact.

I was at an art opening about 14 years ago of an exhibition of photographs of Boston's Big Dig. I had an image in the show, as did a collection of other pretty well known Boston based photographers.

One photographer, who has a lifelong history in all aspects of Boston for almost the past 50 years had a few images in the show. This guy was someone that I really admired. He seemed to have all the right clients, published his own books, and was always published in every major, newspaper, trade journal or architectural magazine. This guy is a living legend in the architectural photography world in Boston.

So he was standing in front of one of his prints and I walked up and introduced myself. He shook my hand and we talked about what it had been like shooting the BigDig and turned to his wife (who is also his business manager) and introduced me.

She turned, held out her hand and when she heard my name she withdrew her open hand and said.... 'Oh, you're Stephen SetteDucati. You're the enemy.' And she walked away.

In the business of architectural photography, pretty much anywhere in the world, since everyone else is bidding against one another and sad as it sounds, we are all arch enemies.

Not for undercutting or low pricing but for simply existing as a business. I have had a competitor tell me he was "going to do everything he could to keep me out of competition". I told him that was fine and good luck. So far it hasn't worked for him; I still get plenty of work.

It's pretty unprofessional and petulant. You can't bitch about what the other guy has, you just have to work harder if you want it.