Enthusiasm and confidence wins the day

Rocky

Just picked up another nice job from one of those "cheap" homeowners. You know the ones. The ones that the contractor said would NEVER go for those expensive radiant controls, or pay to have a heat loss done. Why, what was I thinking? Contractor's original heating guy felt that a thermostatic mixing valve was more than sufficient to provide all the comfort and control the homeowner needed for their new custom all radiant home. Didn't even give the homeowner a chance to say yes. They never even told the homeowner about options.
Consequently, because I do believe in informing homeowners of their options, I have sold about 10 of these jobs in the last year and a half. Jobs I have retrofitted usually entail a VSI system, or motorized mixing valve with both boiler and system , outdoor reset, DHW priority. My new favorite control is the tekmar 363. Really versatile. Either RTU's or thermostats. Boiler and system reset, DHW priority, VSI or mixing valve. Just sold this last job to a Doctor. Because I take the time to thoroughly educate myself on the products I work with, both what the products will do and (sometimes more importantly)what they wont do, I was able to answer every single question this very knowledgeable homeowner asked me about my control strategy. And I answered it with enthusiasm and more than just a little bit of a fervor in my eye. After he accepted my $8,000 control and piping retrofit, this "cheap" homeowner's last question to me was, and I quote, "Why are you so hot to do this job?" I told him, "Because I DIG this stuff! There are aspects to your job that you do because you HAVE to, then there are the things you LIKE doing." Many thanks to the frequent posters on the Wall. It is here that I have found the confidence and encouragement to be the best at what I do and to step up and get my price...even from "cheap" homeowners.
Happy (and profitable) Heating,
Rocky

kevin_5

Way to go Rocky, Keep it up!



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[Deleted User]

Go get'em Rocky....

Congratulations. Too bad the educated homeowner didn't find you in the first place and avoid all the pain, suffering and aggravation of an improperly designed/installed system.

As they say, 'You can pay me now, or pay me later"

I always tell the HO that we lose jobs to for monetary reasons to hang on to my card. They'll probably need it. Most don't call us until they've gone through 1/2 a dozen other contractors trying to fix the problem. I guess they're too embarassed. Live and learn.

You should take this doctors experience and document it for your presentation portfolio. Maybe you can keep a future radiant homeowner from making the same mistakes...

Happy Hydronicing!!

ME

Rocky

Yeah, too bad we weren't his first stop,

He bacame an educated homeowner because of all the problems he's had with his system. He let it be know right from the get go that anything I told him was going to be met with a healthy dose of cynicism. "I've heard all that crap before", I believe, were his exact words. His two least favorite trades at that time were "plumbers and heating guys." I told him I whole-heartedly agreed with him about the plumbers, but that I was here to change his mind about the heating guys! (I really didn't say that). The real seller of this job was a list of references of other "cheap" homeowners whom I've retrofitted over the last two years. Just this year put an ad in the Yellowpages. Put it in there soley for the purpose of attracting more radiant heating design, installs and troubleshooting. So far though, word of mouth seems much more effective (usually MY mouth! HA!)
Aint no business like snow business,
Rocky