A new customer call and says he wants me to bid a basement remodel. I make an appointment and arrived 15 minutes early. The customer isn't home yet but I hear people in the basement doing work. I find an outside door leading to the basement and walk in to find a plumber I worked with on a project a few months ago. He said he gave the guy my name and he wants me to add 10% to my bid for his referral fee. I more or less ignore him and start looking at the plans to get an idea of the scope of my work. The customer shows up and we go outside to look at some work to be done there. We start talking about money and I tell him I have to add 10% to my bid for the plumber's referral fee. He gets pissed and starts boohooing about how the remodel is over budget (This is an $800,000 house folks). I tell him I will get back to him and split. The plumbercalls me a couple hours later and he's pissed because the owner is torqued about his referral fee.
Was I wrong in telling the customer about the referral fee?
