Dnk, i really don't care how you run your business.
but if my experiences and the experiences of others can help someone run a better business, than what is wrong with that?
Maybe you've never had a customer shop your prices after you did the job, but before you've gotten paid. But we have and so have a mess of contractors that I am friends with.
So, you call it "straw man", I call it a possible reality.
You say don't worry about it, never happen. I say it has and does happen, so how can you avoid it?
Run you business how you want. But why do you get so upset and angered when someone who has been through it attempts to help others avoid it?
You've already admitted that you need to run into the wall to believe that it's there. That's fine. But does everyone need to run into the wall with you?
Or is it conceivable to you, that some people can actually learn from other peoples mistakes and lessons?
Or should we be called theives and cheats in a public forum because we want a better life than you want to have?
I apologize that I am trying to help other contractors see that there is something different out there than the 'going rate' and the status quo.
You may not want to change, but maybe other contractors just don't know that they can change. Maybe once they learn that there is a different way, it opens up everything.
Good luck Dnk.