ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Senior Citizen Pricing

Hi.

Just curious how most of you determine your prices for senior citizens. I always want to "take it easy" when it comes to charging senior citizens because (hopefully) I'll be one of them one day, but lately it's like I dont even want to do it because I dont make enough on a job. For instance, I stopped by an older customers house last Saturday to fix a doorbell. I told him I needed to buy a new buzzer and I'd be back next Saturday. In total, the job took no more than 1 hour and the buzzer cost less than $20.00. So I charged the 95-year old man only $40.00. Hardly even worth getting out of bed for if you ask me.

So do you guys knock off a percentage from your price, or how do you charge seniors for minor repairs?

Depends on the senior.

Sure, it's nice to give granny a break- but not all seniors are sweet little old ladies, nor are they necessarily poor.

I have learned some of them have learned to pile on the "sweet" to get an advantage...turn the tables, and they wouldn't give you a sneeze if they had pneumonia! Others will complain of 'living on a fixed income', while failing to mention that the 'fixed income' is triple your best month.
Many continue to be frugal, living modestly, figuring correctly that there's nothing wrong with that black * white TV.

The fact is, they generally already own everything that they need, and have minimal expenses. That pension doesn't seem so small when all it needs to cover is the light bill and groceries!

The little old lady up the street, well we all worked there, plumbers, roofers, painters, and us, well we really fixed things up for her, and even the neighbors chiped in with yard tasks, and we all felt good about helping her, then she passed on, and what do you know, the estate was worth well over 5 million plus.

Twp I work in has a policy that seniors are exempt from permit fees for all types`of building permits. As to my EC business, we do not do resi, so I have no policy.

John

"The fact is, they generally already own everything that they need, and have minimal expenses."

You hit the nail on the head, renosteinke. 99.9% of seniors have everything paid for, which is more than I can say for us "younger generation". When I first started contracting, I used to give a discount to seniors. Now they pay the same as everyone else.

The key is to be respectful and honest with them, do a good job, and then charge them your normal rate. Many of my best customers are seniors as they tend to pay right away, give repeat business and pass my name along to other potential clients. As a contractor you can fall onto some lean times where there is little income, yet seniors always have a regular pension cheque (or "check" for you Americans out there), and most time that money just gets deposited into their bank account.

"Twp I work in has a policy that seniors are exempt from permit fees for all types`of building permits."
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Some of the townships have funds set aside for seniors that need repairs made, we will help them find the funding, if they are in need, however, when we suggest they apply for help they suddenly, have money.

I give a seniors discount like restuarants and other places do. My seniors discount is 10%. This discount is factored into my overhead expenses.

A-Line,

Restuarants and other places usually have a larger profit margin, so they can offer a 10% discount, most service companies work on a much lower profit margin, some as low as 8%.

Senior work is about 30% of our work and the largest percentage of seniors are not in poor finincal condition, they control most of the luxury spending in todays market.

If we have a senior that is in poor finincal condition, we will try to help as much as we can.

LK,

Thanks for the info. I haven't been in business very long and just started the seniors discount thing because other contractors were advertising this. I guess I will need to rethink doing this. I was planning on including this expense into my overhead.

" because other contractors were advertising this."

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Watch other contractors, can be a sure way to go down with them, some use shoe box accounting, and have no business plan in place, Most are not prepared for business down turns or unexpected expenses, some set pricing by what others charge, not by what they need to operate.