Pricing
We understand that pricing is very important to our customers and for this reason we try to be as upfront as possible as this helps create trust, saves time, and allows us to begin building relationships with potential customers.
Potential issues with the cheapest rate
In order for a reputable, reliable, local company to stay in business over the long haul, they must be able to make a reasonable profit and be able to cover the costs of conducting business. Contractors who are not charging enough to cover their overhead and/or make a reasonable profit will many times cut corners such as the following:
- No liability insurance – what if the newly installed roof leaks – how does this get resolved?
- No workers comp coverage for employees – who’s liable if someone gets hurt on your property?
- Paying employees in “Cash” as to circumvent payroll/tax requirements – does this seem shady?
- Not enough profit – will they be able to afford to warranty their work should a follow up service call be required?
When rates are too low, unreliable, and unprofessional people work in your home. Corners get cut, inferior materials are used, projects linger, workers don’t show up, and liabilities are passed onto the customer. We are not interested in competing with these contractors and we hope that our potential customers demand better.
First Response Restoration versus the “Chuck in a Truck”
We are committed to serving our customers professionally and with integrity. We do not wish to compete with the “Chuck in a Truck.” A guy who throws some tools in the back of his truck and pays his buddy cash to come out and help him. We cannot be the low-cost leader, but we do strive to provide the best overall value. First Response Restoration maintains Workers Compensation, Commercial General Liability Insurance and Automobile Insurance policies that meet or exceed the requirements of contractors in the state of West Virginia. We also classify workers appropriately and pay Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment taxes on behalf of our employees.
Pricing
In general, we estimate our labor at a rate up to $75 per hour for each experienced and skilled carpenter with a 3-hour minimum charge. We do charge a little more for our licensed electricians, plumbers, and HVAC technicians. It is very difficult to determine the exact amount of time it will take to perform a job. However, based on our experience we try to get it as close as possible and we will not raise our labor costs should your job take longer than expected. The only exception to this is for hidden issues not discoverable before demo/construction and/or changes made by our customers. Materials and other costs are normally marked up 30% for our costs associated with procurement and delivery of these goods and services.
The Discovery Fee for First Response Restoration to visit your site up to an hour, review your job and submit a Home Improvement Plan with pricing for the project is $75, due, and payable at the time of the visit. If there are multiple aspects to the job requiring a second or more visit to the jobsite for discovery, design work, creating plans, specifying materials, and/or chasing down pricing from subcontractors, vendors, etc. we will submit a Design Agreement with a fixed price quote for doing that additional work.
Due to the complexity of Insurance Estimates, the pricing is a bit different. Most insurance claim estimates require several site visits, a lot more pictures, very precise measurements and all items must be entered into an industry approved estimating program. There is a Discovery Fee of $75 to visit site up to an hour and review your job. From there we will submit a proposal of what we would charge to create an estimate in Xactimate and submit it to your insurance adjuster.