Forgive me Father I have sinned- Greed

[Kevin]

Well this was a shock today. I went out on a Church floor estimate basketball court/ activities hall 5005 sq. ft. Full strip and wax. Our price $1251.00 included in the estimate a church discount $100.00 So we have done lots of work for all types of churches, Lutheran Protestant, Non-Denominational, and lots of work for the Catholic Church. Purity being derived from the Bible seems to be an eye catcher. Well back to the problem. Normally all my bids run through a church administrator. I fill out my bid, while talking to the administrator today then turn it in to her. She looked and said it sounds like a fair price (she actually said its a little lower than the others, no one offered a church discount) So then she says.. I will give it to the Father when he returns, he will more than likely call you for a negotiation meeting. Like a lighting bolt this ran through me, I was like excuse me. She then repeated the Father will call you in to discuss price. I gained composure and graciously thanked her, and left. My ride back to the office was a long one. These are my questions. My cost to do this job with chemicals/labor etc is a little under $300.00 so the profit is close to $1000.00 in under 8 hours of work. So first this is not normal negotiation, and nothing I have experienced. I really do not want to go into detail of what I make on each job, I don't want to lie or even stretch the truth to a man of God. I really do not want to mess up the rest of the Catholic Church work we do? I really think this could be the most complicated negotiation. Negotiating in the Church itself, could be the most unfairly advantaged situation I have ever been in? What would you do? Im hoping this is just a way the administrator screens prices, to see if the best price was submitted.

[CleaningChick]

We do lots of church work too. In fact, for 2 different churches (1 of which we are members of) we were a higher price than the contractor that they weren't happy with. We also included a church discount. When the subject came up about price, I stated that we pay our worker's a fair living wage, provide professional training for our employees, and we are well insured, use professional grade chemicals and equipment, etc. With all of this, our profit margin may even be lower than the cheaper company's, but we guarantee we will be able to meet their needs better than the previous company, or their will be no charge for the first month of cleaning. (We have NEVER had to do this.) This offer would only be extended to places that are considering on-going service, not one-time jobs.

[Kevin]

Thanks, Im contemplating, changing my price and offering a larger church discount.

2TI 2:21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an
instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared
to do any good work.

www.biblebb.com/files/tniv/PURITY.TXT

[Crowz]

Kevin,

You could always do the job for free then at tax time claim it as a donation to the Church. John and I lived in Reno NV for 4 years and were members of St. Teresa's Church of the Little Flower/St. Jude Shrine on Plumb Lane. All but a couple of our very extended family belonged to that Church, including Pat & Carol Coyne owners of Alpine Roofing. John's little brother Chad married their daughter Mary, at Little Flower as a matter of fact. The parish pastor was Monsignor (Father) Robert Bowling... he built Little Flower from the ground up God rest his soul. For as long as the Church was in existence, even when it was a 50 seater on Wells Ave, the Coyne's (Pat Coynes father owned and operated Alpine... probably his father before him too) always donated the roofing work then took it off on taxes. Father was a keen business man, and everything was well documented so this could be done at whatever Alpine bid, and they bid HIGH. Monsignor passed away in June of 2003. Alpine was set to re-roof the Church but Monsignor had been too ill to follow through. Father Joe Anthony took his Pastor-ship on temporary assignment. One of the first things Father Joe did was open the bid to other companies. He actually PAID Reno Roofing on a lower bid. The end of an era that lasted more than 50 years as the Coyne Family, all of them, and there are MANY, left the parish. We left the parish in the spring when Father Honesto Aquino became permanent pastor. We couldn't understand a word he said! At any rate.... just something to think about my son

Natalie

[Grizzly]

I am sorry, but business is business. I do charitable organizations, churches etc. but i bid and charge the same as i do any other job. If you're uncomfortable about your prices on the bid to the church, then possibly you should be uncomfortable about charging too much in other situations. A fair price is a fair price for a job well done. Having said that, I do give a small, SMALL break to charitable organizations and have even donated the work. Let's face it, the churches are some of the most wealthy organizations in the world. Why is that?

Bill (My two cents worth.)

[Kevin]

Update it was a nicely designed bluff by the administrative assistant. We received the job today without an meeting with the Father.