My last post dealt with a situation where one of my clients and her husband were being pressured by a salesman to sign on to a contract for work on their heating and air conditioning system as well as replacement of their water heater. The salesman tried to tell them that major renovations had to be done -- rewiring, replumbing and such -- with a cost of both jobs approaching $17,000. I told my clients to tell the salesman that they had spoken to their financial advisor (me), and as a result of that conversation, would like to sleep on it and get back to the salesman in a couple of days.
The next day, they phoned another plumber and another HVAC provider, and the estimate for the total cost of both repairs came in at $5800. In fact, the couple went with those service providers and the total bill for both repairs came in just as estimated.
It just goes to show you that you should never be pressured into accepting the first estimate. Gathering up 2-3 estimates on a repair job should be a normal part of your financial decision-making.
