[PaintersUnite]

Hi fellow painters.

Lately, I’ve been getting people tell me while estimating their painting project, “I’ll be paying cash”. Really? am I supposed to be like, “great, since you are paying cash, I will do this job at 70% my normal price”?

How much do people really expect you to knock off for paying you in cash?
$50 - $100 - $200?
10% - 20% 30%?

The funny thing is, not once have I ever asked customers for cash payments. I kinda like getting a check, it’s a much safer way of receiving payment.

Joe

 

[Monstertruck]

....the race to the bottom is picking up speed.

 

[Epoxy Pro]

We get asked once in a while about taking cash or personal checks. All of it goes into the business account any ways so no we don't.

 

[daArch]

many of us get that, and if the vBulletin search engine worked well, you could find many posts about it.

It really irks me that they expect a professional & honorable job yet encourage non-professional sleazy business practices.

I just tell them, same price I pay MY fair share to Uncle Sam

 

[aaron61]

Same price. Credit cards,additional 2.5% processing fee

 

[Monstertruck]

many of us get that, and if the vBulletin search engine worked well, you could find many posts about it.

It really irks me that they expect a professional & honorable job yet encourage non-professional sleazy business practices.

I just tell them, same price I pay MY fair share to Uncle Sam

"I have to pay my taxes just like you folks do. If you're looking for a cash price from someone operating illegitamately, you're exposing yourself to the risk of a lawsuit if anyone gets hurt. Is that what you really want?"

It's been a long, long time since anyone mentioned paying cash to me.

 

[Slopmeyer]

The big problem for me with a large sum of money is buy the time I get to the bank its not such a large sum.

 

[Professional Painter]

I just tell them the price plus discount is x dollars, including the cash discount. This has worked well for us as they haven't to date asked us what the discount actually was (which was always nothing).

Seems they just want to feel better getting a discount for nothing, so I offer them nothing. I just don't tell them....but they all seem happy at the end of the day.

If they offer cash for discount after the quoted bid, I simply tell them that cash makes no difference for a legitimate business and that zero discount will be provided for a cash deal. I don't recall this ever being a make it or break it on the deal.

Professional Painter

 

[BuckeyePainter]

I will knock 10% off if they pay me in cash, but I never ask them to pay me cash. I too add 2.5% for a credit card processing fee.

 

[propainterJ]

I love it when people hear my price then ask,"But what if I pay you in cash"?

I tell them it makes no difference to me,I gave you a price,thats my price whether you pay me in cash.check.or treasury notes.

I render unto Ceaser,and I have to pay my Painter over the table,no way I'm going to start working underground all cash with a helper/what if he gets hurt?

I want to make an honest living and stay out of Federal Prison

 

[Wildbill7145]

The first guy who trained me told me not to even bother getting into discussions with customers about doing jobs for cash as it's unprofessional.

That, and the fact that when it comes time to get paid you're often going to hear "Oh, I don't have enough cash here at the house so I'll have to write you a check." for the discounted amount.

 

[Gough]

I love it when people hear my price then ask,"But what if I pay you in cash"?

I tell them it makes no difference to me,I gave you a price,thats my price whether you pay me in cash.check.or treasury notes.

I render unto Ceaser,and I have to pay my Painter over the table,no way I'm going to start working underground all cash with a helper/what if he gets hurt?

I want to make an honest living and stay out of Federal Prison

I do give a 5% discount for Krugerrand.

 

[Hines Painting]

I only give a discount if I'm paid in Gold.

 

[Wildbill7145]

As a side note, but still somewhat relevant... My all time favourite was driving an hour out of town to spend roughly an hour talking to a young woman about painting the main floor of her house. Easy job. Walls, doors and that's all I remember. Can't remember the price I gave her but I seem to remember it being under $1k.

At the end of the conversation she says "Ok, sounds good. What type of payment plans do you have?" My response was basically "I finish, I get paid." I left and never heard back from her.

 

[Gough]

As a side note, but still somewhat relevant... My all time favourite was driving an hour out of town to spend roughly an hour talking to a young woman about painting the main floor of her house. Easy job. Walls, doors and that's all I remember. Can't remember the price I gave her but I seem to remember it being under $1k.

At the end of the conversation she says "Ok, sounds good. What type of payment plans do you have?" My response was basically "I finish, I get paid." I left and never heard back from her.

My smarta$$ reply to that question is, "do I look like a banker to you?" We've generally been happy to talk about payment plans during the initial discussions. I'm less happy to do so after we've agreed on an amount. Except for very unusual circumstances, family emergency, death of the client, etc. I'm not going to do it after billing unless we can add a finance charge.

 

[straight_lines]

My smarta$$ reply to that question is, "do I look like a banker to you?" We've generally been happy to talk about payment plans during the initial discussions. I'm less happy to do so after we've agreed on an amount. Except for very unusual circumstances, family emergency, death of the client, etc. I'm not going to do it after billing unless we can add a finance charge.

Its the reason why I want to start offering financing for our clients.

I have a response that works well when the cash discount comes up. I tell them my suppliers don't offer cash discounts, my employees either. In fact none of the check I write out each month would save me a dime to be paid in cash.

 

[woodcoyote]

No cash accepted.

Cashier's checks, money orders, personal/business checks. That's it. Receipt with check # on it, release of any liens, done.

Play it safe vs. "I already paid you" etc. etc. etc.

 

[Boco]

I got paid in cash in a brown paper bag once. It kinda smelled like a skunk but not quite. No FN way was i walking into a bank with that. Smallest house I ever did see but man what a large basement. LOL. I got no beef with accepting cash, credit, bitcoins as long as i get paid.:thumbup:

 

[PressurePros]

I always pay cash for my fried rice. I never get a discount. :no:

 

[Gough]

I got paid in cash in a brown paper bag once. It kinda smelled like ga skunk but not quite. No FN way was i walking into a bank with that. Smallest house I ever did see but man what a large basement. LOL. I got no beef with accepting cash, credit, bitcoins as long as i get paid.:thumbup:

The carpenter that we often work with is also the county skunk trapper. There is rarely confusion about whose tools are whose.