Why is the cost a secret?
 

Often, a poster will recommend a contractor who did a good job for them at "a reasonable cost". A reasonable cost means nothing to me. Why not tell us how much they paid for the service? Why is it that many posters seem to think that they should hide the actual cost. I have no problem revealing how much I paid for a specific service that many people are interested in. What am I missing?

Just a guess: while you might thank them, they may fear that a majority of ToTV experts will criticize them for paying too much and getting ripped off. I might use “reasonable price” rather than subjecting myself to that.

BINGO

It would be open season.

Maybe, but I still don't get it. If I am getting ripped off, I want to know about it. The purpose of the thread topic is to share experiences with contractors and services.

I think that if I was going to look for an opinion, I would post my quote before acceptance, and ask if any have done a lot better with the selected company.

Everybody thinks they got the best price - maybe?????

When I see this, I tend to send a PM to the poster asking for a reply or a phone call to clarify. For example, I recently mentioned the cost for a driveway refinish, and one of the immediate comments was very negative about the cost, and yes it was high, but there were other reasons for this choice WHICH ARE NOT PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE or meant to be public knowledge.
SO IMHO, just contact the poster to ask about the 'reasonable' cost.

That is why they need to post the price. They may think they are getting a reasonable price, but they may not be.

This forum is kind of funny that way. I also use some other types forums (cars, golf, etc) and people are much more open about saying how much various services cost. I think when it comes to having work done on your house, people are a little secretive about it.

I think people should be at least willing to post a ballpark price for things they get done. Information is valuable even if it's not an exact amount.

Agreed, reasonable to one person may not be reasonable to another

Also reasonable for someone that are used to NY prices may be different than Midwest prices.

The cost for a service can vary quite a lot for what might seem the same effort. If you have your roof replaced and all that was required were new shingles and it cost X dollars, it will be considerably more expensive if the other person's roof deck needs partial or complete replacement.
If you have a brake job done on your car and all that was needed was pads the cost will be minimal compared to needing new rotors, pads and calipers. How do you expect to judge the cost when there are unknows variables that affect the price.

I agree. Reasonable is a weasel word. It tells you nothing.

This applies to other things than contractors. People always say that restaurant prices are reasonable or that a ride to Tampa airport is reasonable.

If you tell us the number, people can decide for themselves whether it is reasonable.

reasonable cost is a judgmental term which has different interpretations based upon a view of wealth as a status.
There are many posters who have much more e money than others. . there is no reasonable standardization scale, as there are many unique to the individual's point of view about money, wealth, needs versus wants. .

I/we try to find out prices ourselves, and then make our own judgements based upon our needs versus wants. .

YMMV

I had a neighbor in TV that had his front patio redone with hardscaping late last year. He said the cost was reasonable. After I went to look at the work I figured he probably got ripped off and paid $8-10k for a job that probably would've cost $5000 if it was done outside of TV. At a later time he let it slip that he paid almost $20k and that the company that did it said that was reasonable.

The poor guy has since been moved to assisted living for mainly declining mental capacity, physically he seemed quite fine. I have no doubt that he was taken advantage of due to his declining condition. These kinds of things make me wish people would more openly share what things should cost.

OP you are forgetting the one reason post is always posted as reasonable? If post would include the actual cost of the project, think of how many posts would be on the negative side.
Ya know How would that cost be reasonable?
You really paid that much for that __________?
Did you not get 3 quotes before you spent that much money?
Or the best

I only paid $_________, you chose poorly.(Indiana Jones)

Now the post that asks first does this sound out of line for cost, gets a far better response, for the project.

A personal example to rebuild our birdcage. No deviation in size, it’s a rebuild.

$25,000 First company (original) already had the engineering. Saw the pics total rebuild.

$19,880 Second company, guy was very nice, reputable company. Quote did not include demo. Comment was Wow this is a new cage, and needs a total rebuild, sorry for your loss.

$49,875 Third company walked out back, took one look at our house, and said when you own a premier house, never skimp on the rebuild. Even if your insurance won’t cover it, you need something impressive.

Guess which one I am going with…Dingdingding….#1

It is almost impossible to compare contracting jobs just because of the countless variations such as size, materials used, and actual design. $10,000 may be high or inexpensive.

It is much easier to compare restaurant prices or rides to and from the airport.

Take something like a kitchen renovation
#1 costs 15,000
#2 costs 30,000
Way too many variables.

Customer cabinet vs stock
Laminate vs quartz
Re use appliances vs new - plus a huge range of appliance costs.
Plus customer silverwear inserts
Pot filler vs no pot filler
Variation in sink selected
Customer lights

As people get older, and they have been out of the workforce, and they lose perspective, they occasionally listen to a sales rep or vendor (always a mistake). They also get funny and more trusting at times, because of the slow loss of independence

However, your judgement is from one perspective, and he is happy with his judgement from his perspective. . it's all perspective about the value of money, and of life. If he doesn't have much time left, he might be all happy about getting it done!

with humans, there is no reality, there is only a perspective.

Reasonable is a word that is different for many, like when someone asks for a company that has reasonable prices. Some think $100 is reasonable others think it is too much. I would never say what I payed for something, the work may not be the exact same.

This is a worthless post. How many tasks/services will have the exact same cost between clients? I can think of 1: dryer vent cleaning?
If I told you that the cost of refinishing my driveway was $2000, you would have no idea if that is a good price or a bad price. You have to know how many sq feet they did, if parts of the driveway needed repair, how much sharkbite they used, etc.
Same goes for painting your house, cleaning your house, all depends on sq ft, quality of product used, prep time, warranty, etc.
If you asked this same question about what you spent on your car/suv, even if it was for the exact same year, model, trim, your pice could be thousands of $$$ apart because of options.

The couple of posts talking about variables are spot on. We are often not talking commodities, so working to do a driveway at my house may be grossly different than another (cleaning etc). Timing matters, a vendor may be filling an open slot. Some vendors might offer discounts in some cases, I've gotten military discounts in a couple of cases.

To me, it is like buying a car....how much for your Toyota Canry? Well what model, what options, even paint colors can be hundreds of dollars. It's not fair to compare a base model with highly optioned prices.

The cost of what specifically? If it’s landscaping, I’d never offer what I paid because everyone does very different things. You tell someone you paid 2000 but you don’t give them every detail of what was done, then they want to use those same people and maybe they have more or less. The price wouldn’t be the same. If it’s something like painting your walls, then everyone would probably tell you what they paid because that’s a set price by size or wall or whatever.

I can think of a lot more than one item. Mike Scott Plumbing has fixed prices for a lot of items, including a disposal, expansion tank, water heater, replacing push-pull valves, and they will give you a phone quote for many other items and they will also quote you an hourly rate for other work. Also, what about installing a ceiling fan, light fixtures, and other electrical tasks. Replacing a roof on equal sized houses, or power washing a house, or painting the exterior of a courtyard villa. Most people want to know what these things cost, not that you got a "reasonable" price. That doesn't provide any useful information at all.

Couple more things. Quality is very important to me for regular services like lawn care for example. We might have the same size yard but not all services are done equally. I’ll pay extra if I can count on somebody instead of having to call them every month asking what are they going to perform the work.
Cost of parts. Look at the prices for painting/stain. Big difference in costs. I would pay extra for a product/service that uses a better quality product that lasts longer so I will save money in the future b not having to perform this function as often.
It’s not always the current price to compare but over the length of time this work will provide you

I agree that quality is important and that there are always variables to consider. But, posting that you paid a reasonable price is not very helpful to someone who is trying to select a contractor.

What is Mike Scott plumbing going to swap a push/pull valve for? Another push/pull valve, or a much better valve that costs 3x as much. I would never use these type of valves and when I have to replace them I will use better quality valves. Water heaters come in different quality, sizes, and types, go online and see how many different types of water heaters you can get.
Shingles, same thing, quality quality quality vs cheap cr@p that you have to replace much sooner.
Ceiling fans? Size? Speed? Do you need extra support because the fan is heavy? How many blades? Go to Lowe’s and you will see a 100 ceiling fans for sale ranging in price from $40 to $500 or higher. Light fixtures vary in size and might require more labor to install some over others.
Everything matters, there is no size/price hat fits all

Each project is unique based on scope, services provided, materials selected, etc. The reasonable cost response tells you the poster was comfortable and satisfied with amount they paid for their individual project.

In summary
 

I can sum it all up..
Because, it is really None of your business what I paid….

Really? Mike Scott replaced two push-pull toilet valves with quarter turn metal valves for $60 each plus a trip fee of $75. When the guy was at my house, he said that they could replace the water heater for $900. Some plumbers will charge $2,000 for the same job. I would never buy a ceiling fan from a contractor, but some electricians have a fixed price to replace an existing fan with one that you provide. The same for light fixtures. I would replace my roof shingles with the same type that the builder uses on almost every house in The Villages.

Yup. If someone needs additional details all they need to do is ask…….privately

Is this for real?

Even then, they aren't you, they may not have your values or views on money, wealth, spending, needs and wants. And remember, the older people get the more they realize that they can't take their money with them. Different generations, different views.

So judgements just tell us who you are, not who they are

The solution is simple. Post the price, but don't classify it as "reasonable."

Common sense! Cost can be different depending on many factors decided between the customer and contractor. Simple.

The cheapest isn’t the best nor the worst. The reputation and chemistry means a lot. A rewiring of my PA home with a new addition brought out a lot of quotes. I went with a master electrician who was also a volunteer fireman. Combination of talent and sense of responsibility. Still a friend of ours and we’ve dined together and cruised together.

I recently had someone ask me about pricing of a service that I posted about. I didn't feel comfortable giving the price because I didn't want to influence the person's expectations. Every house, job, etc. is different and circumstances change. I didn't want anyone blasting the vendor because he potentially quoted them a higher price than I paid.

I do not give the price because everything is a variable. The materials I use may be every different than what you would choose. The company may have raised their rates. My space may be smaller or larger than your space, etc ...

When I say affordable or reasonable it's because I've gathered at least 3 quotes and compared their ratings against cost of the job.

Why Not????

I agree. I always post my costs