Bidding from images.

[Morgan52]

I take it most don't want to bid from pics, but how often do you? What instructions do you give to the inquiring customer if they haven't taken the pics yet? I'm sure there are horror stories of misleading images too.

 

[ballisticdoughnut]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I’d say in this case actually being there is worth a million.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

No. Never. It never ends well. Having said that, if the pics look good, I have given an estimate based on the pics with multiple caveats, but when I give a bid, that means I stand behind it, and if I missed something that's on me. You just can't do that without being on site.

As an example, of which I could give many: customer sends me a picture of a dead pine. From the pics, looked like an easy lay down against a small back and side lean... easy peasy, he just wanted it down safe and bucked up. It was in the way home, good bonus money for the day, 200 for a quick hour, right? He didn't mention he was standing in the middle of his leach field when he was taking the pictures... oops. Turned into a late evening climbing and a disappointed customer when I charged him 400 instead. It just never ends well.

 

[Morgan52]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I’d say in this case actually being there is worth a million.

I hear ya. I have heard tales that after tree felling storms there is a lot of that with people searching for highest bid for insurer claim purposes and lowest bid to do the work (not paid direct from insurer). Was there a lot of remote bidding during the "pandemic."

 

[Morgan52]

No. Never. It never ends well. Having said that, if the pics look good, I have given an estimate based on the pics with multiple caveats, but when I give a bid, that means I stand behind it, and if I missed something that's on me. You just can't do that without being on site.

As an example, of which I could give many: customer sends me a picture of a dead pine. From the pics, looked like an easy lay down against a small back and side lean... easy peasy, he just wanted it down safe and bucked up. It was in the way home, good bonus money for the day, 200 for a quick hour, right? He didn't mention he was standing in the middle of his leach field when he was taking the pictures... oops. Turned into a late evening climbing and a disappointed customer when I charged him 400 instead. It just never ends well.

Yeah, even real-time satellite won't help in some cases.

 

[Jed1124]

Do not ever price by a picture. Ever.

Beside the high chance of loosing your shirt, the client is most likely getting multiple quotes by photo and is only shopping price. They have no opportunity to meet you, listen to your process, and see your professionalism, or lack there of.
I won’t even price a first time client unless they are willing to meet me on site.

 

[ZinTrees]

dont forget the scam where another company has the job, pretends to be the owner and has you do a job for less, they get paid by the real owner and you never see a penny

first question I ask when I get called or texted about a tree: "whats the address?"
look it up and make sure its all legit, then tell them what time we will meet there at the address, I've had some that don't like meeting and I tell them I wont even come look at it without them present. sometimes they hang up, 99% of the time its legit
NEVER bid from a picture, and NEVER enter a property without the owner present

I work for a huge real-estate/property management company often, even with them I still had to meet the property manager before id work with them, never hurts to call the office and see if its legit too

 

[Sidecarflip]

When I purchase any equipment for the farm. I usually buy new but I have bought used in the past (tractors) and they are always big ticket items, compared to any chain saw, chainsaws are small potatoes, however, if it was even a used chainsaw, I'd go and physically look it over and inspect it before buying. Not that I don't trust people, I do, but I want to inspect it and evaluate it personally. Sellers, for the most part tend to over inflate an item because they want to get the biggest bang for their buck.