An older relative retired in the early 1990s. He started doing home windows to stay occupied and make a little spare cash. Retrofits mostly to put insulated windows in older homes or sometimes just a new modern set of windows. Such business is mostly in wealthier parts of town. Something of a luxury item to some extent. He got some jobs, but kept losing out to people charging more. So he did a follow up after such an episode. Went by and asked this couple why did he not get awarded the job, said they'll get fine work from who they picked as he knew the guy, but was trying to find out what he needed to do to get the work. The wife spoke up and said of the 4 estimates they took his was too low. He knew he was supplying the same brand windows as the other guys. She finally told him three of the estimates were pretty close and his was significantly lower. "You have to be cutting corners to do it that cheap. Maybe you can make it look right on the outside, but you have to be short-cutting it somewhere."
After pondering that he decided on the next few estimates to do his normal thing and then double it. He didn't get them all, but he started getting more work. In time it was more than he wanted. I told him it was simple, he needed to raise his prices more to slow it down some. Having been a hard working frugal man his whole life he actually felt guilty as it was. He more or less said he felt bad with his current pricing and wasn't going to 'cheat' people more just to make it easy on himself. He could just turn down jobs when needed. So there you have it, one luxury items, non-essentials, people are spending spare cash and the market moves people where it has to go. Some of course jump right in with glee to see how far it can go.
... There are similar horror tales, from their lineup ...S. E or C ... Same.
