Why are people always after the cheapest price instead of quality work?

The more I lurk around this forum, the more I see people chasing after the cheapest possible price to get something done, designed, programmed, setup, configured, created or whatever else. It doesn't matter what it is, I see a lot of people that don't care about the quality of the work, and just want somebody who's going to do it cheaper than anyone else... I've also noticed, a lot of the time, this ends up with people unhappy with the service or product they ordered... Does anyone here see the value in discussing the quote or arrangement with a reputable source that has all the proper business setup, email, telephone and full customer support, years in business, chamber of commerce, BBB, satisfaction guarantee and stuff like that?
Personally, I'd rather pay $1000 to a highly skilled individual or firm to get everything done right the first time, then pay $100 to have somebody do it quick and cheap, compromising quality....

What are your thoughts?

 

Depends on the project. I have times that I want quantity, other times I want quality.

 

On another note...

I don't care if you're an individual sitting on the north pole, or a Fortune 500 company. If you can get the job done, that's what counts.

 

Yes, I definitely agree with that one.


And I do see the advantages of quantity when it comes to things like data entry and simple tasks, but I've just seen so many people out there trying to save a buck, rather than trying to make sure that buck makes them ten more... or a thousand more!

 

Yeah; I've been wondering that myself (the statement of the OP). Even when trying to find programmers or designers here they all start ; 'you dont want everything really cheap; if you do tell me because ill go away'... I mean; why would you say that to a potential customer...

A lot of people just don't know quality at all... They don't understand it, get it or probably they don't even want it?

 

Bcoz the buyer would like to buy cheaper services.
In fact what the buyer really need is cost effective services.
But the buyer always place "cost effective " with "cheaper" by accident.

For me, I hate to offer very cheap services as a seller. (eg. my sig )
As a buyer, I prefer to buy quality work rather than quick and cheap offer. (eg. the confirmed directory submission)

 

Most people are looking for both cheap and quality...which don't always go together.

 

I'd much rather pay what the work is worth, and know that every one of my needs will be taken care of, or if something is missed there will be somebody willing to work it out accordingly in a helpful manner. This ensures a higher rate of success on all your projects. Along with that, I think we need to try not to be in a rush to get things done so fast all the time either, and ask for a comfortable working time estimate with an expectation to finish in a timely manner, but not some overdue deadline at the last minute... You don't want something that's put together sloppy, it will just cost you more down the road... I've seen when putting a rush on a project can cause it to suffer more, on both sides.

Can somebody here who is normally after the fast and the cheap, offer a prospective as to why?

 

Yes, I've seen this a lot myself too, but from my experience most of the time, you get what you pay for. With the exception of coming across the odd amazing deal. I guess it's like having your cake and eating it too. True quality comes with a price.

 

Those people are simply trying to increase their profit margins. But, usually they can't figure out how to do that beyond lowering their costs. They don't see how spending more on a quality product (or service) can increase revenues giving them the higher profit margin they're looking for. They also fail to see how cheap, low quality products and services can hurt their revenues which would give them a lower profit margin.

 

I have definitely seen that. I guess it's more apparent in the brick and mortar business world. For example, you're running a contracting job to build a deck... You hire cheap laborers to do the work, you quickly learn about shoddy workmanship with a lawsuit on your hands for the home owner who broke their leg because their foot went straight through the deck in a place where it wasn't installed properly.... You learn faster to take more care in your business decisions because the ramifications are more direct and measurable.

 

I learned that the hard way, i payed someone $3000.00 to make me a membership site in web 2.0 and he did a horrible job, i ended up hiring someone that has alot more talent and skill for $9000.00

But oh well, lesson learned.

 

It happens all too often, and on both sides. Skilled professionals start trying to cut their prices to meet the demands of the customer, only to fall short on the project...

 

Yea, that is true
But its hard finding professionals that meet your expectations.

 

For some reason customers like to know they are getting a "deal" for their money. They would rather pay a programmer $10 an hour for 300 hours of work than to let me do it in 30 hours at $100 an hour. I think the hourly rate pushes people into emotional, rather than logical business decision making.

"Holy crap - $100 an hour! I can find a programmer at $10 an hour to get this done."

I say - go for it. Come back to me after the first guy fails.

 

lol
that might happen sometimes but i think that when they see the first time around they failed then they call it quits and just give up and move on unless they really want something done.

 

Depends on your budget, DP is a wholesale market place also - you must remember that. Sometimes you can get quality work at cheap rates - but soon enough that cheap quality worker will realize that they are worth more.

The reasons for hiring cheap workers are varied, for instance I may have a .info worth a couple of bucks, then I wish to increase the value by adding some unique content in the form of articles - now I would want them cheap - so poor quality will do.

I may be tightly strapped with cash and have very little available to pay anyone - so again I need to pay someone peanuts and there's always someone willing to work for peanuts.

Personally I think that as long as that person knows the quality is going to be crap and is not expecting the world - then that's OK.

My latest experience was like this : a simple RSS / MFA type site with multiple pages created as simple as possible, as I am capable of creating MFAs out of RSS feeds and easy for a beginner to manage .... so I took it on .... after quoting $100 for a job that would only take a few hours - as it was - we were both satisfied .... and then come the extra demands - can you include a desktop thingy where I can work on it from and make it so it looks like it would when completed, can you add an image upload also, I want to also be able to change the template when I want and then 100 little things keep being added .... that's what sucks - dealing with newbs who don't understand how things work and how much effort it takes to keep adding all these little things .... in the end I said "yeah right" and walked away from the project.

 

Yeah, the added requests can kill you, especially when operating on a tight budget. If the customer is paying for the price of quality and profound customer service, then you can usually afford to add an extra thing or two... When you're working down to the pennies on it, you'd be more likely to drop the work if the client is too needy.
"We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone." Nobody wants a customer that needs their hand held to get through the day, and every step of the project including post production... Unless they are paying for it!

 

Well,

as said before, it depends on the project.

Designing a forum skin, go with the quality.

Writing a privacy policy, if you know how to make it good and cheap, I want it cheap.

 

I have learned from this concept in many ways not just online.

being cheap costs you more money in the long run. It's like the example of a cheap person that wont spend $250 on a washing machine that will last 4 years but will spend $20 a month to wash there clothes at a laundry mat costing them nearly $800 for 4 years at the laundry mat

Doing things right the first time works out beter in the long run.