I worked as a contractor for two years before becoming the manager of a decoration company. Before working as a contractor, I was a middle school Chinese teacher in a school, and my monthly income was always half dead. A math teacher in our school angrily "went into the sea" and became the contractor of the decoration engineering team. After only one year, he became rich. With his example, at the end of 1998, I also "abandoned the article and went to sea". I worked with this math teacher for several months. It is found that more people buy houses now, and home decoration has become a hot topic. Just find a bricklayer, carpenter, painter and a few apprentices, and you can start work without going through any business formalities. It's simple.
After touching the doorway, I went back to my hometown in the countryside and brought in a relative who was a carpenter. The two men formed a "decoration team". In order to get a job, I paid a deposit of 1000 yuan on the recommendation of my math teacher, and then joined a well-known home improvement company in Wuhan and signed a paper agreement. I suddenly became the team leader of this company, commonly known as "contractor".
At first, the company didn't give me big projects, only gave me some small projects. Every time I finish the project, I don't make much money by careful settlement. Out of curiosity, I asked my math teacher for a secret. He mysteriously revealed the "secret" of "cutting corners" and "stealing pillars" in the process of home improvement, and I was dumbfounded. I stupidly asked him: "Isn't this a conscience discovery that has harmed the homeowner?" The math teacher said disdainfully, "If you don't do this, you won't be able to buy materials for the homeowner with the little project money that the company gave you." . To tell the truth, the profits here are' exploited' by the company. Regardless of the materials, you can only drink the northwest wind. "
It seems reasonable to think carefully about what the math teacher said. In a three-bedroom and two-bedroom project I later took over, I used the "saving money" trick that my math teacher taught me.
The owner signed a contract with the company in the form of a full contract, and the project cost was 55,000 yuan. The price that the company subcontracted to me was 4 1 1,000 yuan, including the cost of materials and labor, and the company made a net profit of 654,380+0,000 yuan. I thought, no wonder so many people want to start a decoration company now. All they need to do is design the drawings and sign a contract, and the profits accounting for 25% of the whole project cost will be credited to the company account.
As soon as the project took over, I went to the roadside to find two masons and a plumber and hired them at the price of 30 yuan per person per day.
In the decoration project, I found that almost every project has the opportunity to cut corners and steal columns. When laying floor tiles and tiles, I use inferior cement instead of high-quality cement, so that the whole project can save about 100 to 200 yuan. If I ask workers to speed up the construction progress and fill less cement when laying tiles, it will not only save materials but also save hundreds of dollars in wages.
The project that can "black" money most is the wooden core board. In the contract, my landlord asked for genuine "Fuhan brand" wood core board, and his family needed to make two big wardrobes and a big bookcase, and the amount of wood core board was very large. I thought this was my chance to get rich. I went to the decoration materials market for the first time and bought 10 genuine "Fuhan brand" wood core board. The shopkeeper was relieved to see that they were all genuine. The next day, I went to the material market and bought 8 pieces of "Wenfu" wooden core boards. If I don't pay attention, I can't tell the difference of a word at all, but the difference between the two brands of wood core boards is 15 yuan, plus the rebate given to me by the material supplier. This alone, I "hacked" the owner 250 yuan's money.
When buying a splint, the same method is used to replace the 9 cm splint needed for the backboard with a 5 cm splint. Because the back of the wardrobe is nailed to the wall, the owner can't find it at all.
The floor is a big project, and the owner followed me to buy it and take it on the spot. I didn't get any cheaper. However, I made a fortune on the keel under the floor. Originally, according to the regulations, earthworm should use the specifications of spruce. The price of spruce per meter is around 2 yuan, but I use Chinese fir instead. The price of Chinese fir per meter is only 1. 1 yuan, so I "hacked" several hundred yuan for this project.
In the home improvement project, ceramic tile is also a big project. There are many kinds of ceramic tiles in the market, and the good and the bad are mixed. There is a great difference between inferior tiles and high-quality tiles. My landlord asked for a brand of super tiles when signing the contract, but I bought them with first-class tiles when purchasing. Because the prices of super tiles and first-class tiles are different, I earned a difference of several hundred yuan. In order not to let customers find out, I arranged to lay super bricks in the living room and first-class bricks in the room to hide people's eyes and ears. This practice of stealing pillars is very hidden and safe, and the owner simply does not notice it.
When making cabinets, the owner's contract requires the use of crystal fire boards, Monterey countertops and moisture-proof boards. When I ordered the countertop, I replaced Monterey with Jabek Jung Su, and the damp-proof board with ordinary wooden board, which saved me hundreds of dollars.
When painting, I should have painted latex paint three times. I asked the workers to paint it twice, and the baseboard should be painted with varnish three times. I only had the workers brush it once. It saves both materials and labor. When buying hinges, nails, waterproofing agents and other accessories, I also save money and try to choose the cheapest one.
Although I was uneasy when doing all this, I always felt that it was not easy for the owners to decorate the house once, especially some owners bought cigarettes and drinks to entertain us in order to ensure our quality, but the guilt was only temporary, and the idea of making money threw my conscience to the clouds.
Of course, the supervisor sent by the company has an eye. In order to block the supervisor's eyes and mouth, I regard the supervisor as a god. Every time the supervisor visits the site, I treat him to delicious food. The whole cigarette was stuffed, and the supervisor turned a blind eye to the quality of my project.
After the completion of this project, during the 50-day project period, I earned a net profit of 6,500 yuan in addition to the labor cost of 6,700 yuan. In other words, the owner spent 55,000 yuan to decorate, but actually only spent 27,800 yuan on the decoration materials of his house.
Being a "good" manager depends entirely on quotation, contract and other aspects.
After working as a contractor for two years, my purse naturally swelled up quickly, but there was always a faint uneasiness in my heart, which was quickly washed away by the audacity of my colleagues in the market-why can't I do what others can do? Besides, if you don't "exploit" your master, survival will really become a problem. Because most of the decoration profits are deducted by the decoration company. If the construction team wants to survive, it can only "rely on the mountain to eat the mountain".
Two years later, because I am literate, smart and have unique views on decoration design, I was "incorporated" by the affiliated decoration company and became a branch manager of the company. I left the construction team with my cousin from the countryside. When my branch takes orders, it naturally gives priority to my cousin, and I can get the corresponding commission from it.
As the manager of the decoration company, I realize that the shady in the company is more shocking than the "black" of the construction team! Almost from the moment consumers step into the company's door, the decoration trap is waiting unconsciously. To tell the truth, in order to run the company well, I have also racked my brains to design many decoration traps that consumers will not know.
First of all, I firmly grasped the psychology of consumers who are greedy for cheap and good quality. They cheated on the quotation when they came to consult, because I know that they often have to consult and compare with many decoration companies before making a final decision. So, from the beginning, I tried to reduce the pricing of big projects (such as wardrobes, bookshelves, doors, etc.). Try to make consumers feel that the company's offer is fairer. Of course, the wool is on the sheep, and I will raise the unit price of small items appropriately. Such as top corner line, skirting line, latex paint, etc. , the above are calculated in meters or square meters. Although the unit price is only a dozen or dozens of yuan, the total amount is very attractive. For example, a house of about 120 square meters, with a usable area of about 300 square meters, costs thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan. And I don't indicate the total amount on the quotation, so consumers naturally won't pay attention.
Sometimes, in order to get customers to sign a contract with the company as soon as possible, I will instruct designers to omit items intentionally in the construction quotation, giving consumers the illusion that the whole project is very cheap, and then add items after the construction starts to improve the quotation. Items such as door covers and window covers are deliberately omitted. When construction starts, these projects must be done, and consumers will have to add projects; Or, we intend to reduce the price of main materials, and consumers will make up the difference in construction. For example, we buy ceramic tiles and quote 1.2 yuan newspaper. When we buy ceramic tiles, consumers see that the quality of 1.2 yuan is not very good, so naturally they want to buy better ones, and the difference will be made up by consumers. As soon as the contract is signed, consumers have to be led by the company.
When negotiating with consumers, I found that many consumers pay more attention to the unit price, so I played a "smoke screen" based on their psychology. For example, door and window engineering, every family needs several doors. At the beginning, the total price of each door in our company was 700 yuan, and consumers immediately shouted that it was too expensive. I had a brainwave and divided the project into small items, such as newly made doors, door covers, newly made door covers, door covers, door cover painting, door leaf installation and so on. The price of each small item seems to be relatively low, and consumers have no complaints at first glance. In fact, all the small items add up, which is slightly higher than the total quotation. Just because I did a clever job of disassembling items, many consumers didn't object to it, and the company attracted many customers because of this beautiful trap.
I know that consumers like discounts no matter what they buy, and so do house decoration. As long as you can pay less money, you will be very close psychologically. I'll make some discount skills in the contract. For example, in all renovation contract, besides the project cost, there are management fees and taxes. The management fee is charged at 5% of the total project price. If the consumer signs the project cost of 30,000 yuan, the company should get the management fee of 1.500 yuan. In order to attract consumers, I often say that the management fee can be 20% off. In fact, this management fee is the company's net profit. In the off-season of decoration, our company will also waive management fees to attract consumers.
We will naturally make up for these exempted funds from other channels. For example, our company has its own material supplier. As long as the owner has no special requirements, we all pick up the goods from our own material supplier, and the material supplier will give the company a considerable rebate. As for whether those materials are qualified, as long as the owners don't pursue them, we naturally don't care.
In terms of payment method, our company stipulated in the contract that the owner should pay 70% of the project payment first, 25% when the project is in the middle, and the remaining 5% will be paid after the owner has passed the acceptance. In this way, even if there are unexpected changes in the construction process, we are not afraid, because all the money has been earned.
Stabbed lice and solved them in a despicable way.
In order to make consumers trust the strength of our company, we declare in the company profile that we have more than 70 decoration engineering teams with excellent quality and superb technology. Actually, this is bullshit. The so-called engineering team is an "engineering team" with only two people paying a deposit of 1 10,000 yuan, just like I did at the beginning. Not only our home, but also any decoration company in the market will not "support" the construction team. Therefore, after consumers sign construction contracts with decoration companies, the remaining projects will be "dominated" by decoration "guerrillas".
Because the construction team is mixed, and the company management is not standardized, decoration quality problems also appear frequently. Our company's complaints and claims caused by the quality of decoration are endless. After an owner moved into a new house, he found that when an electrician laid wires in his house, the ground wire of the air conditioner and the water heater was not properly connected, which was a big problem of life and death. After receiving the complaint, I immediately called the contractor in charge of the construction project to ask, only to know that the "parallel" electrician was temporarily found on the road, and now it has disappeared. Therefore, the owner requires all circuit works to be reworked and re-laid, and demands economic compensation.
In order to avoid trouble, our company specially invited the engineer of the city interior decoration association whose immediate supervisor is also the "father" unit to visit the owner's home. On the surface, it is responsible for the complaints of car owners. In fact, the company asked the engineers of the decoration association to comfort the owners as experts, and there would be no big problem if the ground wire was not connected. Moreover, this is no less than redecorating the walls and damaging the furniture and facilities of the new home. Sure enough, the honest owner believed what the "experts" said, probably considering the inconvenience of rework, and finally agreed that our company would return 1000 yuan for circuit engineering renovation as compensation.
Black house decoration not only steals money but also kills people.
After this incident subsided, my conscience has been uneasy, and everyone knows the harm of "electric tiger". There is no wire in the socket of the domestic water heater. If the owner has a water leakage accident while taking a bath, the consequences will be unimaginable!
However, considering their own identity and influence on the company, they can only hide their conscience deeply, and then they can deeply understand the unscrupulous truth of businessmen.
I have also dealt with the matter that the owner asked for compensation because the formaldehyde in the decoration materials exceeded the standard seriously and the smell was pungent and unpleasant. In this case, we usually only give the owner two bottles of formaldehyde scavenger. We will try our best to dispel the owners' fear of formaldehyde. However, we know that even if the concerns of the owners are dispelled, the infringement of formaldehyde on the owners still exists.
I have been a branch manager in a decoration company for more than a year, and I am deeply tired of this line. Its dark side makes me feel how dirty and despicable people in this industry are.
One day, I read in the newspaper that a university teacher was shocked because he lived in a new house with serious formaldehyde exceeding the standard and soon got leukemia. His family angrily sued the decoration company! Recalling that I have been engaged in the decoration industry, I have tried my best to hurt home improvement consumers almost every day for my own interests. To some extent, I am also the hateful "executioner" in the hidden dangers of home improvement! It is important to earn money, but if a person has no conscience and morality, he is not as good as a dog!
At the end of 200 1, I resolutely gave up the position of branch manager of that decoration company and returned to the post of teacher. Although I will never get a good salary or earn millions a month, my conscience is gradually returning to peace.
Now, I have exposed what I know about home improvement, as if I have unloaded a heavy burden from my heart, so I can have a good sleep. I also hope that because of my "reminder", home improvement consumers can be fooled as little as possible.