Six Common Tactics Contractors Use to Upsell You

Renovating or repairing a home can be an expensive proposition. Americans collectively spend about $600 billion on home renovations every year, and if you own a house, you know that just keeping it in good condition isn’t cheap, either. Every time you call a contractor to fix, replace, or upgrade something in your house, you know your bank account is going to take a hit.

For those contractors, however, your renovation or repair inquiry is also a sales opportunity. That’s fair—they’re running a business, after all, and “upselling” additional or upgraded materials or services is part of that. But there’s a difference between a contractor simply alerting you to the benefits of a more expensive option and a contractor manipulating you into spending more on an upsell that you don’t really need or want. The next time you have a contractor in your house for a repair or renovation, watch for these signs that they’re trying to upsell you using sketchy techniques.

Asking permission

When a contractor mentions an upgrade or an additional service they can provide that wasn’t part of the original scope of work, they might pause and ask you if it’s okay to explain the benefits. You might think this is just being polite, but it’s a way of manipulating you. When you grant them permission to keep going, you’ll be less likely to interrupt or disagree, because you’ve ceded some of that authority.

You might still say no, of course—this isn’t mind control. But it gives the contractor space to finish their sales pitch and preemptively address common objections that you might have used to end the sales pitch before it went too far.

Focus on benefits

Most upsells that a contractor will suggest will have real benefits for you—upgraded materials will likely last longer, for example, and a higher level of appliances or HVAC equipment will probably run more efficiently. There’s nothing wrong with a contractor suggesting something that will improve the comfort, security, or enjoyment of your house.

But these upgrades typically cost more, and you probably entered your renovation or repair journey with a budget in mind. In order to get past any resistance to a higher cost, contractors may have a laser focus on the benefits of the upsell, talking a lot about the improved experience, aesthetics, or utility of the upgrade and skimming over the increased costs. They may even hand-wave your questions about cost and imply it’s not a huge amount. By the time the increase shows up on a change order, supplemental invoice, or the final charge for the work, it’s too late to worry about it or complain. It’s crucial to always nail down a precise cost of any change to your plans before you agree to anything—and if your contractor is vague about those costs or resists attempts to get a clear quote ahead of time, you know they’re pushing an unnecessary upsell.

Good/better/best

A common psychological trick used in a broad range of sales is the “good-better-best” gambit. When presented with three options—a basic, no frills package (the “good”), a middle-ground upgrade (the “better” option), and a top-tier, more expensive option (the “best”), people will often opt for the middle, “better” option because it suddenly seems like a deal. You feel like you’re saving money by not going with the “best,” but also getting at least some extra value.

Contractors use this to position your current renovation or repair plans as the “good” option—the basic, baseline choice. Then they offer a slight upgrade and an “all-in” upgrade, and make you feel smart for choosing the “better” option instead of splashing out for the “best,” when in reality, your original plan took care of your needs and both upgrades were probably unnecessary. For example, you might have been happy with new ceramic tile for your bathroom floor, but your contractor suggests you might be happier with natural stone (better) or even natural stone and an in-floor heating system (best). Suddenly, your original choice feels cheap, and the middle option seems like a reasonable upgrade.

Combinations

Another way of manipulating your perceptions in order to upsell you is to combine several upsells into a package deal. When you have too many choices to make, you can become paralyzed with indecision. As a result, presenting every potential upsell separately can lead to increased resistance, and that sense of being overwhelmed by choices often means you’ll just stick to the original plan. In order to avoid this, a contractor might package several upsells into different combinations. It superficially reduces the number of choices you have to make and also serves to obscure the true cost of upsells because they get muddled together into an overall price.

FOMO

The Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is a classic manipulation tactic used by a lot of people—contractors included. The upsell is presented to you as a rare opportunity that you’d be foolish to pass up. One scenario might be leftover materials: They purchased a lot of fancy materials for another job and didn’t use them all, so they’ll upgrade your project at a discount. Or they might point out that since you’re going to have open walls and/or floors and ceilings, it’s a rare opportunity to upgrade the wiring, plumbing, or to install features like heated floors. The implication being that you’ll regret not doing it now while you had the chance. That may be true—but it’s also a way of making an upsell seem more like a necessity.

Plain old fear

It’s a good idea to be suspicious of a contractor who tries to upsell you to a total replacement or upgrade after being called in for a straightforward repair. Sure, a malfunctioning appliance can be a sign of imminent failure, but if you hire a contractor for a repair and they pressure you with dire pronouncements—uncovered code violations, dangerous conditions, or emergencies that have to be dealt with immediately (which they can, of course, handle for you)—get a second opinion before you make any decisions. If they resist the second opinion, be very suspicious. If they have a proposal all worked out after being at your house for a short time, be extremely suspicious.

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