The Salesman Who Overstayed His Welcome And the $56,000 Lesson

A few weeks ago, I came home to find a note on the kitchen counter that read “6:00 p.m. appointment.” Confused, I asked my wife what that note could possibly mean. She casually responded, "We’re getting a quote for siding."

Now, I had no idea we were even looking at siding, so I asked, "From who?"

"Oh, some company that said they were working in the neighborhood and could give us a free quote while they were here," she responded.

My house needs siding?

That’s when my internal alarm bells started ringing. This sounded like a classic door-to-door sales pitch. However, I kept my skepticism to myself because, well, I value my marriage. I simply said, "Honey, this seems kind of spammy." That, of course, did not go over well.

"Fine," she said. "I will handle it. You don’t have to talk to them."

And I admit — that’s exactly what I wanted to hear.

Fast forward to 6:10 p.m. The salesman arrived late (not a great first impression, especially since punctuality matters in the trades. But I stayed in my home office, respecting my wife’s request to handle it. An hour passed — and then another. At 8:15 p.m., my daughter, Ava, walked into my office with wide eyes and said, "Dad, what are we going to do?"

"About what?" I asked.

She whispered, "The sales guy is still here."

At this point, I couldn’t help but laugh. Two hours for a siding quote? I wasn’t about to step in and play the bad guy, so I told daughter Ava, "I’m not getting involved"

She sighed and said, “Fine. I’ll get rid of him.”

I’ll give her credit — she tried. But this guy was determined. He didn’t leave until almost 9 p.m.

When the salesman finally left, my wife showed me the quote: $56,000 for vinyl siding. We have a good-size house, but that price was outrageous. At that moment, I realized what had happened. That guy spent three hours trying to convince my wife our home would collapse if we didn’t replace the siding immediately. This is where the real lesson for my daughter came into play.

What Ava Learned (and What You Can Learn, Too) Salespeople working on high commissions will do anything and everything they can to close a deal. This guy wasn’t leaving until he either got a signature or was physically removed from the premises (which Ava considered doing). In Georgia, if a contractor comes to your home, you have three days to back out of a signed contract. I took the opportunity to teach Ava about this so she knows never to sign anything on the spot. Always get multiple quotes.

I told my wife, "Honey, when we redo the front porch, we’ll use the same contractor for the siding. It’ll be cheaper." But she just wanted to see what it would cost. Well, now she knows.

This whole experience reminded me why I run AvaAir differently. Big HVAC companies operate just like this siding salesman. They send out a high-commission salesperson who inflates the price because they get a cut of every extra dollar they can squeeze out of you. That’s why some HVAC quotes come in at $22,000–$25,000 for systems we sell at

$8,000–$10,000. And we still make a sustainable profit! At AvaAir, we don’t play those games. We don’t subcontract, and we price our services fairly. We want our work to last beyond the warranty, not just until the check clears.

So, while my wife learned the true cost of siding quotes, Ava learned a valuable lesson about pushy salespeople, and I got a great story to share.

And for the record, we’re keeping the siding — at least for now.