Does putting expensive stuff get you more profit in a "job"? Income Projections?

[Lord von Games]

Does putting expensive stuff get you more profit in a "job" (not flipping)? I realize the game is aimed more at the "decorate" fun than the business concept but the ambiguity in how much money I expect to make on a job, before I accept and during, kind of drives me nuts (especially since I used to be in the home decor business).

Can anyone clue me into how the income on a "job" works? And specifically if buying more expensive objects in a renovation job improves profit?

In the real world, it depends - typically a "job" has an agreed budget, so it benefits the renovator to economize on the objects they buy.

OR

In rare cases a renovator is given a blank check with certain expectations, and it is in their benefit to buy the most expensive objects, being able to apply a "mark-up" to each object.

And in closing... does this formula change in the sequel?

[MizMeow1]

I don't know if there is any "formula" out there. Maybe there is and I just don't know about. All I can go on is my experience and from that, my answer would be that "it depends."

Putting expensive stuff in a house can help, but it can also hurt. You don't want to put expensive items into a cheap out, for example. You are selling the cheap houses to people with less money, so they cannot afford the expensive stuff. I tend to put the expensive stuff in the expensive houses. However, that can backfire, too. I was working on one of the most expensive houses (from the Luxury Dlc, I think it was) and put expensive items in it. In fact, it was mostly expensive items. I thought that would be appropriate since we are selling to those with big pocketbooks. However, I ended up barely making any profit on it. I was ticked.

I have made some really nice profits on houses. I tend to best when I stick to "middle of the road" items. I want nice stuff, but not necessarily the expensive stuff. If I do use the expensive stuff, I tend to only use one or maybe two items in each house. If it's a luxury house, I will use more, but try not to over use the stuff.

I think just using some common sense and after some experience in the game, you'll learn what tends to work best for you. This has been my experience. It may be different for others. For the record, I'm not one of the most talented designers out there. In fact, I wouldn't say that I'm all that talented at all. If I'm being honest, most of my houses look about the same. I have seen some photos and videos from others who do remarkable work. Despite not being that talented, I really enjoy the game anyway. And, as I said, I tend to make a pretty decent profit on most of my houses.

I"m not sure if any of that is really of any help to you. Maybe someone else has a better strategy than I do.

[Lord von Games]

Thanks for the input. While everyone gravitates towards the buy, renovate, and sell (aka Flipper), what I am (perhaps) more interested in are the "jobs". Someone else wants you to redecorate their house, and they have specific appliances (types), furniture (categories), etc they want you to buy... (and of course different room colors, etc) then enter the discussion...

Does this game go with the "contractor's bid" concept (you are getting a fixed income based on the work you do), which means cheaper will mean more profit...

OR

Home Decor business which means the income you make is based on your investment (the work and how expensive the objects are) the more you spend on the furniture/appliances, etc., the larger the profit...

[MizMeow1]

Almost all of the game is you deciding what you want to do with each house. There are only a few jobs via email or the maps. Those jobs are really only there to show you how to do things in the game (such as putting up walls, cutting down trees, etc.) or to introduce you to know houses or items in the store. You make very little money on the jobs as they aren't that important to the game.

Once you've completed all of the jobs, you have the ability to purchase houses to flip. You can do whatever you want to them. No one has any input or requests. It's solely on you on all choices for the house. Now, if you are trying to get the achievements, you can look to see what each buyer is looking for in a house and try to fix the house to sell to that person. However, once you spend just a bit of time reading what each buyer is looking for, you'll quickly see that it is just confusing. Each buyers wants and dislikes sometimes the same thing. For instance, I was trying to sell to one of the buyers. In the info about him/her, it said that they wanted a lot of flowers. I put a lot of flowers in the house only to have them complain about them. Because of stuff like this, it can be very difficult to cater to the buyers.

I think everyone plays the game a bit differently. I know some people who have completed all of the jobs and have completed all of the achievements spend their time still trying to fix up a house to sell to certain buyers. They enjoy playing that way. Then, there are people like me, who just get frustrated trying to cater to buyers who say two different things and are very difficult to please. Because of that, I prefer to just fix up a house the way that I want to and then sell it. The thing to keep in mind is that there are only a handful of buyers in the game. I don't know the number off-hand, so I'm going to guess that maybe it is around 13 different buyers. Now, I have spent my time catering to each one to get the achievements, but I don't find that enjoyable. So, as I said, I just fix up a house the way that I want. No matter what you do to a house, it will sell. If you just clean up the trash and dirt as well as toss broken items in the house, you can sell it as well while still making a very small profit. Very small, but still a profit. You will have to decide how you like to play the game. You can decide to keep catering to the buyers or just fix up a house the way you want. There is no right or wrong way to play.

As for the actual jobs, as I said, there are only a few. They are only there to each you how to do things in the game and introduce you to new houses or items in the game. You will not make a lot of profit on any of those jobs, but you are free to redo the jobs as often you'd like. Redoing the jobs can be helpful if you find that you've spent too much money on houses and fixing them up while not making enough profit so you find that you can no longer afford to purchase a house to flip. You can redo the jobs until you have enough money to purchase a house. And, purchasing and flipping the houses are the main focus of the game, not the jobs.

I hope that helps explains things a bit better. And, sorry for any confusion. I have Fibro which causes brain fog and it's giving me a hard time today, so my thoughts aren't always as straight as they should be.

[Lord von Games]

Thanks for taking the time, and no apologies needed. Thanks!

[ModerNertum]

Originally posted by Lord von Games:

Does putting expensive stuff get you more profit in a "job" (not flipping)? I realize the game is aimed more at the "decorate" fun than the business concept but the ambiguity in how much money I expect to make on a job, before I accept and during, kind of drives me nuts (especially since I used to be in the home decor business).

Can anyone clue me into how the income on a "job" works? And specifically if buying more expensive objects in a renovation job improves profit?

In the real world, it depends - typically a "job" has an agreed budget, so it benefits the renovator to economize on the objects they buy.

OR

In rare cases a renovator is given a blank check with certain expectations, and it is in their benefit to buy the most expensive objects, being able to apply a "mark-up" to each object.

And in closing... does this formula change in the sequel?

The jobs rewards are calculated according to how developed your "Negotiation" skill tree is on the job reward perk of said tree. They do not allow for much creative freedom as the costumer will have very specific tasks of stuff he/she wants you to do (including buying specific objects). It also varies according to how complex the job is. This is not the case with flipping houses (where you can do whatever you want as long as you have the cash for it).