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I got my first private request and I don't think this guy is looking for a writer. I think he needs a research assistant. It's in an area totally out of my normal writing experience, so I imagine he's hit up other writers and they have said no.

He wants me to give him a list of 50 types of contractors with salary ranges for each state along with an image for each type. All for $40. This will take hours, and well...I charge $40/hour and that's probably much more than he wants to go.

I think he's looking in the wrong field, but I don't know if telling him that is against the rules. Should I just tell him he should try another writer?

I think this request has gone out to a bunch of us. I got it as did another writer I know so that's at least three of us

I also got this same request. To be honest, I just thought it was another public request (since I've never gotten a private request before) and since it didn't really interest me, I didn't pay too much attention to it.

I think it's a mistake and was meant to go public.

aaah, ok. I see it's switched. I was confused by the description and asked for clarification. My OP was a summary of his answer (in case anyone is interested).

I got the same one too...For a minute I was excited but when I saw the description....boohoo, no bananas for us!

Antonia wrote:I got the same one too...For a minute I was excited but when I saw the description....boohoo, no bananas for us!

LOL me too. I was excited because it was my first and even considered doing it until I got clarification. I kinda knew, though, that since I have 0 experience in the home improvement category that I was getting an offer that lots of others had declined. boohooo

As far as the original question of how to say no to a private requester, here's how:

I'm sorry but I am unable to work on this project at this time. Thank you for your consideration.

At first I was excited to see a private request. I thought it was an answer to my wishes just like the dog articles request. But then I reqd it and thought, hey, there is no way this could be for just me. There are too many writers who specialize in this area and I don't.

I will have to throw another coin in the wishing well for my first real private request I guess!

I received the same request yesterday, and since I do write quite a few articles on home improvement thought it was possible he singled me out. However, something about it sounded more like a public request. Plus, as Lysis mentioned, the article would require way more research than he was willing to pay for. I was going to write him back and say this type of article was best for a regional-specific website. It wouldn't be practical to put something out there for the entire nation, prices varying so widely. Glad y'all spoke up about this, because it will save me a few minutes of correspondence time. I see he has a few public requests up today, so maybe he's figured out how the request system works - though his price range and word count are unrealistic for what he wants.
Emma

After doing some preliminary research, I asked someone I know in the construction estimating industry if he had any sources of info he could point me to. He did even better and sent me specific information for a particular city. With that in hand, I was able to write the article relatively quickly. At this point, I already knew the request was not private and I was tempted not to write it but I had already done the hard part: research and calling on a favor.

The data I received is regional so it might not be what the client has in mind. I prefaced it with something along the lines of "rates vary by region, season, and market conditions but this sample data should give you an idea of what to expect when hiring a contractor." Who knows if the client will choose the article or not. It was definitely tough to find the data on this particular topic but once found, the writing part was easy.

Celeste Stewart wrote:After doing some preliminary research, I asked someone I know in the construction estimating industry if he had any sources of info he could point me to. He did even better and sent me specific information for a particular city. With that in hand, I was able to write the article relatively quickly. At this point, I already knew the request was not private and I was tempted not to write it but I had already done the hard part: research and calling on a favor.

The data I received is regional so it might not be what the client has in mind. I prefaced it with something along the lines of "rates vary by region, season, and market conditions but this sample data should give you an idea of what to expect when hiring a contractor." Who knows if the client will choose the article or not. It was definitely tough to find the data on this particular topic but once found, the writing part was easy.

That's why my initial response was to do it, but I asked him to clarify what he wanted pointing out that prices would vary across the US. He said a good compromise is to list prices for each state. LOL So, maybe "compromise" is the key here and he'll accept it.

Thanks for sharing the info, Celeste & Lysis!

Thanks for sharing Celeste. I also did this article. I stumbled on that exact point, plus came up with some new stumbling points. Every state has different licensing - thus different pricing. It costs more to do business in California than it does in Texas. Certified licensing is the key along with workers comp ins. I wonder how many writers received this request. I was also surprised to see links in the articles, I didn't do this as I didn't think that it would pass quality control.

REason wrote: I was also surprised to see links in the articles, I didn't do this as I didn't think that it would pass quality control.

REason,
Links are only allowed if a client specifically requests them. That applies to this request, and it appears to still be current. However, I'm not sure what happens to articles containing links that are not chosen by the requester. Does anyone know if they are allowed to remain in the general articles once the request is filled or expired?