---
title: "Four Levels of Pain: Close More Remodeling Deals"
description: Use EPIC BASH, FUDWACHAS, and the four levels of pain to boost remodeling close rates.
image: https://info.borovitz.sandler.com/hubfs/Gemini_Generated_Image_ayi9siayi9siayi9.png
---

![](https://info.borovitz.sandler.com/hubfs/Gemini_Generated_Image_ayi9siayi9siayi9.png)

## Understand pain: the most powerful sales emotion

**The Sandler “pain step” helps remodelers find a homeowner’s *compelling emotional reason to make a change*, then connect their project and price to that emotion so decisions happen faster and ghosting drops.** In other words, you move from “nice design” conversations to clear, confident yes-or-no decisions.

Pain, in this context, is not about being manipulative. It’s about acknowledging that people act faster to avoid discomfort than to gain something nice. Homeowners will live with an outdated kitchen for 10 years, but feeling **embarrassed** when friends come over finally pushes them to call a remodeler. When you uncover that real driver, your $150K proposal stops feeling like a luxury quote and starts feeling like the obvious solution.

Consider a typical design‑build call: the homeowner says, “Our kitchen is old and the layout doesn’t work.” Most salespeople stay at that surface level, show designs, and send a proposal. Internal data from Sandler‑style training and call intelligence on thousands of recorded remodeler calls shows that closing on this “recognized pain” alone leads to roughly **10% close rates**.

When you slow down and explore why the problem exists, what it affects day‑to‑day, and how it makes them feel, your close rates and deal sizes both climb. You’re not just fixing cabinets; you’re solving specific lifestyle and emotional problems they care about deeply.

## Use EPIC BASH to uncover real remodeling motives

**EPIC BASH is a simple acronym for the eight core emotional reasons people remodel: Embarrassed, Privacy, Isolated, Cramped/Cluttered, Broken promise, Accessibility, Safety/Security, and Health.** Homeowners rarely say these words directly, so your job is to translate what they say into these buckets.

For example, a client says, “The house is tired and we don’t really have people over anymore.” On the surface, that’s about outdated finishes. In EPIC BASH language, it’s actually **Embarrassed**. A remodeler we worked with discovered that when he named this (“It sounds like you’re a little embarrassed to have people over”), the homeowner agreed—and then approved a higher‑end design because it clearly solved their core issue.

Each EPIC BASH letter ties to phrases you’ll hear:

- Embarrassed: “It’s outdated,” “We hate having guests see this.”
- Privacy: “We need a separate toilet room,” “Everyone is on top of me.”
- Isolated: “I can’t see the kids from the kitchen.”
- Cramped/Cluttered: “No storage,” “Everything lives on the counters.”
- Broken promise: “We said we’d redo this when the kids started school…they’re 24 now.”
- Accessibility: “My parents struggle with the tub,” “Stairs are getting hard.”
- Safety/Security: “I worry about the kids near the railing,” “Doors don’t feel secure.”
- Health: “Air quality,” “Sensory issues,” “Mold and allergies.”

Training content for remodelers, including resources like [Sandler pain step articles](https://info.borovitz.sandler.com/blog/sandler-pain-step-for-remodelers-turn-emotion-into-action), consistently shows that when salespeople can tie at least three project drivers to EPIC BASH categories, homeowners are more willing to invest in better materials and commit sooner, because the project now clearly solves problems they feel every day.

## Use FUDWACHAS to trigger urgency and action

**FUDWACHAS is a set of nine emotional trigger words—Frustrated, Upset, Disappointed, Worried, Anxious, Concerned, Annoyed, Hate, and Struggling—that signal a homeowner is ready to spend money to fix a problem.** Your aim is to help them *say* one or more of these words out loud.

Most homeowners won’t volunteer these terms. They’ll say, “We sigh every time we walk into the kitchen.” You can gently label the feeling: “It sounds like that’s really frustrating.” If they reply, “Yeah, it is frustrating,” they now own the word—and the urgency that comes with it. Negotiation experts and Sandler‑style trainers call this **labeling**. Once someone accepts a label, they are more likely to act in line with it.

If you mis‑label (“That sounds upsetting”), they’ll often correct you (“It’s more disappointing than upsetting”). That’s still a win; now “disappointed” is their word. One remodeler tracked his discovery notes for a quarter and found that when he documented at least two FUDWACHAS words per qualified lead, his close rate jumped from around 25% to over 50% on those opportunities.

You can combine EPIC BASH and FUDWACHAS in real conversations. Suppose a homeowner says, “We don’t host holidays anymore because the house feels cramped.” You might respond, “So you’re feeling embarrassed and a bit disappointed that you can’t have people over the way you’d like?” If they agree, you’ve linked **Embarrassed/Cramped** (EPIC BASH) with **Disappointed** (FUDWACHAS). Your design and price now answer a much bigger problem than “replace the cabinets.”

## Work all four pain levels on 3–5 issues to reach 60–92% closes

**There are four levels of pain: the recognized problem, why it exists, the deeper EPIC BASH driver, and the FUDWACHAS emotion underneath—and working through all four levels on multiple pains dramatically increases remodeling close rates.** Internal call‑intelligence studies on thousands of recorded sales conversations show a step‑change in results as you go deeper.

Level 1 is the recognized pain: “The kitchen is old.” Most remodelers stop here and close only about **10%** of those opportunities. Level 2 explores why it exists: “We’ve lived here 12 years, it was old when we moved in, and we never had the money.” Just reaching this level can nudge closes toward **20%**.

Level 3 is the unrecognized EPIC BASH pain: “We don’t invite friends over anymore; we’re embarrassed.” When salespeople connect projects to these drivers, close rates often jump to around **50%**, according to both Sandler training data and articles on the pain funnel like [this guide](https://info.borovitz.sandler.com/blog/use-the-sandler-pain-funnel-to-win-more-remodel-deals).

Level 4 adds explicit FUDWACHAS emotion: “Every time we get invited to someone else’s house, it’s frustrating knowing we can’t reciprocate.” At this point, the homeowner has a compelling emotional reason to make a change now, and your solution fits that urgency.

When you take **three separate pains** (for example: entertaining, workflow, accessibility for parents) through all four levels, close rates around **60%** are realistic. Do this with **five pains** and internal training data shows closes as high as **92%**—yet only about **3%** of remodelers consistently put in that level of discovery work. If you commit to working five pains all the way down regularly, you’ll quickly separate yourself from competitors who still sell to surface problems and wonder why prospects keep “thinking about it” forever.

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