How to negotiate a lower price for quote?

Mum22

Hi all

I have a quote for £5800 for replacing our windows and doors, also company wanting to charge 3% for putting it on credit card. Taking it to just under £6000

When I get in touch with them what type of amount should I try dropping it to?

I have in mind £5500 all in, inc CC charge. Is this reasonable.

I can put it on card now so they could get the business now.. Or if imposing card charge would wait until January, when I hav ethe cash through.
Would love to get them done before the winter!

Whats the best way to negotiate a lower price?

Many thanks to anyone that replies

bobhawke

If you're happy paying £5500 then tell them that the job is theirs if they do it for £5000. Best case scenario is they accept that, worst case they do a bit of bargaining and you end up paying what you are happy to pay. Can give them any number of reasons for it, your budget was only £4800 and you are stretching it at this that's why you have to put it on credit card, you got other cheaper quotes but you like them better etc

No idea if that price is reasonable or not, would need more details on work being done, access, materials etc to decide.

julianashcroft

Wrong, worst case is they tell you price is what they quoted and if you don't like it you can go somewhere else. Should you also lie to a contractor by saying you have cheaper quotes when you haven't?

KingL

Mum22 wrote: »

Whats the best way to negotiate a lower price?

Get more quotes. Either buy from a lower priced one or use a lower priced one to leverage the price of your preferred provider.

Bargain as hard as you like. They can only say no, can't they?

Big companies will sometimes knock 30%-50% off their initial prices if you hold out long enough, so be a hard-a55



Can you find a cheaper source of credit, rather than a card? Or split the payment - paying as much as you can in cash and then the remainder via some cheaper form of credit. You could still pay, say, £20 of the bill on credit card, so you get the section 75 protection.

Or 'make-do' with that plastic film stuff until January when you have all the cash.

Note that you will probably only have to pay half-up front, and doors/windows can take 3-6 weeks to manufacture, so you'll have a bit more time to save for the final payment.

Keep in mind that VAT is going up in January, so don't leave it too late.



edit: Oh, and your replacements will have to meet Building Regulation standards, so either use a FENSA registered supplier/installer or gen-up on the (new) regulations and make sure you are ordering the right specifications. If you don't use a FENSA agent, you can get the Local Authority building control dept to do the same work, but will likely have to pay extra. If you circumvent the process, you will likely have selling your property in future.

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andy69_2

julianashcroft wrote: »

Wrong, worst case is they tell you price is what they quoted and if you don't like it you can go somewhere else. Should you also lie to a contractor by saying you have cheaper quotes when you haven't?

Yeh you should lie! Hate people on here who say things like that, get what you can, its a harsh world out their with people trying to rip you off, you get the best price possible, if the contractor knows its cheap enough he wont go down to a lower price, if he knows he can afford to go lower cus he is ripping you off then he will!

Mum22

Many thanks for the advice.

I am waiting out for a third quote but so far have had £5800, and £5500.

Both companies are FENSA, but not huge nationwide companies. They are both local to the area and have 10 -15 years business behind them.

And the credit card option is ok as its interest free till next June, so can do the work earlier than the cash arrives (when my husband returns from Afghan in Jan)!

So far edging towards the higher priced company as info and paperwork/details received have been better. And states payment on completion!

Hope this is the right thing, now just need to plan what to say when sorting out the price....