Negotiating price of carpet/vinyl

Mee

Hi All,

I'm waiting for a quote from a small company who have a good reputation for their fitting service. The vinyl I want and selected is £19/m2. I've found some Internet retailers are selling it for less - one has marked it down from £17.99 to £14.99, and I checked CarpetRight this morning and they are selling it under another brand name but for £16.99/m2. My question is should I and how should I negotiate on the vinyl price?
I'm hoping to get a few more quotes in the meantime.

phill99

But is that the total cost? Carpet right maybe cheaper per sq m but their fitting and hidden costs may push it up.

Ask for a final quote from each and then compare.

You won't get them down to the internet price - internet reatilers well on a lower margin and work on mass sales to make their money.

And you need to ask yourself this: "What is most important, fitting and customer service or price?". If you were only interested in price, you wouldn't have made this post - you would have bougfht it of the web and got an unknown fitter to lay it. If you are interested in service, then pay there prices and let them make a decent living.

Mee

phill99 wrote: »

But is that the total cost? If you are interested in service, then pay there prices and let them make a decent living.

Thanks. I appreciate that I'm not comparing like with like in terms of overheads. I'm more concerned about service, but I would rather not pay over the odds for the materials on top of the service.

phill99

Mee wrote: »

Thanks. I appreciate that I'm not comparing like with like in terms of overheads. I'm more concerned about service, but I would rather not pay over the odds for the materials on top of the service.

But you will pay more for materials if the service is good. For instance you could buy the same product in Fortnum and Masons and Asda. People who are cost conscious will shop at Asda. People who want a high level of service will shop at Fortnum and Masons. Therefore you have to pay more for goods sometimes if you want a better level of service. If not, we would all shop at Aldi.

McKneff

Im sure if you asked them, they would do fitting only.
You get the vinyl yourself and their expert fitting - simples

Mee

McKneff wrote: »

Im sure if you asked them, they would do fitting only.
You get the vinyl yourself and their expert fitting - simples

I'm too much of a coward to ask such a thing and not confident I would get the right stuff. Very unmse I know...

Anyway, persuaded to the guy to lower the price (only by £1/sqm) for the vinyl which is more in line with the average price charged by other companies of similar size.

I just need to decide between the three quotes which is proving difficult...

Biggles

Mee wrote: »

I'm waiting for a quote from a small company who have a good reputation for their fitting service. The vinyl I want and selected is £19/m2. I've found some Internet retailers are selling it for less - one has marked it down from £17.99 to £14.99, and I checked CarpetRight this morning and they are selling it under another brand name but for £16.99/m2. My question is should I and how should I negotiate on the vinyl price?
I'm hoping to get a few more quotes in the meantime.

You don't actually seem to have any quotes at the moment, just headline prices per sq metre for the vinyl. Places like CarpetRight, Allied Carpets etc have attractive prices for the carpet/vinyl but we found their fitting charges practically doubled the total cost.

Don't think about proceeding until you have inclusive quotes for the job.

muskoka

I've always bought same carpet, same colour from C/Right for whole house. Anyway, this time they came & measured & I asked them for full breakdown i.e. cost of carpet, cost of underlay, grippers,complete breakdown of prices which they gave me.

I then decided to try a local carpet shop & went in with sample piece of carpet,complete breakdown of prices - chose a similar capet in local shop , similar underlay & asked them if they could price match. They saved me over £200. I was rather stunned to say the least. They were mega friendly & did say things are very hard these days. ~They worked hard to save me that £200, so I gotta give them the deal.

Strangled

Mee wrote: »

Hi All,

I'm waiting for a quote from a small company who have a good reputation for their fitting service. The vinyl I want and selected is £19/m2. I've found some Internet retailers are selling it for less - one has marked it down from £17.99 to £14.99, and I checked CarpetRight this morning and they are selling it under another brand name but for £16.99/m2. My question is should I and how should I negotiate on the vinyl price?
I'm hoping to get a few more quotes in the meantime.

They have a good reputation ...... I you want to haggle !! Exact same thing happened to me, (I'm a floorlayer, been in business 20 years) I recently measured and quoted for Karndean in a kitchen, it had quarry tiles down so needed priming before screeding, possibly a second screed before the Karndean was laid. I measured it and the client then piped up ... I've got 6 quotes already and you have been recommended by 4 people, if you can be the cheapest you can have the job.

Never even bothered doing the price ....... I have a good reputation and price jobs accordingly ..... its this 'negotiating' etc that is ruining small businesses and letting the big guys take over. For example, a double naplock, I charge £4.00 each door including fitting etc, a bit steep you may think, but Carpetright charge £12 for the same item .... supply only.
Do the math.

Mee

Biggles wrote: »

You don't actually seem to have any quotes at the moment, just headline prices per sq metre for the vinyl. Places like CarpetRight, Allied Carpets etc have attractive prices for the carpet/vinyl but we found their fitting charges practically doubled the total cost.

Don't think about proceeding until you have inclusive quotes for the job.

Thanks for the advice thus far. I received total quotes to start with from all three small companies. I had to ask for detailed quotes despite saying I wanted a break down on the initial visit, which I found rather disappointing. I'm still waiting for a breakdown from two of them. I checked CarpetRight only for the price of the vinyl as I'm very much aware of their other charges.

Mee

Strangled wrote: »

They have a good reputation ...... I you want to haggle !! Exact same thing happened to me, (I'm a floorlayer, been in business 20 years) I recently measured and quoted for Karndean in a kitchen, it had quarry tiles down so needed priming before screeding, possibly a second screed before the Karndean was laid. I measured it and the client then piped up ... I've got 6 quotes already and you have been recommended by 4 people, if you can be the cheapest you can have the job.

Never even bothered doing the price ....... I have a good reputation and price jobs accordingly ..... its this 'negotiating' etc that is ruining small businesses and letting the big guys take over. For example, a double naplock, I charge £4.00 each door including fitting etc, a bit steep you may think, but Carpetright charge £12 for the same item .... supply only.
Do the math.

Whilst I understand your situation. My situation and inexperience means I have to be sure with whom I do business and cost isn't the only consideration. I've been without floor cover for two years because I lost faith in tradesmen after the way I was treated by Carpet Right and a local fitter.

I probably wouldn't have persisted with getting other quotes, but I was concerned that the first fitter had made me wait a week for a written quote (due to his secretary being away (?)) and then only gave me total figure with summary of what was included, but not a breakdown. I politely informed the first fitter that the average price of the vinyl was and he offered to reduce it. Although, his company has a good reputation, I felt I should question charging so much more for the vinyl and labour and I thought I could only do that by comparing with other quotes.

In addition, I asked all three what would happen if the vinyl started bubbling. The most expensive of them (by £200) and the one I initially mentioned said they would come back; the second fitter said how my plywood floor could cause it over time...and listed all other causes, but didn't offer to fully adhere the vinyl, or come back; and the last fitter said I should contact my insurance company!!!

Aghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!