How to bargain with a contractor, please?

dcwho

Finally i found someone whose quote & style of working are close to what i was hoping for. So it is time for the next step.

Most important question(this is the first time we are doing house renovation): Is it appropriate to bargain with a contractor? If so, is there a general rule that how much deduction should i be looking at? Is there a percentage? Or is there any general advice on how to bargain the quote?

It is a 28-35K job for a 3/4 bed-semi including central heating and rewiring, so i guess is a considerate for domestic jobs.

Any advice or previous experience is appreciated! Thank you!

keystone

Why do you automatically seem to assume that he has got "fat" in his quote to enable a bargaining process to take place.

If he's given you a quote he's given you a quote for the job. End of. Why should he take less than he has quoted?

Cheers

WestonDave

As above - most contractors quote on a take it or leave it basis knowing that if the price isn't good enough they are likely to lose the job to someone else. Its also questionable whether you want to start off on a big job like that with a contractor who thinks you are out to cut his profit down - chances are if he doesn't tell you to get stuffed, he'll be looking for every little extra to add on that he can.

keystone

Agreed and I take the view that if the client says "Oh well XYZ will do it for 30% less than you" then my reply is "OK give them the job then". You have my number for when XYZ screws the job up."

Cheers

dcwho

keystone wrote: »

Why do you automatically seem to assume that he has got "fat" in his quote to enable a bargaining process to take place.

If he's given you a quote he's given you a quote for the job. End of. Why should he take less than he has quoted?

Cheers

I did not assume: I said i was not sure whether or not i should bargain, and if yes how much.

And I think it makes sense someone(especially without any previous experience)wants to negotiate at this point. For your information, for the same job, i have got quote from 22k to 50k, so i would be stupid if not wondering about negotiating the quote at all!

keystone

OK you have different quotes from different potential contractors. Which is it then £28 - 35 or £22 - 50? Has each contractor quoted against exactly the same scope of work I mean a written scope of work not just a chatty walk around. If they haven't then they could well have interpreted the requirement differently so you can't actually compare the quotes at all. So an assumption (if that is indeed what you have done) that you can knock the £ 35k man down to 28k just because someone else has quoted that sum is based on a potentially flimsy argument.

Sorry but your lead post did suggest (to me anyway) that you have made that assumption. I can't be held responsible if you write something that is open to interpretation and my interpretation is different to your intent.;)

Cheers

dcwho

keystone wrote: »

OK you have different quotes from different potential contractors. Which is it then £28 - 35 or £22 - 50? Has each contractor quoted against exactly the same scope of work I mean a written scope of work not just a chatty walk around. If they haven't then they could well have interpreted the requirement differently so you can't actually compare the quotes at all. So an assumption (if that is indeed what you have done) that you can knock the £ 35k man down to 28k just because someone else has quoted that sum is based on a potentially flimsy argument.

Sorry but your lead post did suggest (to me anyway) that you have made that assumption. I can't be held responsible if you write something that is open to interpretation and my interpretation is different to your intent.;)

Cheers

Thank you for your help, and sorry if my post was not clear enough.

Yes I've sent the same job list to everyone, and they have all come to the house and looked at it. So the quote is about 23k - 50k, 23k and 50 k are the two extremes, and there are another three in the range of 28k-34k, so i assume it is a 32k type of job in the end? (didn't mean to have 5 quotes, but had some funny expriences and in the end needed to find more.)

The middle three companies are supposed to be equally good and quite big companies (as lots of good reviews on ratedpeople, and also do lots of commercial building work)...

shirlgirl2004

I managed to knock 5% off the price of our £60k extension. However this is builder I've used before and he was still £2k more expensive than the other quote I would have been prepared to go with. In the end he wanted the job, he has done work for us before so he knows we pay when we're supposed to and don't give hassle and we know he'll do a good job. I wouldn't want to knock a builder that I don't know down though because the first time you ask him to add an extra on then the cost will be double what it would have been.

fluffpot

Well you can ask... but don't expect!

If there's some work that could be done by you instead of the builder, that might be a place to start eg I often 'let' my customers remove all the carpets before a rewire as it's cheaper for them to do it than to pay me (BTW I also hate removing carpets, so we're all happy!)