Semi detached - 3 Beds needs Central heating

justjohn

keystone wrote: »

What you mean is that your hourly rate was sufficient to cover all your overheads so anything you made on parts was pure profit and it was acceptable when you were doing it. Something is starting not to compute here.

Cheers

Yes but customer had freedom. they were not forced to use my parts. They were not paying well over the odds. The quotes were not clouded to maximize profit. it was competitive and could not be beaten. There is a big difference. The price/cost of materials let me do, what i was doing. if i had to buy retail/normal wholesale i would be only slightly cheaper than my competitors.

My bug bear is not with the profits on parts or many of the other stunts that are sometimes pulled for the high quotes. It the denials, excuses and justification for it.(also "slagging off/dissing of other plumbers low priced quote).

justjohn

diywhynot wrote: »

I look at a job, send a quote, customer says yes or no: those who say 'what if I supplied...', 'what if I laboured....', 'I've got other quotes cheaper than you...'can find someone else to dance to the tune.;)

Good utmost respect for you....Say it how it is.

LEJC

Sorry to butt in...but it does seem a bit as if the thread is moving from the original request by the OP into a bit of banter....perhaps its time to divert it back to the original post if anyone has anything construtive to add...afterall it was suggested that the OP start a new thread when he tacked his query onto someone elses earlier in the week!

justjohn

think OP got his answer and if he reads on he may be enlightened as to how many quotes are based.

south corgi gave him a range...should come into the low end

justjohn

ok ill bow out a dare say our path's will cross again lol

keystone

justjohn wrote: »

Yes but customer had freedom. they were not forced to use my parts.

Yes and you have freedom too to reject a quote or accept it. That freedom doesn't extend to analysisng it and browbeating the guy until he falls into line with your concept. The tradesman also has the freedom to offer a quote or not. If I have a similar job to quote to Person A who is a nice person, who can be trusted to pay the bill at the end they'll almost certainly get a lower price quoted than Person B who is obnoxious from the outset and sends signals that they are going to be trouble down the line. What would be wrong would be to give the same price to Person A as Person B including the "awkward customer factor" and then trouser the difference. What DWN says is true and I thanked him for it and you acknowledged it too.

They were not paying well over the odds.

So who determines what is "over the odds"? As a supplier you would have a different concept of that than the customer. Only you knew then what margin you really needed to keep yourself in business. You seem to want it the other way round now you are a customer. Sorry if I've misread that but thats the impression you are giving.

It the denials, excuses and justification for it.(also "slagging off/dissing of other plumbers low priced quote).

Sometimes low priced quotes are so obviously and transparently wrong that the correct advice must be to highlight that possibility to the questioner. Because thats what they came looking for. Or is that wrong too?

Cheers

keystone

justjohn wrote: »

think OP got his answer and if he reads on he may be enlightened as to how many quotes are based.

Yes. Good.

south corgi gave him a range...should come into the low end

But neither you nor I can say that and neither can Southcoast because he hasn't seen it and thats why he gave a range. It could be low end or it could be high end or it could be in the middle. "Should be low...." is pure speculation, poor advice and shouldn't/doesn't come into it.

Cheers

justjohn

keystone wrote: »

So who determines what is "over the odds"? As a supplier you would have a different concept of that than the customer. Only you knew then what margin you really needed to keep yourself in business. You seem to want it the other way round now you are a customer. Sorry if I've misread that but thats the impression you are giving.

Sometimes low priced quotes are so obviously and transparently wrong that the correct advice must be to highlight that possibility to the questioner. Because thats what they came looking for. Or is that wrong too?

Cheers

The industry is rife with quotes with large differences. This makes many quotes "over the odds". Many are the same install with same materials.

As a customer you want the best price. As business you maxamize profit. Both you attempt to get the most you can get away with.

To sum it up the trades have a high profit margin, that leaves them wide open to be undercut.

The smart tradesman knows this. Either lowers prices or he attempts to keep the high margin and plod along.

keystone

Then only thing that is wrong with the above is the automatic assumption and serious generalisation that ALL tradesmen have a high profit margin. You'll find tradesmen on here are just as critical of very high prices as they are very low prices.

Your last para is 100% spot on as long as thats his judgement and not inflicetd on him by someone else.

I think we are generally in accord.

Cheers.

southcoastrgi

most businesses work on a % basis ie 10-20% so if you sell a customer something for £1 you make 20p if something costs £1000 then you make £200 & as the building game normally involves a high cost on materials then it always seems that the supplier is making a vast profit, i think £30+ an hour for plumbing is a fair price bearing in mind that the guy isn't going to earn that every hr of every day of every wk so his actual wages are going to be alot less than that, you go to a solicitor & pay £500 an hr for a top end one & everything he tells you can be found by yourself on the internet or ref books but you are paying for his yrs of knowledge & expertise why should it be any different in the building game & some would say we are worth more than that if we fix your boiler to keep you warm or turn up & stop water pouring through your ceiling, there is def more value in that than sitting there writing a letter in a stupid wig.