Great ‘builders/decorators/handymen insider tips’ Hunt

nickj_2

a lot of tradesmen i meet thru my job seem to spend alot of time on their mobile
this in turn means that you will be paying for their time organizing golf / beer / footy etc

HugoSP

colmil wrote: »

Some people have a habit of asking for an 'estimate', this is a big mistake because that is exactly what they will get and they are leaving themselves wide open for additional costs.

Always ask for a 'quotation' this is binding, and should be accepted in writing including the amount that has been agreed upon.

In 2004 I had a free hour with a solicitor.

He told me that the legal distinction between the two terms was now virtually non existant.

However the spirit of what you say is sound. I will identify in a quote/estimate eactly what the client will pay for the work and state what caviats may exist.

For example, a client recently wanted to do certain works to her bathroom. The following are some of the individual items she wanted quotes for:

Supply and fit skylight
Supply and fit fan with roof vent kit
Install boxed in area for shower
Install shower
Tiling
Fit aqua panel around bath prior to tiling
Fit bath
Fit toilet and washand basin
Fit shower screen
Fit shower curtain rail
Manufacture custom bath panel
Tile floor inlcuding preparation
Fit towel rail in place of radiator

To complicate matters she didn't at this stage know which items she wanted. In effect she needed a price list.

To look at one item and put a price to it was easy. The problem is that when you combine certain items together the overall cost should come down.

This is for 2 reasons.

1. The tradesman is already on site, so combining 3 or 4 small jobs that he can do in a day makes sense.
2. Certain jobs dovetail together to save time. For example, if I am going to retile the bathroom and fit new basin and toilet, I will want to do the tiling behind where the basin and toilet are to be fitted before I fit them. This saves time because far fewer tiles need to be cut. Hence I would want to reflect this in my estimate.

Hence I had to explain to the client that prices are estimated depening on what works are requested. Dealing with the first reason above was easy. Te job was going to keep me there for several days so I was not going to have to make the journey to do the odd half hour job.

However I had to stab in the dark with some of the other items. Whilst it was easy to arrive at a cost of fitting the bath on its own, as this was not impacted by whether or not the client wanted another of the aforementioned jobs doing. areas like tiling were not as straighforward

riggy_2

nickj wrote: »

a lot of tradesmen i meet thru my job seem to spend alot of time on their mobile
this in turn means that you will be paying for their time organizing golf / beer / footy etc

most of my mobile calls are customers requiring quotes and other companies trying to sell me advertising and tools!! without a mobile phone how would you get in touch with a tradesman

aloiseb

The only time I tried to get 3 quotations for a job before choosing a builder, I wasted about 4 days hanging around at home waiting for them to call and not turning up, and then even more weeks waiting for the quote to arrive. No wonder people end up goingfor the first quote they finally manage to get!

Was I doing something wrong, or were my chosen builders just too popular to need my custom? i was going on neighbours' recommendations as i don't like using Yellow Pages. (In the end, the extension never happened....)

Househead_2

colmil wrote: »

Some people have a habit of asking for an 'estimate', this is a big mistake because that is exactly what they will get and they are leaving themselves wide open for additional costs.

Always ask for a 'quotation' this is binding, and should be accepted in writing including the amount that has been agreed upon.

In Court, i was informed that an "Estimate" is as binding as a "Quote" !!!

Its not all gravy and playing golf ... these days you have to be so specific and as i said earlier, communication is the key as the project progresses. I seriously want the job to go exactly as on the "Estimate"/"Quote". I just want to do a good job and get paid with no hiccups and disputes.
:eek:

BigZed_2

Just a quick thought, my husband is a builder and he always asks his customer if they would like him to tidy up at the end of the day. He explains that if it takes him 30 mins to do the tidy up, they are charge but he's not actually doing any work towards the job. Most people then say, no thanks, just work up until 5pm or whatever.

When he and his lads were working on our house, they left it in a right state at the end of the day, but for a £50 an hour joiner, I'd rather he was doing the woodwork than running around with the hoover...

..I'm not talking about leaving tools, etc around, but dust, stoor or wood shavings. I can clean that up for nought!

mollyeyre_2

weekendwarrior wrote: »

The diy book is dead! I suppose they will still be purchased by people who will buy them for Christmas presents, buy spending money buying a book is hardly saving money. You can get all the DIY information that you need here-

DIY Help

There is also support in the forum for when you get stuck Try ringing the publishers of the DIY books and asking them for a bit of advice

Thanks for pointing to the DIY site it is excellent, I have just moved to a newly built house so have to put up everything from curtain rails to toilet rail holders - and as I can't do most of my own 'bits' I employ handymen - have just discovered that he has put my pan shelves onto the brick wall with fixings designed to fix plasterboard to wood - will now know to have them replaced before everything falls around my ears.!! Thanks again, Molls

Waitrose_Carpark

Just to add my 2 cents:

Big DIY Books:
I always used to look up how to do stuff on the Internet but you could not possibly fathom how much more useful the Readers Digest DIY book is. Especially if you've got electrics to do and can't have your computer on at the same time. It's also absorbing as you always pick up little bits and pieces as you browse through it.

Students/College training:
I had a mate who had just finished a plastering course so I offered him a bedroom to do some 'practice' on. Even though I paid him the results weren't half as good as I expected and as a result I am having to patch up small areas myself and wallpaper the whole room to cover up the plasterwork (initially I was just going to paint the plaster). This was a calculated, accepted risk so I can't moan really!

Justamum

big_ste wrote: »

Many so called tradesman nowadys have never formally trained or if they have its on a 6 week course (we have all seen the ad for skills train where the labourer is a electrician after a few weeks.. that one drives me mad)

To become a "qualified" electrician after only 6 weeks training is appalling. Electricity can kill, and often electricians have to work "live" - a 6 week training course would not give the necessary skills for this. My husband qualified 5 years ago as an electrician. He worked for a local firm for all that time, with one day a week at college. Having seen all the stuff he had to learn in order to become properly qualified there is no way this can be learned in such a short time. The AM2 test at the end takes 3 days and is very difficult. I wish my husband was earning £25 an hour though . . .

yonny1

we live in an old property which needs one wall rendered outside as the rain gets in and my wallpaper is ruined !

The original rendering was poorly done,
all the way to the ground enabling rising damp and scoring lines on it which meant it was weaker and the frost could get to it and crack it
so.....
Ive had three tradesmen give me a quote

a) £250 - just re rendering around the window where the worst damp gets in and a few other bits, re masticating the window - but basically a patch job

b) £1800 - chipping off the whole wall, re rendering - but this means getting scaffolding and he wont guarantee the work

c)£780 - chipping off 6 inches along the bottom of all the rendering to stop the damp , chipping and re rendering where needed and painting the whole wall with a sealant - but again not guaranteed!

Help!! Dont want to seem like the thick female who has no idea re builders/quotes etc - but thats what I feel like!
Anyone got any advice? id really appreciate it! Cheers