Building and wasting time..can you help?

building

can anyone give us some tips. We find we waste a lot of time running around to give people quotes but we often find they use us as a second/third quote to bounce off someone else. This involves time and money (diesel etc). I have suggested we charge a fee that then gets credited back when they go with the work. Considering that we offer like for like quotes and we do an excellent job I wonder if anyone has any ideas.

robv_3

Its part of the job. Most people will not pay for a quote so if you have to much work its a good way forward to slow the work coming in.

No job is won of price alone. If the punter does not bond with you in the 10-15 minutes your there might as well walk away. Normally work on getting 1/4 jobs, any more and are quoting to cheap and less doing something wrong.

newfunk

I get this all the time,part and parcel of being self employed im afraid...

[Deleted User]

Unfortunately it goes with the territory. Having just spent £20k on an extension I would not have dreamed of picking the builder I did pick unless I'd had about a few round to look and quote first. Of those, 2 did not not bother to turn up so my time was wasted as well!

The advice given out by the Federation of Master Builders IS to get more than one quote.

Unfortunately, for every decent builder there must be at least another one (if not more) who vary from unscrupulous to downright fraudulent and dangerous.

My builder trned out to be excellent and I would recommend him without hesitation.

I appreciate time is of the essence to you as well - so if you are self employed perhaps it will help to set up a GOOD website that will answer basic questions, show that you have insurance, before and after pics etc...

If you find you are really busy with work you could perhaps just do quotes at the end of the day on your way home maybe? If you're THAT busy with work you can be selective with those - but if you are still getting established then unfortunately there's not a lot you can do to avoid the initial legwork of doing quotes.

vansboy

Have you tried ASKING the customer WHY they chose someone else??

Or even a polite, 'Thats my quote - but if you REALLY think it's too dear/too much for your budget/out of your range, I'm sure we can sort something out' fone call, a few days after you've priced the job?

I always tended to try & confirm a customer, when buying a vehicle, that they can actually see the value of my one, rather thanthe next garages, one.

Don't always work, though!!



VB

building

we have actually nearly finished putting a website together so am glad that you mention this. Some of your comments were helpful. thanks

Deleted_User wrote:

Unfortunately it goes with the territory. Having just spent £20k on an extension I would not have dreamed of picking the builder I did pick unless I'd had about a few round to look and quote first. Of those, 2 did not not bother to turn up so my time was wasted as well!

The advice given out by the Federation of Master Builders IS to get more than one quote.

Unfortunately, for every decent builder there must be at least another one (if not more) who vary from unscrupulous to downright fraudulent and dangerous.

My builder trned out to be excellent and I would recommend him without hesitation.

I appreciate time is of the essence to you as well - so if you are self employed perhaps it will help to set up a GOOD website that will answer basic questions, show that you have insurance, before and after pics etc...

If you find you are really busy with work you could perhaps just do quotes at the end of the day on your way home maybe? If you're THAT busy with work you can be selective with those - but if you are still getting established then unfortunately there's not a lot you can do to avoid the initial legwork of doing quotes.

newfunk

The thing that annoys me the most is when they call you after someone has been in and bodged the job up!! And expect you to honour your quote! I had a couple who I quoted to do some joinery work for! I never heard anything and had to assume that someone else was doing the work! 6 weeks later i had a call, could I come and look at some work!I went round and you have never ever seen such a bodge job!! I spent twice as long putting right what they had done wrong!!!

Also I will only work for so much an hour, I know Im good at my job, clean, tidy honest and reliable, so I wont drop my prices!! You get what you pay for....I also find that, if you do what you say you are going to, and dont cut corners, your more likely to get more work, from family and friends...

N9eav

Personally I would say the biggest pain in the !!!!!! is when you call for a quote and the builder or tradesman does not show up! So you tell all your friends not to bother with that company as they are un-relaible and did not have the courtesy to honour the appointment.

robv_3

Trades men turning up, agreeing to give a quote and then hearing nothing from them. If they just told you there were not interested.

newfunk

I always give a quote, even if its a high one!

John_M_Business

From my perspective - those builders that spend time on a quote often 'add value' to the customer... so that if their price is higher, they can point to the itemisation of what is actually in the quote.

If you make a 'template' in Word then there is no reason why you cannot make a really nice quote within a couple of hours, put it in a nice presentation file and take the customer through it in detail. After all, how many different ways are there to describe a job? Most involve plumbing elements, plastering, wiring etc...

Otherwise, if you end up giving a 'verbal' on the cheap, then you're probably going to have issues down the line. Or if you just provide a letter, then where's the back-up.

The other thing is to find out very quickly whether:
a) You want the job
b) The customer is purely price-driven
These should be very easy to work out. If you don't want the job, or the customer is price-driven then don't spend any time on the quote, just offer a high verbal quote and send them on their way. Then concentrate on the people who are prepared to pay good money for good work.