Builders charging for quotes

RobDavies

Easy money.... charge fifty quid for a quote but price the job at twice the normal rate... customer goes elsewhere, builder pockets the dosh.

Do that four times a day... that’s a thousand quid a week.   Genius. 

Neill

russpm said:

It's tricky for contractors as they do have to quote for a lot of work and they know they will actually get say 1 in 5 jobs. However, that's the norm in this sector and its baked into their overheads and profit on all the work they do actually win.

I've worked in construction as a consultant for over 20 years and have seen these requests popping up lately. I would say don't bother with a contractor that wants paying for a quote as they probably don't want the job anyway. 

If it feels hard work now then when they get onsite it will be even harder. Trust me on this.
Listen to your gut feeling, if it feels wrong or hard work go elsewhere.

It's sometimes best to go with a builder that has done decent work for family or friends and you also have an 'in' with them that way. Usually the best builders don't even advertise as they just get repeat business and recommendations. That is the best route to go if you can. 

In a place the size of Manchester I'd be surprised if any decent tradesman had to actively "advertise", there's so much demand at the moment and not enough labour.  I agree asking around family, friends, etc should reveal who the good guys are but actually getting them interested in doing the work is another matter.

Most good tradesmen these days have usually attracted a pool of customers who provide them with a continuous supply of work. So unless they are desperate to expand, or unless for some reason they suddenly lose a number of customers, they simply don't want or need any new business, and especially not for low value jobs.

I haven't come across this charging for quotes business but frankly I'm not at all surprised especially if he's a sole trader.  It's not a financial tactic, I'm sure the guy does it simply to weed out the timewasters.     

Handsome_Chris

If it makes you feel any better, GigRig charged me £10 to tell me which of their products I needed to buy to power my pedalboard.  The £10 was not deductible when buying the equipment from them.

Rowby1

Handsome_Chris said:

If it makes you feel any better, GigRig charged me £10 to tell me which of their products I needed to buy to power my pedalboard.  The £10 was not deductible when buying the equipment from them.

They’ve changed that then because it used to be.

Handsome_Chris

Rowby1 said:

Handsome_Chris said:

If it makes you feel any better, GigRig charged me £10 to tell me which of their products I needed to buy to power my pedalboard.  The £10 was not deductible when buying the equipment from them.

They’ve changed that then because it used to be.

This was in Jan 2019.

ToneControl

Whereabout are you in Manchester?

EricTheWeary

We had an electrician through Checkatrade. Said he's never been busier and can just do jobs within ten minutes of his house now and work full time.  £50 call out fee; now that included the work he actually did which was fine but I think he would have asked for it regardless. 

Some councils run trusted trader schemes and they can be worth looking for. 

jonnyburgo

ToneControl said:

Whereabout are you in Manchester?

Hazel Grove Stockport

ToneControl

jonnyburgo said:

ToneControl said:

Whereabout are you in Manchester?

Hazel Grove Stockport

ah, opposite direction to my mate who does bathrooms, but I'll ask him for advice though

ToneControl

everyone is going nuts doing home improvements
best advice might be to wait 6-12 months?

Rowby1

Handsome_Chris said:

Rowby1 said:

Handsome_Chris said:

If it makes you feel any better, GigRig charged me £10 to tell me which of their products I needed to buy to power my pedalboard.  The £10 was not deductible when buying the equipment from them.

They’ve changed that then because it used to be.

This was in Jan 2019.

Ah, okay. Thinking back it’s probably five years ago when I did it....

Snap

You can't charge for a quote iMO. To give a parallel, our business runs off project work that almost always involves a significant amount of time spent on quoting and often pitching. Sometimes that can amount to several days work for just one pitch. If we turned round and sent a bill for the quote that would soon be the end of our invitation to quote.

What you can do though is tell any prospective builders that you will be putting your job to tender and looking at at least three quotes. Tbh, a builder should expect that to be the case. If they don't, I'd say they can whistle.

We did a big renovation project a few years ago and we had several quotes. They ranged in quality and in the end we chose the most thorough quote which was also a bill of quantities. As the buyer, that showed attention to detail, quality and professionalism  - all things you need in a builder. One of the quotes was a one page doc with a big figure at the bottom. The firm we picked in the end were brilliant, and the quality of their quote was a true indication of the standard of eventual work. We had to wait a bit for them to start. Never take a builder on who isn't busy - very bad sign. Better to wait a long time and get a good job than get a bunch of jokers in quickly - you'll likely regret at leisure.

Another thing to check is that they will be on your job without break - none of this boggin off to do other jobs whilst doing yours. Been on the receiving end of that once, really frustrating.

You also need to be wary of the financial situation of the builder too. Look into that if you can. Some friends of ours got stung badly by a builder who went bust part way through a house renovation. Not only were they severely out of pocket, they also ended up having to move into a rented house as their own was in such a state.

Dominic

^ you are spot on. The Construction company that I ran many years ago would often have Tenders /Quotes that ran to 300 pages and 300 hours work for professionals just for a simple £750,000 House Refurbishment let alone larger commercial projects.This would also involve payment/progress graphs ,capital expenditure projections etc.
 None was ever charged for although the cost of such an excercise would often be £5000 and much more.
 There is also a mindset within the industry that 80% of tenders sent to construction companies go straight in the bin -that could be 10 packages per week because nobody makes money in a race to the bottom.......that's just for busy fools.
Some people think it's clever to tell small builders that they are getting 5 quotes .....all the small builders (ie turnover under £2m )I know  will just take that as perfect disincentive and have zero interest . One very good small builder I know who is a chartered Surveyor himself with a very sensible firm of around 20 employees including a Structural Engineer does beautiful work in a very well organised way told me that as soon as he is confronted with that situation simply tells the client with a blunt honesty "Sorry,you won't be our customer - anybody can work for nothing and we don't need to ". They have a 2 year waiting list so they must do something right even though they are quite expensive.
 In reality,when it comes to your home I think you need to buy the best/most expensive and professional builder ......that way you only cry once and the quality and care remain long after the price is forgotten ...........all for 20 % difference.
It's one arena where cheap really can be a false economy and a very stressful mistake.
 

midlifecrisis

i find it appauling that he would charge for a quote. I certainly wouldnt pay for it. If he's really so busy that he wants to deter timewasters he should just say he's too busy to quote at the moment. sounds a complete cnt.

Adey

ToneControl said:

everyone is going nuts doing home improvements
best advice might be to wait 6-12 months?

Or learn some skills and do it yourself!