what is it with customers??!

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Freerider_2009 said:
your not wrong there mate!

might as well ask them before I go see the job when they want it doing, because 95% of the time they expect you to start immediately/next day, and 95% of the time for us we CANT do that!
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Yep, i get this all the time, if i can't start it straight away there not intrested..
 
Do you gie written quotes for every job?

I just tell the price there and then when i quote it..

Never done a written quote yet.

Am i doing it wrong?
 
[quote a
uthor=skimmin2day link=topic=5319.msg63350#msg63350 date=1265921861]
Bod its all part of the domestic game mate.i think you gotta give a quote on the spot,well i always do on almost every job.
i know what materials i need,iknow what they cost i know how long it will take i just add them together and give them a price there and then.
that way you put them on the spot and you can negotiate the price out there and then if need be.

[/quote]



Eaxacty what i do..
 
Sometimes after a quote people say - and how much for cash?

I just say - that was for cash and smile.
 
nelly said:
Sometimes after a quote people say - and how much for cash?

I just say - that was for cash and smile.
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If they say that to me i say it's the same wether it's cheque or cash as i declare everything, ::)
I say it's a business so i have to put everything through the books. ;D
 
Whats a cheque??? is it some kind of plaster? like wba? never come acroos one of those chequers thingy me bobs?
Strictly cash for me,i never ask for any money up front,i beleive in mutual trust and tell the customer i expect the same,but i want paying on the day i finnish no quibbling or haggling and for larger jobs i want paying in stages.
 
Went to look at a job the other day was put on the spot for a price told them how much,[the price was very tight],they said it was a bit more than they wanted to pay so off i went to the van and thought thank f**k for that.
 
Once you made a few boo boo price errors it stops mate beleive me.It can still happen from time to time,but you learn from mistakes previously made.
When ever i get the ooh its more than the other quote or its more than i thought it would cost me, i reply ....last week i got my van serviced with new brake pads they charged me £80 an hr + vat plus parts for 4 hrs work and your complainging about £200 labour for a days hard work?
If you cant do it yourself you got to pay,you can pay for a cowboy or pay a decent rate for a decent job your choice.
 
Yeah, erm, if you f*ck a price up they cant make you do the job!

If they phone you just say sorry I messed the priced up it will be £100 more (or whatever) you made a mistake

What are they gonna do?
 
Nisus said:
nelly said:
Sometimes after a quote people say - and how much for cash?

I just say - that was for cash and smile.
Click to expand...

If they say that to me i say it's the same wether it's cheque or cash as i declare everything, ::)
I say it's a business so i have to put everything through the books. ;D
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I tell them I prefer cash, cos I tell my misses I only earn 14 quid a day :D
 
nelly said:
Sometimes after a quote people say - and how much for cash?

I just say - that was for cash and smile.
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funny that, the customer said that to me "it WILL be in CASH, if that makes a difference!"

"erm no, it all has to go in the bank" if I didnt bank any cash how the f**k would I pay me bills! knob
 
craigpalmer18 said:
it never changes i had a fella ring me boxing day and ask could i go do an emergency plastering job for him
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You shoulh have said for £100 an hour i will do it in a father christmas suit
 
nelly said:
Nisus said:
nelly said:
Sometimes after a quote people say - and how much for cash?

I just say - that was for cash and smile.
Click to expand...

If they say that to me i say it's the same wether it's cheque or cash as i declare everything, ::)
I say it's a business so i have to put everything through the books. ;D
Click to expand...

I tell them I prefer cash, cos I tell my misses I only earn 14 quid a day :D
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And she would probably believe it when she sees the amount and quality of work ;)
 
Freerider_2009 said:
average size!

Ill deffo start asking them when they are looking at having it done, wasting my time driving miles to look for (french word) all!
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mate i know you keep chirping about quality but a week does seem to be a very long time to do this job still what ever blows yer frock up
 
ask em if they want to pay cash or not before you chirp up with the price and 9 times out of ten the answer is 'cash!' cos they think theyre gonna get a bargain... if they say 'cheque' just wack another 30 percent on top...

its the 'extras' that i usually do myself over with... once ive priced the overskim or whatever the bread and butter work is i nearly always end up doing the skirting or flooring or painting or whatever for next to nothing...
I still remove and replace rads for 20/30 quid, box pipes in for a tenner, change all the sockets and switches for f'ck all...


god knows why, prolly the look on there faces once ive told em how much to skim it out but then again, a days painting is a nice little break from working my arse off plastering...
 
If you only charge a tennetr for boxing in pipes mate i will give you all of mine. I could make a nice little butty off you
 
A bloke I used with liked to give a price on the spot. Then on the drive home would think, damn I forgot about this, or that and then realise he had gone in too cheap.

I always give it a couple of days just in case i have missed something out.

One of my first jobs after christmas was to skim and cove a 3 bedroom house.

I priced it all up and went over it a couple of times to make sure i got my figures right.

I gave the customer my quote who kindly accepted.

The next day I realised I missed off the price for the coving.

What a c**t!!!

I was only about £120 down but its enough to bring a little tear to your eye.
 
£120 down? f**k that. tell them you made a mistake and its £120 more. as for rads i personally don't like touching them as im not educated enough if i broke something and had to fix it. ive never had a customer turn me down due to not taking a rad off, theyre normally more than happy to do it themselves and save the cost of a plumber.
 
rads are no worries if its a newish system, its the old ones that are the pain in the arse...
if the valves will turn completely off your laffin but some of the old ones have a nasty habit of leaking so need capping, then you gotta wait till its dry and painted before you go back and refit em...

i dont mess around too much boxing in pipes, all i do is cut three strips of board, screw some 25x50 lath along the long edges, assemble it then just run a bead of gripfill up the wall side laths and bosha... job done, cap it off with a couple of thincoats...
same for two sided boxes...
still, if i was asked to literally just go in a customers house and box the pipes in only id prolly want 50 quid a box, skimming it too i charge next to sod all... then wish i'd charged 50 quid, then realise theyd have said 'o, just skim behind them then' in which case i'd have prolly just boxed em in for free cos i hate skimming behind pipes!

same thing with the sockets really... much better to stick some new fronts on, get the punter to pick em up next time theyre in wilko's or wherever for a couple of quid each... women will always go for it once you tell em theyre pence to buy... looks better, means i aint gotta clean anything goes more towards a recommendation that anything else really..
might even be an idea to buy a sh'tload off screwfix cos theyre dirt cheap when you buy a boxful, and charge a fiver per item fitted, same with the pendants..

wickes sell a radiator enamel in a spray tin for about 8 quid, sprayed a couple of rads up recently while theyve been off, looks nice and new again when they go back on...

prolly be better to just go in at a better price in the first place and stop itemising all the silly 'extras'?

im starting to realise that if you give em too much choice they take the p'ss...
 
I didnt want to say anything as I get the odd house to skim, plus other smaller jobs for the customer every now and again as he is a developer.

Ill just make it back on the next one!!
 
islandview said:
I didnt want to say anything as I get the odd house to skim, plus other smaller jobs for the customer every now and again as he is a developer.

Ill just make it back on the next one!!
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Sometimes you have to take it on the chin when ever you,ve forgotten to include something in your price. ???
Especially if the customer is puttin regular work your way! ;)
 
you say your going to be making it up on the next job. but that means your over charging them by £120 and theres a chance they will think your taking the piss because you were so cheap last time. better to be honest imo
 
rockhardsolidplastering said:
Freerider_2009 said:
average size!

Ill deffo start asking them when they are looking at having it done, wasting my time driving miles to look for (french word) all!
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mate i know you keep chirping about quality but a week does seem to be a very long time to do this job still what ever blows yer frock up
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3 days to do hall stairs and landing and two days for bedroom, dont wanna work me tits off, two sets a day, quite resonable down my way mate!
 
£30 is cheap m8...I charge £65 to remove and replace 1 rad. If theres any probs that arise from removing them £35 an hour to sort. Thats what a plumber would charge including callout.
 
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