Do you charge for Quotes ?

[Markyd]

I charge for visit and quote and if its accepted take the cost off the invoice

 

[LukeD]

I charge for visit and quote and if its accepted take the cost off the invoice

I can see this becoming normal .Too many think we have to make time to fit in with their schedule !!

 

[Dustydazzler]

I can see this becoming normal .Too many think we have to make time to fit in with their schedule !!

£50 for site visit and written quote

£50 comes off the final bill once the job is complete and paid for in full

 

[7029 dave]

What about broken appointments, they should be charged too.

 

[littlespark]

Can you say they broke a contract? Even a verbally agreed contract?


Realistically it’s part of the unproductive time that should be covered by the overheads you factor into the prices of all your jobs…. Like running to the wholesalers, typing up bills and sitting in macdonalds drive thru.

 

[JBW175]

I feel your pain, I’ve had a couple of rewires recently where they’ve gone with a cheaper quote, and I thought I’d been quite competitive on pricing too.

I had one job I went to look at last month where the bloke wanted to do the work (rewire) himself and me to sign it off; he even had the cheek to ask me for any tips I could give him on cable sizes and routing etc… needless to say he got nowt from me.

 

[LukeD]

What about broken appointments, they should be charged too.

Depends on what notice . But its all down to terms and condition ."Pimlico robbers" terms are unreal and they really do make a customer pay . Its all down to getting customers to treat you as a business rather than "good old Dave" etc and thinking they can walk over you .But at the same time , a trade has to also make sure they are on time etc for meetings and starting works etc!

 

[pc1966]

To some extent you have to just accept that making quotes and winning only a proportion is part of the cost of doing business. For a lot of jobs it is fairly simple and you don't spend too much time doing it.

If it is a big or complicated job then the approach suggested above of charging a nominal fee for your time, even say £25-50, that is deducted from the price if you win is one way to stop too much time-wasting. There is a big risk of them going elsewhere where they don't get charged to price it, so maybe worth considering how many invites to quote you really want/need, even though you probably stand a much higher chance of getting them if you do get a fee to quote.

Of course if all they want is a ball-park figure to budget you often can give a typical range with little input, but you have to be VERY clear it is not a firm offer and you would need to visit the site, etc, at a fee to give an accurate figure and check none of your assumptions about the property, type of supply, condition of installation, etc, were wrong.

 

[LukeD]

What about if the customer wants a detailed list of works with drawings etc ? What happens if they just wants all the info and then to find someone to follow your plan of works etc > ? !

 

[Dustydazzler]

What about if the customer wants a detailed list of works with drawings etc ? What happens if they just wants all the info and then to find someone to follow your plan of works etc > ? !

This is a bit like Free samples, if too many people take the p!ss then the free samples stop and become chargeable samples ?