Discuss Hours spent pricing and doing customer site meeting.... in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

Welcome to ElectriciansForums.net - The American Electrical Advice Forum
Head straight to the main forums to chat by click here:   American Electrical Advice Forum

Yeah he's worth a few quid. The company he owns design and make soft toys. The sort that cost about £30 for a teddy bear in gift shops when you take the kids out for the day :eek: The house itself isn't huge in relation to the land but it's everything else that goes with it. It will be a cracker of a job just got to nail the customer down.

Could you PM me the brand of the bear please Lee, so I know who to boycott (even if my five years old daughter is screaming for it!).

You say he is a nice fella, but the picture painted tells me otherwise. I had a loaded customer recently, he was much more pleasant. There has to be an appreciation of the time you have spent so far on this, also there has to be some acceptance of your quoting. The constant knocking back would put me off doing the job as I would expect constant niggly nitpicking as the job progressed. Then it's back to square one; I can do it that way if you want but it will cost more......
Hope you get it but don't envy your position. Look forward to the pics though!!
 
Crikey Lee, I think you've just got to bear with this one which I know you will be. Just let off your steam and get back to it :)

You say the chap seems ok so I guess he's just being extra cautious as it's such a big job with so many fancy extras that he wants just right.

A pain at the moment, but 'wow' when it's finished and you look at what you've done (and been paid of course!)
 
A few thoughts ...
At some point you will have priced it enough times to really not want do it again. Are you there yet?
Who is your competition? You don't have to be perfect, just a bit better in the Customer's opinion.
Can you turn Customer away from price and towards value? LSK work is top class and has LSK Warranty. Not too many folks can actually put all he wants together and have it all work seamlessly.
 
He should have got the Architect to spec the job the positions of the fittings and which fittings to be used, would have made your job a lot easier.

Something like this,

Hours spent pricing and doing customer site meeting.... Screen Shot 2017-08-10 at 09.06.40 - EletriciansForums.net
 
It sounds like you have designed the installation based on what he has asked for after going through various options to reduce the cost. So if you are happy with the price you have submitted, then its not you that needs to adjust anything, its just is expectations that need adjusting. might be a good job but if you don't do this job some thing else will just fill its place. I'd just let him sleep on it.
 
He wants costs for different variables because he has a budget which he needs to stick with but builder has had a few unexpected issues which has ended up costing a few quid.

Money isn't an issue with the customer as he has pots of it but wants to strike the balance between build cost and what it will be worth once complete.

It's really annoying as he's a nice chap and I do get that the cost has to be proportional to the end result but come on mate I'm nearly 20 hours in .....

This guy sounds like someone to avoid, over the years I've done a lot of high end property fit outs with mixed results

With some the cost to final value is not a consideration they just want it done a certain way and compromise is not an option they will live there and they want the best

With others they want it done that certain way and they want it on the cheap they want the best but don't want to pay for it and you generally get messed around

These sort of job's are the ones I call the triplicate book jobs, every variation, addition or wouldn't it be nice if is written down and they sign for it, it is then priced and agreed no if's or but's everything is clear some customers feel you don't trust them but it works both ways for me as some just try it on at every opportunity and you can end up losing a lot of money just adding an additional socket with some of the high end stuff
 
Feel for you on this He saving on having someone design it and then wants to chip you Thats wrong in my eyes those hours you have wasted should be chargeable at a agreed rate as what a architect would charge
 
He should have got the Architect to spec the job the positions of the fittings and which fittings to be used, would have made your job a lot easier.

Something like this,

View attachment 37766

IMO even with architect on board it can be problematic, the only advantage can be where the customer alters things and it is all done using architects instructions as it keeps the paper trail running through one person
 
I always quote a 'per point' basis.

I had 1 extension / alteration which was costed at £1400 initially but she gave me the 'while you are here can you do this, that and the other'

She almost flipped when I told her the final cost and asked me how I came to that.
I asked her if she rememberd agreeing to the fixed cost per item and she said YES

I gave a breakdown via spread sheet with an itemised detail for every thing and she came over ' oh I see what you mean' and paid it.
 

Reply to Hours spent pricing and doing customer site meeting.... in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Electrician Courses Green Electrical Goods PCB Way Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Pushfit Wire Connectors Electric Underfloor Heating Electrician Courses
These Official Forum Sponsors May Provide Discounts to Regular Forum Members - If you would like to sponsor us then CLICK HERE and post a thread with who you are, and we'll send you some stats etc

Electrical Forum

Welcome to the Electrical Forum at ElectriciansForums.net. The friendliest electrical forum online. General electrical questions and answers can be found in the electrical forum.
This website was designed, optimised and is hosted by Untold Media. Operating under the name Untold Media since 2001.
Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock