Customer wants to supply material

[Poshspark]

what do you say when the customer wants to buy the materials after you have given them an estimate?
Do you let them?

 

[Octopus]

Presumably they want you to remove the "materials" element of your estimate.

I have a simply way of dealing with the customers who want to supply the parts - which is if they do, all well and good but when the parts are wrong and or missing I'll be charging my hourly rate to fix the issue.

PLUS: Customers never really understand all the parts you need!!

 

[DurhamSparky]

if they want to provide materials let them just make sure you send them to your wholesaler with a list and (give heads up first to say charge full price)... and when they provide a CU with no screws or wall plugs just sit there charging by the hour until he returns from B&Q with a bag of them.

 

[RWJ]

Yeah tell them to buy the from Meteor who will charge them the "web Price" and send you a cheque for discount. Meteor Electrical Wholesaler |Trade Electrical Supplies | Free Delivery UK and Ireland

Thanks mharries, yes we certainly do. In simple terms, it allows your customer to pay us directly for the materials without you loosing out on the discount you rightly deserve as an Electrician. We then post you a cheque for the difference between the 'Joe Bloggs' price total and your discounted price total. It doesn't eliminate all of your risk but a lot of Electricians have really latched onto it in the past 2-3 months Further details &

Video here or PM me if you want more info

 

[Guest123]

If they want to do it labour only thats fine.

Make them aware that you will now be working on an hourly rate as no doubt you will be messed around along the way somewhere with 'oh we haven't bought that yet' or 'we've bought this instead' etc etc.

 

[needasparks]

I think you should explain that your discounts on materials which would be of a better quality would make their project more expensive that way unless your happy just to work for labour only. Does keep your credit down by also your profit so you have to weight it up. If the client is asking questions on that you know they will be questioning the bill later so list it out to them as most people don't realise how much gear is not seen that you will get through.

 

[poppypiesdad]

Walk away they are just trying to workout how much youll make off the job and your profit , when its finished they'll argue like hell over your labour bill .

Jamie

 

[needasparks]

Forgot to mention let them know that no warrentee's on what you install apply so will cost more if things go wrong later.

 

[DurhamSparky]

think that bit of the post no.4 should be hidden from public view!!!

 

[ruston]

Plus when they say labour only ask them where they keep the dust sheets , hoover , drills, hammers, filler, etc etc .They soon get sick.

 

[RWJ]

think that bit of the post no.4 should be hidden from public view!!!

Really??

Eoin did publish it in Business related which is a public forum

 

[DurhamSparky]

yeah cause customer will say that refund cheque is mine..!!

 

[JD6400]

We often go further and offer to open a account with our preferred wholesaler with discounts on par with ours , it does depend on the client and how big the project is and how much further work is likely .
It is a pretty good way of ensuring repeat business as they firstly trust us all the more to give good value and secondly not many other contractors would / could offer this !
The clients that we offer this to relies that when it comes to guarantee work we will come to some arrangement on costs that are mutually acceptable , as it will not have been allowed for in any mark up on materials .
It can also help cash flow a hell of a lot on some of the jobs (farmers can sometimes suffer from short arms and deep pockets !) and you would be amazed at the referral rate there is , and the trust is already there between us and the new client as the one recommending us is so impressed with our open approach .

 

[mackers]

knock off cost of materials to you not your profit then explain that if they supply materials they supply everything including screws ,100mtrs of green/yellow,blue and brown sleeving, plugs,grommets (whats a grommet?)and that if any of it becomes faulty you will be charging day rate to replace also no materials on site they will be paying standing time.
funny how so many change there tune.

 

[imago]

Unless it's a large customer who you do or will work for regularly, I'm firmly in the 'walk away' camp. I quote a total price for a job, and that's what the customer pays.

Any labour only work I do for customers who are builders or commercial. I do it on an hourly rate and provide an estimate for time taken on site. They are then billed for the actual time spent. If they ask me to provide a materials list for them I charge for the time taken to make it up.

 

[D80]

Never really had the issue to date - other than the odd light/smokie etc to stick on. If I do will probably use the Meteor customer to buy service. And that payment from Meteor to me will be for my time and effort compiling the list!

It's all good and well when its a small job, like replacing a light. But if something like a rewire with a big list of materials, I'd assume the expect that list FOC. If any part needs replacing down the line, given they supplied it, I'd charge to replace it. If I'd supplied it I would replace FOC.

 

[Dave 85]

When I give a quote, I dont breakdown into labour/materials, just price per unit. If they wanna supply second fix materials, the price is still the same for sockets/switches but I might discount the cost price to me of downlighters etc. First fix stuff I will always supply myself. Personally i would't throw my toys outta the pram and insist they supply every single screw and bit of sleeving because they are still a paying customer and they might assume I was a bit of a ----er and not call me again.

 

[mackers]

When I give a quote, I dont breakdown into labour/materials, just price per unit. If they wanna supply second fix materials, the price is still the same for sockets/switches but I might discount the cost price to me of downlighters etc. First fix stuff I will always supply myself. Personally i would't throw my toys outta the pram and insist they supply every single screw and bit of sleeving because they are still a paying customer and they might assume I was a bit of a ----er and not call me again.

don't think its a case of been a ----er but if they have asked for a estimate then say they want to supply materials i personally thing its the start of the penny pinching, if they wanna supply materials fare enough but most dont realize whats required.eg 2. 5, 1.5,6,10 ,3core n earth capping,nails, back boxes,grommets,sleeving,clips various,tails,10mm g/y,coax, long socket screws,plugs n screws and anything else ive missed soon mounts up!

 

[Spazz]

If they want to supply then let them!

Just give them a list of makes and what they need.

They will soon realize that parts are not cheap - also alert the whole sellers you use not to give anyone but you discount if someone approaches them saying that they are with you - seen that before!

Then charge them by the hour - not forgetting they will forget something.

 

[Spoon]

Personally i would't throw my toys outta the pram and insist they supply every single screw and bit of sleeving because they are still a paying customer and they might assume I was a bit of a ----er and not call me again.

Spot on. It may be that the customer may think that he can save some money by buying the main items. I dont know why there are so many negative posts. I thought work was hard to get these days. Some money is better then peeing a customer off and getting no money.