Do you chase quotes
Discussion
Do you take the view that trades are busy folk who are doing what they do as they don't like paperwork, and chase them for quotes
Or do you think that if they can't bother to come back to you with a quote they aren't worth using for work
I have had 5 people come to quote from 8 days ago, for some landscaping. Nothing back yet. Local firms and not a tiny job - probably £5k-£10 worth in total. And I wasn't in any way awkward or difficult with the guys, very relaxed, just talked through what we needed top line. Frustrating and wondering whether to remind them or leave it
Or do you think that if they can't bother to come back to you with a quote they aren't worth using for work
I have had 5 people come to quote from 8 days ago, for some landscaping. Nothing back yet. Local firms and not a tiny job - probably £5k-£10 worth in total. And I wasn't in any way awkward or difficult with the guys, very relaxed, just talked through what we needed top line. Frustrating and wondering whether to remind them or leave it
I’ve had two this week say they’ll be round after they finish work but then fail to turn up. I’ve also had a window company come round to measure for some windows but then only measure for three out of the fourteen that we need because they’re too busy to make all of them. What f
king use is that?!
king use is that?!Ive given up chasing - if they dont come back go elsewhere.
I've had landscapers, builders, window companies, loft converters all either not turn up at all, or not send the quote or send a quote that doesn't reflect the job.
I even had a kitchen guy give me a quote, I accepted it and then after 18 months of not getting a start date told him not to bother.
Seems to me they're tradesmen because they can do one thing well (their trade) but they're st at all the ancillary stuff it takes to be a successful business
I've had landscapers, builders, window companies, loft converters all either not turn up at all, or not send the quote or send a quote that doesn't reflect the job.
I even had a kitchen guy give me a quote, I accepted it and then after 18 months of not getting a start date told him not to bother.
Seems to me they're tradesmen because they can do one thing well (their trade) but they're s
t at all the ancillary stuff it takes to be a successful businessSome trades just want to do the job they want to do, not the job you want.
i.e. Having a power shower fitted in a loft conversion. Most just wanted to replace the electric jobbie already in, couple of hours work, not the couple of days work req to re-plumb and fit a negative head pump.
One plumber even told me there was no such thing as a negative head pump and the job was impossible!
Still waiting for a "specialist kitchen refurbisher" to come back with a quote after spending 2 hrs measuring and discussing. This was 3-4 weeks ago.
i.e. Having a power shower fitted in a loft conversion. Most just wanted to replace the electric jobbie already in, couple of hours work, not the couple of days work req to re-plumb and fit a negative head pump.
One plumber even told me there was no such thing as a negative head pump and the job was impossible!
Still waiting for a "specialist kitchen refurbisher" to come back with a quote after spending 2 hrs measuring and discussing. This was 3-4 weeks ago.
No quote sent, no job, don’t chase at all if they don’t want to quote they don’t want to do it. If your chasing to get a price you’ll be chasing to get work done and indeed if there are issues the same most likely.
I would rather they front up when/if they come out to quote and say this isn’t a job for me rather than spend time looking at what needs doing and writing some notes and saying you’ll get a quote in 5 days!
I would rather they front up when/if they come out to quote and say this isn’t a job for me rather than spend time looking at what needs doing and writing some notes and saying you’ll get a quote in 5 days!
atom111 said:
I would rather they front up when/if they come out to quote and say this isn’t a job for me rather than spend time looking at what needs doing and writing some notes and saying you’ll get a quote in 5 days!
I always have respect for the guys who'll tell me straight up they're too busy etc, save everyone's time. A couple of people I used to use, probably not the cheapest or even the most through. But trustworthy, reliable and reasonable.
Both retired now.
Gonna have to brush up my DIY skills.
As a trade myself who sometimes might not get back within a couple of days it doesn't mean i don't want the job. It might well mean I'm trying my hardest to get the current job done, have got other people 'desperate' for me to quote their job at some bizaree hour they can only make. My mrs might need me home, daughter might need attention. So much.
for example on friday we had an easy day, until torrential rain came and soaked all the pointing i had done on a load of engineering bricks. This meant we then had to stay late to scrape it all out (soul destroying), i then had to go in the next day to reinstate those joints. So friday i ended up having to cancel 2 quotes and saturday my day was lost. Now i have 3 quotes to do monday eve which wont happen so again more messing people about......you see what happens here?
Remember that some of us really do work hard and are effectively trying to juggle about 9 different skill sets.
That said some are simply useless and short sighted and don't think they need or want the work.
OP may have put them off for a couple of reasons. You mention 5-10k. That may be right but if its 15-20 and you've let slip you think 5-10 they possibly wont bother coming back or spending time working something out they know wont happen.
I looked at a job a couple of weeks ago, it was very complicated and not an easy earner by any means, lady was very nice and clearly wanted it done, she said 3 others hadn't bothered getting back to her.
When i worked it out properly it became clear, the job was over 25k and was on a 3 bed semi. No one in their right mind would spend that. I did get back to her though, broke it down and explained it, she said they wanted to spend 12-15k so i said ill seewhat could be changed. I haven't got it as low as that but i will phone and tell her, she has had to chase me though! Only because every day i seem to have an extra 20 things to do each day.
5 quotes. For me personally unless you were very interested in what i was saying and i really liked you that would put me off. 5 quotes usually signals a price orientated decision.
for example on friday we had an easy day, until torrential rain came and soaked all the pointing i had done on a load of engineering bricks. This meant we then had to stay late to scrape it all out (soul destroying), i then had to go in the next day to reinstate those joints. So friday i ended up having to cancel 2 quotes and saturday my day was lost. Now i have 3 quotes to do monday eve which wont happen so again more messing people about......you see what happens here?
Remember that some of us really do work hard and are effectively trying to juggle about 9 different skill sets.
That said some are simply useless and short sighted and don't think they need or want the work.
OP may have put them off for a couple of reasons. You mention 5-10k. That may be right but if its 15-20 and you've let slip you think 5-10 they possibly wont bother coming back or spending time working something out they know wont happen.
I looked at a job a couple of weeks ago, it was very complicated and not an easy earner by any means, lady was very nice and clearly wanted it done, she said 3 others hadn't bothered getting back to her.
When i worked it out properly it became clear, the job was over 25k and was on a 3 bed semi. No one in their right mind would spend that. I did get back to her though, broke it down and explained it, she said they wanted to spend 12-15k so i said ill seewhat could be changed. I haven't got it as low as that but i will phone and tell her, she has had to chase me though! Only because every day i seem to have an extra 20 things to do each day.
5 quotes. For me personally unless you were very interested in what i was saying and i really liked you that would put me off. 5 quotes usually signals a price orientated decision.
m3jappa said:
As a trade myself who sometimes might not get back within a couple of days it doesn't mean i don't want the job. It might well mean I'm trying my hardest to get the current job done, have got other people 'desperate' for me to quote their job at some bizaree hour they can only make. My mrs might need me home, daughter might need attention. So much.
for example on friday we had an easy day, until torrential rain came and soaked all the pointing i had done on a load of engineering bricks. This meant we then had to stay late to scrape it all out (soul destroying), i then had to go in the next day to reinstate those joints. So friday i ended up having to cancel 2 quotes and saturday my day was lost. Now i have 3 quotes to do monday eve which wont happen so again more messing people about......you see what happens here?
Remember that some of us really do work hard and are effectively trying to juggle about 9 different skill sets.
That said some are simply useless and short sighted and don't think they need or want the work.
OP may have put them off for a couple of reasons. You mention 5-10k. That may be right but if its 15-20 and you've let slip you think 5-10 they possibly wont bother coming back or spending time working something out they know wont happen.
I looked at a job a couple of weeks ago, it was very complicated and not an easy earner by any means, lady was very nice and clearly wanted it done, she said 3 others hadn't bothered getting back to her.
When i worked it out properly it became clear, the job was over 25k and was on a 3 bed semi. No one in their right mind would spend that. I did get back to her though, broke it down and explained it, she said they wanted to spend 12-15k so i said ill seewhat could be changed. I haven't got it as low as that but i will phone and tell her, she has had to chase me though! Only because every day i seem to have an extra 20 things to do each day.
5 quotes. For me personally unless you were very interested in what i was saying and i really liked you that would put me off. 5 quotes usually signals a price orientated decision.
But the key with all of this, sorry to single you out but you make valid points as to why things need to be changed, is communication. As with everything else in the world.for example on friday we had an easy day, until torrential rain came and soaked all the pointing i had done on a load of engineering bricks. This meant we then had to stay late to scrape it all out (soul destroying), i then had to go in the next day to reinstate those joints. So friday i ended up having to cancel 2 quotes and saturday my day was lost. Now i have 3 quotes to do monday eve which wont happen so again more messing people about......you see what happens here?
Remember that some of us really do work hard and are effectively trying to juggle about 9 different skill sets.
That said some are simply useless and short sighted and don't think they need or want the work.
OP may have put them off for a couple of reasons. You mention 5-10k. That may be right but if its 15-20 and you've let slip you think 5-10 they possibly wont bother coming back or spending time working something out they know wont happen.
I looked at a job a couple of weeks ago, it was very complicated and not an easy earner by any means, lady was very nice and clearly wanted it done, she said 3 others hadn't bothered getting back to her.
When i worked it out properly it became clear, the job was over 25k and was on a 3 bed semi. No one in their right mind would spend that. I did get back to her though, broke it down and explained it, she said they wanted to spend 12-15k so i said ill seewhat could be changed. I haven't got it as low as that but i will phone and tell her, she has had to chase me though! Only because every day i seem to have an extra 20 things to do each day.
5 quotes. For me personally unless you were very interested in what i was saying and i really liked you that would put me off. 5 quotes usually signals a price orientated decision.
s
t happens, we all appreciate that but it takes 30 secs to send an email or pick the phone up to explain and reschedule.Main issue with trades is a lack of anything remotely resembling that.
Work might be great but keep people out of the loop and that's where it starts and ends.
I run a landscaping business and much like jappa I am also "on tools" pretty much 6 days a week.
I make it clear that I'm busy and that a quotation (accurate) will be 10 days at least, I also state that I don't mind being chased. The reality is I'm looking at 3-4 jobs a week often at the end of a day on tools with a huge list of work things to do at home before quotes/family/aching/sleep/repeat
If you've had 5 not come back at all you may be calling the wrong folks.... (Where are you getting their details from?)..... Or your expectations of what is achievable for your budget is out of whack and putting them off as jappa said.
Are they small businesses or larger firms? - some landscapers aren't interested in smaller jobs (to me 5-10k is fairly small) and want to settle in to a property for weeks on end rather than a few days.
I make it clear that I'm busy and that a quotation (accurate) will be 10 days at least, I also state that I don't mind being chased. The reality is I'm looking at 3-4 jobs a week often at the end of a day on tools with a huge list of work things to do at home before quotes/family/aching/sleep/repeat
If you've had 5 not come back at all you may be calling the wrong folks.... (Where are you getting their details from?)..... Or your expectations of what is achievable for your budget is out of whack and putting them off as jappa said.
Are they small businesses or larger firms? - some landscapers aren't interested in smaller jobs (to me 5-10k is fairly small) and want to settle in to a property for weeks on end rather than a few days.
2 pretty big flags in your post for me:
1) 5 quotes. Did you tell everyone quoting that you had x other quotes/were getting 5 quotes.
2) Did you say to them "5-10k". As said, if it's a 20k job it explains a lot.
Personally if someone tells me they're getting 5 quotes I generally won't waste my time quoting as i'm pretty busy and that tells me very clearly that they are more focused on price than wanting someone like me to do a proper job.
And if anyone tells me how much a job is going to cost before I do, I just won't bother.
1) 5 quotes. Did you tell everyone quoting that you had x other quotes/were getting 5 quotes.
2) Did you say to them "5-10k". As said, if it's a 20k job it explains a lot.
Personally if someone tells me they're getting 5 quotes I generally won't waste my time quoting as i'm pretty busy and that tells me very clearly that they are more focused on price than wanting someone like me to do a proper job.
And if anyone tells me how much a job is going to cost before I do, I just won't bother.
shedweller said:
I run a landscaping business and much like jappa I am also "on tools" pretty much 6 days a week.
I make it clear that I'm busy and that a quotation (accurate) will be 10 days at least, I also state that I don't mind being chased. The reality is I'm looking at 3-4 jobs a week often at the end of a day on tools with a huge list of work things to do at home before quotes/family/aching/sleep/repeat
Setting an expectation is a great start - but it's even worse to set one and the miss it.I make it clear that I'm busy and that a quotation (accurate) will be 10 days at least, I also state that I don't mind being chased. The reality is I'm looking at 3-4 jobs a week often at the end of a day on tools with a huge list of work things to do at home before quotes/family/aching/sleep/repeat
I've had two quotes for two different jobs in the past couple of weeks, both trades said they'd said a quote the next day, and both took over a week to arrive. If I'd of had other quotes, I would already of written them off and moved on.
I called a local company about getting a quote for some soffits, I gave the address and said if it was easier to have a look around when I was out and send the quote across that was ok with me.
I call up two weeks later to ask what's going on as I've heard nothing - apparently they wrote my details on a post it note and now it's gone so someone must be actioning it.
A year later I've still not heard back from them, and now for several other jobs I've not bothered asking for a quote because... what's the point?
LookAtMyCat said:
2 pretty big flags in your post for me:
1) 5 quotes. Did you tell everyone quoting that you had x other quotes/were getting 5 quotes.
2) Did you say to them "5-10k". As said, if it's a 20k job it explains a lot.
Personally if someone tells me they're getting 5 quotes I generally won't waste my time quoting as i'm pretty busy and that tells me very clearly that they are more focused on price than wanting someone like me to do a proper job.
And if anyone tells me how much a job is going to cost before I do, I just won't bother.
This is completely off the mark 1) 5 quotes. Did you tell everyone quoting that you had x other quotes/were getting 5 quotes.
2) Did you say to them "5-10k". As said, if it's a 20k job it explains a lot.
Personally if someone tells me they're getting 5 quotes I generally won't waste my time quoting as i'm pretty busy and that tells me very clearly that they are more focused on price than wanting someone like me to do a proper job.
And if anyone tells me how much a job is going to cost before I do, I just won't bother.
Of course I didn’t tell them how many quotes I was getting nor any indication of what I was prepared to pay why would any sane person do that!? For all they knew they could be the only one quoting, I’m certainly not going to give anything away like that that might prejudice the process. Simply explained what I wanted doing, and I took the time to talk through it on the phone first too to make sure it wasn’t too small fry. 2 guys came last sat, then I had one on tues, Thursday and Friday. To be fair the guy on Thursday said he was off on hols for 2 weeks and would do the quote on return which is a bit ridiculous. The guy on Friday said I’d get it at the weekend tho.
2 were recommended on PistonHeads. One was the original guy who did the work for the previous owners who I’m friends with. One was a guy who worked for me before with no issues.
I’d be a lot happier if they just said sorry it’s not for me. But no doubt that would result in a load of perceived grief from the public
inabox said:
Say what?
He came and quoted on Thursday the 8th, said he was going on holiday for 2 weeks from Sat (10th) and said he would do the quote when he got back which presumably will take another few days after that if at allI'm not sure it's really reasonable to expect people to wait that long for a quote for some minor work
DKL said:
But the key with all of this, sorry to single you out but you make valid points as to why things need to be changed, is communication. As with everything else in the world.
st happens, we all appreciate that but it takes 30 secs to send an email or pick the phone up to explain and reschedule.
Main issue with trades is a lack of anything remotely resembling that.
Work might be great but keep people out of the loop and that's where it starts and ends.
It's this. Just text / email me to say 'I haven't forgotten you' or manage my expectations at the time with 'It's not for me / the quote will take 2 weeks / please chase me' rather than just silence, it's really frustrating. s
t happens, we all appreciate that but it takes 30 secs to send an email or pick the phone up to explain and reschedule.Main issue with trades is a lack of anything remotely resembling that.
Work might be great but keep people out of the loop and that's where it starts and ends.
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