Breaking Down an Estimate

[Glassman]

Personally, I've never asked to for a cost breakdown in anything I've had done or been interested in. That said, I don't understand why some people do. On a business level, however, it makes no sense.

I've had an enquiry which involved quite a bit of time in several phone calls and even more email/DM exchanges. I'm happy to help... to a point.

He'd bought a used car from a main dealer. The car was quite new. It needed a windscreen so he asked me for a quote which they were paying for or at least he was hoping. When I eventually forwarded the estimate - all for OEM parts - which were clearly marked as 'supply and fit', they replied asking for the labour costs. Perhaps they were being lazy and couldn't deduce from the OEM parts listed what the labour element might have been, or maybe the person looking at the quote didn't understand what supply and fit meant. Either way, that's the price; please let me know if you would like to proceed. It is not open to negotiation.

Is this the point? Negotiation?

I speak as a service provider. There is a small margin on the parts and the materials are at cost.The rest is the cost of getting me there to do the job and subsequently completing. That's it. It's not a bulk deal. It's not a massive project. It was to supply and fit a windscreen to manufacturer specification. Yet the question was to break the cost down.

Negotiation, or time wasting? The car owner fell on his sword at this point and it came to nothing (unless they offered him a cash settlement and he took it and ran).

[PoorCarCollector]

You're making a lot of assumptions

Surely you either reply with a breakdown of your costs, on not? Or reply with

Cost for me to do the job = £1000

Cost for me not to do the job = £0

Really cant see why you'd try and 2nd guess why they are asking.

Don't waste your energy!

[Simpo Two]

Glassman said:

It needed a windscreen so he asked me for a quote which they were paying for or at least he was hoping. When I eventually forwarded the estimate - all for OEM parts - which were clearly marked as 'supply and fit', they replied asking for the labour costs.

The most likely answer is that they wanted to see that you weren't overcharging for either parts or labour.

I always provided my quotes or estimates with a breakdown so that people could see how the cost was arrived at (not just a number plucked from thin air) and that I knew my subject. It also meant I didn't forget to include any part of the work.

But I agree that dividing a new windscreen into parts and labour is a bit unnecessary.

[Terminator X]

It's usually to check VFM. Open to debate of course.

TX.

[Sheepshanks]

I assume the buyer was some distance from the dealer - otherwise he’d just go back to them? He was probably just looking for a stick to beat them with.

[macron]

Presumably the dealer wanting to know what you were charging over what they'd do it for, or at least guarding against that question coming in. They'll get trade on the parts, surely, so guessing they (or the client wants to know in case asked) what the margin they have to play with over that is, and if they can or can't be arsed to do it themselves.

[Glassman]

Regardless of what and why, I don't see the point in asking for a breakdown. I won't give it. The part numbers are in their language so it's on them to pull it apart, not me. That's simply wasting my time which is what I suspect they're doing.

The car owner is in dispute with them and won't take it back to them for a couple of reasons. None of their dealerships will offer a mobile service; I do.

It's non-negotiable as there is no relationship. I work for other dealerships with whom there is a relationship. It's quite simple how that works.

[Simpo Two]

Glassman said:

I've had an enquiry which involved quite a bit of time in several phone calls and even more email/DM exchanges. I'm happy to help... to a point.

Glassman said:

I don't see the point in asking for a breakdown. I won't give it.

So you've invested quite a lot of time and brainpower on the job, but by playing the mule at the last hurdle you'll deliberately have wasted all the time you spent on it. Fair enough, your business your rules.

[Glassman]

Simpo Two said:

Glassman said:

I've had an enquiry which involved quite a bit of time in several phone calls and even more email/DM exchanges. I'm happy to help... to a point.

Glassman said:

I don't see the point in asking for a breakdown. I won't give it.

So you've invested quite a lot of time and brainpower on the job, but by playing the mule at the last hurdle you'll deliberately have wasted all the time you spent on it. Fair enough, your business your rules.

The exchanges were with the car owner. The Executive Office asked how much labour would be charged despite the estimate was to 'supply and fit'. It's ongoing, and I haven't quite told them yes or no (which is all via the car owner).

What a lot of these places do is to ascertain an element, in this case labour, and then state they will supply the parts. It often complicates the matter, and it also takes away whatever margin there might have been on supplying the parts.

[Giantt]

PoorCarCollector said:

You're making a lot of assumptions

Surely you either reply with a breakdown of your costs, on not? Or reply with

Cost for me to do the job = £1000

Cost for me not to do the job = £0

Really cant see why you'd try and 2nd guess why they are asking.

Don't waste your energy!

Perfect answer,one off job,take it leave it,add on idiot tax

[StevieBee]

Glassman said:

Simpo Two said:

Glassman said:

I've had an enquiry which involved quite a bit of time in several phone calls and even more email/DM exchanges. I'm happy to help... to a point.

Glassman said:

I don't see the point in asking for a breakdown. I won't give it.

So you've invested quite a lot of time and brainpower on the job, but by playing the mule at the last hurdle you'll deliberately have wasted all the time you spent on it. Fair enough, your business your rules.

The exchanges were with the car owner. The Executive Office asked how much labour would be charged despite the estimate was to 'supply and fit'. It's ongoing, and I haven't quite told them yes or no (which is all via the car owner).

What a lot of these places do is to ascertain an element, in this case labour, and then state they will supply the parts. It often complicates the matter, and it also takes away whatever margin there might have been on supplying the parts.

It's common practice to quote two different labour charges; one on the basis of you supplying the goods and materials and one on the basis of the client providing them. The latter will always be more expensive and is designed to do two things; incentivise them to give you the whole order and, if they don't, ensure that you earn the same amount if they opt for labour only.

I wouldn't get hung up on this. Itemisation is not uncommon and a reluctance to provide one can suggest to some that you're trying to hide something.