pricing a job, how do you go about......

[the_d_o_t]

hia all as you no, no job ever gos the way its planned so when something pops up after you have already given your customer a price, that adds more work and time on to your job how do you guys go about making this aware to the customer,

I'm adding a little disclaimer to the end of my estimates from now on as last few jobs have caused me more work due to the customers fault yet they don't want to pay anymore than what the original quote

 

[dontknowitall]

It depends when this thing "pops up" - before you start the job? During the job? After the job?

Experience is the key - knowing when something might take longer.

I'm afraid there's no easy way of learning this except by - experience!

Best thing to do is to keep to your price. That way you'll keep your customer. Change your price and you'll probably find your customer will change their plumber. Leave the job only doing the part you'd paid for (and not finishing your job) and the customer will leave you for someone else.

We can't always get things 100% right - it's part of the job.

It's not easy, but as you tootle along you'll find things easier and difficult issues take a matter of 1-2 hours rather than another 1/2 day or so.

 

[brasso1981]

When supplying rads etc use b and q prices then buy from toolstation. £££££££££ kerchingggggg

 

[Dan]

lol brasso

If you word your estimates correctly, and call them that on the 'quote' form or sheet or whatever you give them, and have some terms printed on the back, you are allowed to change the price providing there has actually been unforeseen circumstances that couldn't have been avoided or worked out beforehand. It'll still annoy the customer though.

It's quite bad in the tile industry when stripping out old tiles. Sometimes you can quote a low price for it and it take 3 days longer than first thought. So the fixing of the new tiles might be quite accurate as to how long you thought it'd take, but if the old tiles when you're taking them off the wall or pulling them up off the floor have been stuck with cement-based adhesive that's as hard as rock and one thought they were stuck with a lesser quality adhesive - then the customer needs to be charged the extra days on a day rate or whatever.

Most customers understand as long as you can explain it at the beginning before the job starts (at the time of quoting normally).

My old man is a window fitter and those jobs are all quite accurate so they get really used to quoting the same prices all the time, then the odd job they get stung because they're old sash windows with weights in and they assumed they'd come out easy but they haven't - then they swallow the loss and don't bother to recoup their extra days from the customer.

Not something I'd do but they don't get it wrong that much so they're okay with it.

Swings and roundabouts I guess.

 

[WaterTight]

Allow for minor unforeseens in your price, major unforeseens should be few and far between. So much so I'd not bother putting wording in quotes to cover them. If and when they arise decide whether you'd prefer to take the loss or come to an agreement with custard.

Or, you know, money. If you don't get paid in custard.

 

[gravytrain]

i always add a contingency into my quotes depending on the type of work.
for a full bathroom refurb thats expected to take a week or so i'd add on an extra days labour
because i know something will come up, but with the contingency built in i dont have to
bother the customer and they are happy the jobs come in as quoted.

the few times something major has come up i stop work and show the customer whats been
revealed and discuss with them what to do next.. they're not happy but they know your not ripping them off.

 

[E4gas]

I've got to price up 3 houses ( mega - boiler ) & 4 flats ( combi ) all the plumbing & heating plus he has 9 bungalows around the corner from this job for me to price as well .. Not use to pricing jobs this big , is there any advice on big jobs , how much % do I ask up front

 

[Gray0689]

Over here you get nothing up front on jobs that kind of size
Payment after first fix
Payment after Second fix
And final payment on completion ie building control signs off

 

[LeakFinder's]

If you give someone a quote the price is generally set in stone. If you give them an estimate this can vary in charge as long as some explanation is providing to cover the additional.

 

[REDSAW]

my dad always taught me,

'take the rough with the smooth-but make sure you charge enough'.

 

[the_d_o_t]

thanks for all your advice guys, some good tips that i will defo take on board

 

[jhon lennon]

if i were pricing up 3 houses 4 flats and 9 bungalows i would be charging for the quotes cos that is a lot of work their and a lot of the time on big quotes like that your prices are just used as a guide for big company to charge more and still get the job allways add at least a day on each job to cover you for un expected eventsl