Do you rates go up as much as they should each year..

[Gary Prentice]

2 hours ago, breffni said:

Who gives a f. Theres always gonna be someone cheaper, dearer, quicker but i don't worry about it. You never get all the jobs. Thats life. 

And if you did you'd only die of the stress of trying to do it all.

[Mick Dempsey]

19 hours ago, Stephen Blair said:

 There are no rules,

Quite right^^^

 

 

When ever people say they don’t care what other people charge I think about a situation that has often cropped up over the years, I’m sure it’s happened to others as well.

 

I get a chance of a bid thanks to a friendly gardener, my rate for an ordinary days work say, £600, the gardener tells me the client has had a quote of £1100, so do you go in at £900 and get the work or £600 because you don’t care what other people charge?

Edited October 28, 2017 by Mick Dempsey

[TIMON]

What’s skiing in Czech like?

Dunno about skiing but Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe [emoji106]

[TIMON]

Our prices tend to fluctuate. When we are really busy I’ll try and price us out of the less well paid work eg conifers and hedge work, that way we can try and cherry pick the better jobs.

[Stephen Blair]

I get a chance of a bid thanks to a friendly gardener, my rate for an ordinary days work say, £600, the gardener tells me the client has had a quote of £1100, so do you go in at £900 and get the work or £600 because you don’t care what other people charge?

I care about what I charge so I stick to my price, the new customer can now get twice what they wanted within their original budget if they thought £1100 was ok or spend less.

[Mick Dempsey]

You can say that, you probably believe that. Whether I believe it is a different matter.

13 minutes ago, Stephen Blair said:

 

I care about what I charge so I stick to my price, the new customer can now get twice what they wanted within their original budget if they thought £1100 was ok or spend less.

 

 

[Stephen Blair]

You can say that, you probably believe that. Whether I believe it is a different matter.
 

I did say that, I do believe that and out of everyone who frequents this forum, your opinion is the least valued to myself.

[Mark Bolam]

I've quoted, been accepted, done the job, made good money then the happy customer has told me they've had other quotes that have been twice mine, and I don't think we're particularly cheap.

Maybe the other quotes are cockups, the companies are shite and take too long, or maybe they quote everything really high and just make a great living from the jobs they do get.

Which is quite a smart business model if you can make it work!

[Jon@CareFell]

Here is my ten pence.

I have always tried to charge as much as is possible while still leaving the customer happy with the service we have delivered. Increase the value of the service if you will.

I also pass that on to my staff and we all get paid better. Better paid staff work better and if you can offer more in the first place you get better qualified and motivated staff. They in turn are more productive and you get more done to a better quality which all equals more money.

I have always tried to think about how I can offer a service that people will pay more for and how we can get more done in a day to ultimately charge more. What is the point in investing money in more kit and growing a larger business if I am not making more profit and a return on my investment?

I don’t like ever hearing I am the cheapest when multiple quotes are involved. If I was squeezing the margins and have no contingency then what happens if something goes wrong? If I was to end up making no or little money I could end up rushing the job or be tempted to cut corners thus offering a poorer service that is of less value and one can get a reputation for “cheap work” quite easily and, unfortunately, then that is what you can end up with.

That leads to safety issues but that is another discussion entirely.

That is just my opinion and what has worked for us. I am always looking at how I can charge more for what we do while maintaining integrity.

[benedmonds]

5 hours ago, WesD said:

What’s skiing in Czech like?

Place we went great for beginners and about 1 third the price of the alps..