How can you effectively advertise your business?

[Clutchy]

27 minutes ago, pleasant said:

If you came to me and charged £1200 PLUS vat for a days work and buggered off at 2pm. You wouldn't be getting £1200 PLUS vat from me I can assure you. I would teach you how to price up a job correctly...and you would pay ME for doing that.

 

How about you come to my place for a saw repair and I charge you 8 hours labour to fix it, for what is a 4 hour job? That would be OK with you...eh?

Unfortunately that's not how accepting a quote works. 

 

When you have to travel, load and unload, 2pm site finish is definitely a full days work. 

 

Ill message you if I decide to take you up on your school of pricing offer 

[pleasant]

Maybe you should be clearer when you appear to write triumphantly that you 'finish' at 2pm. If what you say is correct, then your aren't finished at 2pm are you?

[Clutchy]

1 minute ago, pleasant said:

Maybe you should be clearer when you appear to write triumphantly that you 'finish' at 2pm. If what you say is correct, then your aren't finished at 2pm are you?

We have a lot of 2pm leave work finishes too 

 

We charge by the job not the day/hour. 

[5thelement]

8 minutes ago, pleasant said:

That's true......but the customer was expecting a full day of employment. If I wasn't getting what I paid for then most rational people wouldn't re-employ them next time needed....or at least they wouldn't be first choice. You only rip someone off once- the public have long memories. Short term gain. And I repeat what I said in my earlier post......if I charge for 8 hour labour to fix his saw, and I finish it by lunchtime he's happy to pay for the full 8 hours after googling the correct time for the job? I would only get his business the once.

I don’t know anyone in the Domestic Arb business that charges hourly or day rate for the bulk of their work.
Price the job, win or sometimes loose. 

[pleasant]

1 minute ago, Clutchy said:

We have a lot of 2pm leave work finishes too 

 

We charge by the job not the day/hour.

Well, you must charge by the time it takes (ie by the hour or day rate) otherwise how on earth can you accurately price a job........which you admit isn't accurate all the time, as you (and I quote) 'have a  lot of 2pm work finishes too' First thing would be 'how long is this going to take and what do we need to get it done in that time?' and then factor in a percentage contingency.

[Clutchy]

58 minutes ago, pleasant said:

Well, you must charge by the time it takes (ie by the hour or day rate) otherwise how on earth can you accurately price a job........which you admit isn't accurate all the time, as you (and I quote) 'have a  lot of 2pm work finishes too' First thing would be 'how long is this going to take and what do we need to get it done in that time?' and then factor in a percentage contingency.

Time cannot and is not the only factor when quoting jobs. 

 

[paddyvero]

2 hours ago, pleasant said:

That's true......but the customer was expecting a full day of employment. If I wasn't getting what I paid for then most rational people wouldn't re-employ them next time needed....or at least they wouldn't be first choice. You only rip someone off once- the public have long memories. Short term gain. And I repeat what I said in my earlier post......if I charge for 8 hour labour to fix his saw, and I finish it by lunchtime he's happy to pay for the full 8 hours after googling the correct time for the job? I would only get his business the once.

You arent comparing apples to apples. If you had quoted to fix a saw, (for arguements sake you think it will take 4hrs) and the customer agreed to this, then thats the price. If you manage to sort it in 2hrs good for you, you win, but if you messed up and it took you 6hrs then its tough cookie for you. But of course, mechanics dont sell their services in this way, they charge hourly with an estimate of time needed.

In Arb contracting most work is undertaken on a quote basis.

Yes time may be a one of the things to be considered when quoting an arb job, but its not the be all end all.

[Mick Dempsey]

Big difference is the saw comes to you.

 

Trees don’t come round my house to be trimmed/cut down.

Edited December 31, 2022 by Mick Dempsey

[Mark Bolam]

You’re way off here Pleasant.

 

If a customer expects ‘a full day of work’ they have misunderstood my quoted and accepted price.

 

If we can be out of there in a morning, believe me, we will be.

 

I haven’t improved my skills, surrounded myself with a top team of grafters and invested tens of thousands of pounds worth of kit to be held to account by some retired suit who thinks we have to work until exactly 5.30pm.

 

That is someone else’s customer.

[topchippyles]

3 hours ago, pleasant said:

Well, you must charge by the time it takes (ie by the hour or day rate) otherwise how on earth can you accurately price a job........which you admit isn't accurate all the time, as you (and I quote) 'have a  lot of 2pm work finishes too' First thing would be 'how long is this going to take and what do we need to get it done in that time?' and then factor in a percentage contingency.

Lets put it this way if a customer gets 4 quotes and the cheapest gets the job. Guys turn up do everything that has been agreed and completed by 2pm are they in the wrong ? I think not and you are talking tosh.