Lost tenders

[David Riding]

We priced a large job about 5 months ago.The prospective client asked us to number all the relevant trees and recommend a course of action.The work to quote for consisted of some crown lifting over a main road(30mph) and removal of 3 or 4 DED elms and a bit of crown cleaning.It was a commercial property ie hotel.We tagged all the trees and catalouged all the recommended actions.We then submitted this with quote to the client.A couple of months passed with no word so we made a phone call and it sounded promising.On driving past this week i noticed the job had been done by another contractor,i don't know who.I feel very disappointed!i think at the very least a thanks but no thanks would be due after the time we spent on the quote.Or do you guys think a small charge would be in order for carrying out a somewhat basic survey in order to quote.

 

Unfortunately imo to win larger jobs thats just the way it is, I think you just performed an operation as part of the quoting process. You could have provided a quote to do a very basic survey, but another company would have come along and completed it as part as the quoting process. Larger jobs can take 4 - 6 hours to complete. How long did you spend on the quote & how long would it have took a 3 man team to complete.

[jojam]

:confused1:Thanks guys,i'll put this one down as a bad experience.The next time i'll charge for it if we don't win the contract.Oh i forgot to mention we were recommended to him by a good friend of mine.SKYHUCK,how can you make that philosphy work?Surely you quote for large jobs too which is time consuming with no guarantee of gaining the work.

[skyhuck]

SKYHUCK,how can you make that philosphy work?Surely you quote for large jobs too which is time consuming with no guarantee of gaining the work.

 

I have a look at the job, give them a ballpark figure of what its likely to cost, if they commit to me doing the job I will do the paper work.

[jojam]

Fair enough.It,s a dog eat dog world out there though.I used to price too gain the work now i'm not bothered if i lose the job to a cheaper quote.But it does annoy me when you go out of your way to provide a quote and they don't even have the decency to let you know they gave it to someone else.

[White Noise]

Fair enough.It,s a dog eat dog world out there though.I used to price too gain the work now i'm not bothered if i lose the job to a cheaper quote.But it does annoy me when you go out of your way to provide a quote and they don't even have the decency to let you know they gave it to someone else.

 

Yip sure is gutting . I.ve found that after all these yrs on the tools . When I turn up for a quote you kinda develop a second sense . I mean I tend to know if there going to be good customers or down right hard if not impossible to please . In the same way you get the feeling that the moneys going to be in the post in 2 months time . Not all people are like this thankfully . I took SWB advice and weeded out all my funny customers you know late payers crap jobs and over the past few months Ive replaced them with happy people

[jojam]

Yip sure is gutting . I.ve found that after all these yrs on the tools . When I turn up for a quote you kinda develop a second sense . I mean I tend to know if there going to be good customers or down right hard if not impossible to please . In the same way you get the feeling that the moneys going to be in the post in 2 months time . Not all people are like this thankfully . I took SWB advice and weeded out all my funny customers you know late payers crap jobs and over the past few months Ive replaced them with happy people

 

Know what you mean.I once spoke to a joiner who said he charged for an estimate which was refundable on confirmation of the job.Mmm i thought,but he pointed out that if he spent all his saturday looking at work it mounted up and why should he do it for free.''fair point'' i replied.

[Stephen Blair]

. I took SWB advice and weeded out all my funny customers you know late payers crap jobs and over the past few months Ive replaced them with happy people

 

it was the best advice i have ever been given mate, glad it has helped you. I think its only nice guys and soft touches that end up with moany hard to please customers, hard ass business men never give them the time of day, but i would rather be the nice guy who is just choosy and has learnt from experience.

[Ian C]

I never do any work unpaid, I want the job before I will start anything.

 

Same as, i will quote for free and issue a paper quote but anything else constitutes work and is chargable.

[White Noise]

it was the best advice i have ever been given mate, glad it has helped you. I think its only nice guys and soft touches that end up with moany hard to please customers, hard ass business men never give them the time of day, but i would rather be the nice guy who is just choosy and has learnt from experience.

 

Stevie this was good advice . At first I thought what am I doing . It all worked out in the end . As a result I,m more chilled and so is family life I did find it quite good explaining to all those customers that think Tree surgeons are some what to be looked down on . That I did not have time for there work needs . How strange to see these people say well youve done a good job for x amount of years . Why didnt they pay me on time or just be polite . HA ha ha aha my new motto is this is not a charity all work must be paid for as agreed and not when and how they see fit .

Cheers SWB .

[Stephen Blair]

when you get paid for all your time, you dont need to work very many each week. And when paid on time at the end or before each job, then its even easier. good on you mate for addressing the situation:thumbup1: