customer wasting our time

[VEG]

Be honest if it was the other way round would you go with the first quote?

When buying anything I always look around.

[Mesterh]

If he has a preferred contractor, but still got 2 other quotes just for a small job, then he's got PITA written all over him.

 

It might just be that a mate or family friend has given a price but suggested they get other quotes so not to feel that they are either giving a cheap price or over quoting.

 

At least it was a small job with not much legwork, its less nice being used as a back marker on a large job with alot of calculations.

 

I remember being asked to quote for a job(domestic didnt sound very big) a few questions over the phone and it transpired that she was getting something like 10-12 quotes all in all! Suffice to say I didnt manage to find the time to quote for that job.

[Tom D]

if I get the impression that a customer is doing that, (if they say they want a tree "cutting" thats good, if they say they want a "quote" then you need to push them on the tree, size, location etc) If its clearly a small job and its a long way off I'll tell them over the phone that it won't be less than £180 and so that way either they are serious and want the job done or they let you know there and then that its too much and save you a wasted trip.

 

There is so much competition for these wee jobs from landscapers, gardeners and one man band tree cutters that I rarely win them, far better to be upfront with the client and let them know rather than wasting £10 on fuel and 2hours of your time.

[testcricket01]

If it was a commercial client they more often than not have to get a min of 3 quotes regardless of the size of the job. if was a domestic client if people offer free quotations they will get a few, and can you blame them there looking for best deal for them selfs.

[agg221]

If he has a preferred contractor, but still got 2 other quotes just for a small job, then he's got PITA written all over him.

 

Not sure I agree with that. As testcricket says, on commercial work you often have to get several quotes. On domestic work, don't forget that most customers don't have a lot of experience to draw on, so they don't know how much it's likely to be. For comparison, I had a preferred building contractor for my extension. He was preferred because he is reliable, honest and works to a very high standard. However, I got other quotes as the figure seemed higher than I was expecting. It was - there was another way of doing the job which he hadn't thought of, and it saved a very large amount of time (and hence cost). Now, if I had felt like it, I could taken the other person's idea and given it, and the job, to the preferred contractor, but instead I used the person who'd come up with it.

 

Think about this in relation to, say, a removal. There are several ways of doing it - anything from a crane to a MEWP to climbing it, with different size teams etc. All these will vary the actual cost of doing the job, which is worth seeing as the customer.

 

Alec

[Mike Hill]

I have a minimum charge of about 160 Pound.This weeds out the little jobs or chancers.

[likeitorlumpit]

Thanks for all the replies

I can see this is a problem a lot of you have and you mainly accept it for what it is.

We work largely as preferred contractors and get nearly 100% of our quoted jobs on these as we are used as consultants at the same time. I had forgotten how demanding private customers can be.

I'm thinking along the lines of remembering how he asked us to quote and using this as a way of weedling out future timewasters.

I am just frustrated by the incredible waste of time this whole process creates.

As a business we have to do VAT/ pay tax on profits/tax on wages/ NI employers contribution/ H&S compliance/ soon to be 3% pension contribution.

I would like customers to understand this and to call in 2nd and third prices from over 40 miles away on such a small job is a bit much.

If you read my original post you will see I did keep my cool and avoided the chance to make this point and kept a professional head on.

I had wondered whether any of you had a cool way of letting the customer know they had caused so much wasted time whilst avoiding angry posturing.

By the way- customer will be calling us when he needs some landscaping done soon- thats one call I will be too busy to take- once bitten twice shy:001_tt2:

[Stephen Blair]

You are dealing with morals as you have not stated your rules to the customer.

that only leads to resentment and stress .

simply charge for your time if you don't want to give it away for free:)

[skyhuck]

Thanks for all the replies

I can see this is a problem a lot of you have and you mainly accept it for what it is.

We work largely as preferred contractors and get nearly 100% of our quoted jobs on these as we are used as consultants at the same time. I had forgotten how demanding private customers can be.

I'm thinking along the lines of remembering how he asked us to quote and using this as a way of weedling out future timewasters.

I am just frustrated by the incredible waste of time this whole process creates.

As a business we have to do VAT/ pay tax on profits/tax on wages/ NI employers contribution/ H&S compliance/ soon to be 3% pension contribution.

I would like customers to understand this and to call in 2nd and third prices from over 40 miles away on such a small job is a bit much.

If you read my original post you will see I did keep my cool and avoided the chance to make this point and kept a professional head on.

I had wondered whether any of you had a cool way of letting the customer know they had caused so much wasted time whilst avoiding angry posturing.

By the way- customer will be calling us when he needs some landscaping done soon- thats one call I will be too busy to take- once bitten twice shy:001_tt2:

 

Who decided to offer free quotes??

 

Who decided to drive 40 miles??

 

The customer has done nothing but give you the chance to quote the work, I would never hold that against a customer and he even had the decency to call and let you know.

 

We have to kiss a few frogs, when looking for those princely jobs

[Matthew Storrs]

Do most of you do free quotes? I do but, probably waste a lot of time/fuel in the process, ideally I would charge say £25 to quote to cover cost which is refundable if i get the job. But i imagine a lot of chances to quote may be missed out using this approach.