Pricing Too High???

[nailer]

Quite a few posters are saying that they run a real effecient crew so they can be more expensive by the hour but cheaper for the whole job. And that's great. But it is possible to win jobs when you are plain and simple, outright dearer than other firms on every job. Time after time. Might sound unlikely - I remember when I didn't believe it - but honestly it is doable. If you run an effecient crew, on top of charging the most, well your life is going to be so much easier.

[Ty Korrigan]

Simply this,

Most ex-pats in France are retired or living off income derived from property sale in U.K

There are businesses run by ex-pats who serve the ex-pat community and often do not break into the French market through lack of language skills.

Those retirees who moved to France before the 'crash' of the sterling against the Euro found their income from the U.K dropping by a third when the pound reached parity with the euro.

It has since risen to 1.25 but is still short of the 1.48 that many bought on.

That extra few quid is the spending money that makes the long Breton winter tolerable and now it has gone, possibly for good.

The French clients are not affected by international currency transfers and when salaried earn good money especially around the cities and are more than often retired on far bigger pensions than ex-pat retirees.

Browsing this evening, I see on a website+forum advertising for ex-pats yet another business offering 'tree lopping' what ever that is...

Luckily for us they are a long way away based in the far West of Brittany and must rely on an ever decreasing client base as more and more Brits give up on the French Dream and head home to a dank flat in Berkhampstead...

 

Ty

[Fencing]

Interesting thread,

 

Obviously we are in a different field (fencing) but always face similar issues.

 

I always visit, email the quote in full with copy of insurance certificate.

 

Friend who is a tree surgeon visits and gives them a price there and then, he says he gets more work because if it sounds about right to the customer, they will often accept there and then (without going elsewhere). He then backs it up with written quote copy of insurance etc.

 

Also very occasionally we will price v competitively because we need the work, the work would give us good exposure in an area where we can advertise on the roadside, or because we want to do the work.

 

If the guy who undercut you had a commitment to his team to pay them, he is better of getting the work even if he makes a small profit than not getting the work, having no work and having to pay guys to do nothing.

 

all swings and roundabouts

[Ty Korrigan]

A development today in an old story of a lost job.

Last year we quoted for the dismantling of a dozen or so 30m lombardy pops in a large garden in the middle of town.

Lots of opportunity for people to rubberneck, great exposure for us in our own town.

We knew we were up against other companies so we lowered our rates, after all, no travel time on this one.

We came in at 2800euros with all arisings evacuated.

A week later we got the news via a friend that our quote was one of 4 and over 3 times that of the winning quote.

Dismayed, we re-visited the site just to re-calculate and try to find out just where we made our gross error.

We tried, but short of working for beans (bearing in mind the 50%+tax rate here) we just couldn't see any decent economy of any size to be made.

Today, a chance meeting with a member of the clients family at lunch who told us that the winning quote was just 900euros!

That was for a team of 4 for 2 days with a huge Bandit crane fed chipper from another large local company who seems desperate to quash the competition by working for stupidly low rates.

Our quote was in fact within 200euros of the others who lost.

We are up again against this same company (100+ employees) on another job which we have priced correctly as we are not going to be driven into a price war by big bullies or even small busy fools...

We know that the competition are not omni-present nor omni-potent and so cannot pinch every job going.

Our healthy work diary proves such, low turnover and high profit.

Ty

Edited June 22, 2012 by Ty Korrigan
Rotten grammar and spelling...

[Pedroski]

I priced a job yesterday - 2 blokes, one day, remove all waste from site - fella wanted 2ft reduction on a load of hedges, and everything taken away. It was a big job, much more than half day so priced in for day to be safe. He then told me that when he had the hedges done year before last, they were trimmed by 2 Polish blokes who knocked on his door and quoted him £200, all waste away, and they were done in 4 hours. What the fella wouldn't understand is that there is a difference between a 2ft reduction with waste away, and a trim with waste away. He also couldn't get to grips with the fact that it is costing us money to get rid of his waste, and that we are paying tax and insurance and everything else. This fella had a brand new Range Rover on the drive. There's no dealing with some people - they try and compare prices when they're not getting like for like quotes.

[arbogrunt]

Can't compete with that Ped..so don't!. I've got myself into a 'take it or leave it' state of mind when quoting nowadays.

[Pedroski]

Can't compete with that Ped..so don't!. I've got myself into a 'take it or leave it' state of mind when quoting nowadays.

 

Exactly. I can't be arsed worrying about it anymore. We've got more work than ever at the moment and can't be having completely busting a gut just to beat a cheap quote. For all we know he might have even made up the two Polish worker story to try and get us to offer to do it in half a day! As it is, I've got a one and half day (possibly less) fencing job for next weekend that'll see me £600 up instead, on top of earnings for this coming week - 4 x 3m bays of closeboard and one 3m x6ft high trellis section Flippin' doddle compared with 50m yomp carrying hedgecuttings out of garden with bad access!

Edited June 23, 2012 by Pedroski

[Jonny69]

Can't compete with that Ped..so don't!. I've got myself into a 'take it or leave it' state of mind when quoting nowadays.

 

Me too, life is much easier when you stop caring what everyone else is quoting and just get on with it.

 

TY, who is the company you referred to in your post with the Poplars @900euros?

[Ty Korrigan]

Ah, naming and shaming is not etiquette on the forum...

Ty

[rick k]

If we all stuck to sensible prices instead of undercutting each other we"as an industry" could command fair rates and and we'd all make a decent living as we used to. Too many MUGS prepared to work for peanuts messing up for all of us

I don't see plumbers and sparkys dropping there rates. They work on the theory that if it needs doing the customer will have to pay.