Stupidly-priced Quotes - Sick Of Them - TilersForums.com

[bunnycd]

Ok this is not the best place to post regarding quotes but I just have to have a big fat moan...I just gone off the phone to a plasterer and had another stupid priced quote and it just makes me so mad, I am happy to pay a day rate at a reasonable price but £300! To plaster an area that is 4ft x 4ft (WTF) and the other guy did not even want to quote when I said I am not paying more than £80! cause it is a small area.... Where I live in Worcester the tradesmen just charge so much that I have to get people in from other parts of the country, for example my fire is being fitted by a guy in Manchester because it is cheaper for me to pay his time, van hire and petrol than pay anyone round here. My tiny bathroom has been a joke had 3 people over and £1k in labour) my garden patio came in at an average of £6k across 5 tradesmen, in the end I paid £2k and got some guys in from Birmingham. Now, my partner is a freelance hospital consultant he worked 9 years to become a GP then a consultant and some of the tradesmen I have got quotes from charge more money than he earns... he said he is not paying it. It is like people want nothing for nothing now days. The guys I know that live where I do who are roofers are wondering why people from Coventry are stealing their work - it's because they are use to earning lots of money for little work and people are not going to pay it anymore. I was also quoted £80 per sqm to tile my bathroom (labour only) £700!. Got a tiler in from Bham for £150 Sorry to moan I am all for paying a decent price but I am sick of people trying to rip me off. Please think of my post next time you quote.

 

[Dan]

Re: Stuiped Priced Quotes..sick of them...

I've moved this to the Arms, and have granted you access to it bunny. You don't want to post that sort of stuff in the main forums really. This one the public can't view what you've written.

 

[Dan]

Re: Stuiped Priced Quotes..sick of them...

lol - moved it back and ungranted you access - my bad - thought you were a tradesmen then when I quickly read the first bit

 

[Dan]

Re: Stuiped Priced Quotes..sick of them...

If I were still tiling now, I'd work out what I want for the month to live happy, cover the bills, eat out the odd time, etc. Then that'd be what I wanted to earn minimum on average each month. It'd work out about £150 a dayish. Or 20 quid a meter tiled and grouted (but not supplying any materials - I mean just the labour) in a day we'd be talking me needing to cover about 8sqm a day on average.

So your 9sqm might have fell into two days and if it's bitty and needs prep work it might fall into 3 days.

Though you don't want just the cheapest tiler (or tradesmen) ever - you want the one that's doing the job right the first time.

£150 for 9 square meters (you'd be handling about 11.5 square meters of tiles minimum there) is a bit of a joke IMO. He's clearly not paying tax, probably came in a car not a van, definately wouldn't have anything sign-written, possibly free vistaprint business cards with mobile number only. I'd have probably not even let the guy in the house to be honest. (Only guessing all that there - he perhaps could have just done it all in 1 day maybe there)

 

[widler]

Re: Stuiped Priced Quotes..sick of them...

although £300 is a tad much,£80 is not enough,and if someone rang me up and told me how much they would pay me i wouldent come out either:smilewinkgrin:
he has his van,fuel,insurence,his time coming to look at the job,going builders yard for gear ect ect

a small area will take just as long as a larger area or a few walls,setting times are more or less the same. he may even have to come back and skim it the day after.

also,the cheapest quote is not usually the best,you pay peanuts you will get a chimp:lol::lol:

saying that,some of your prices were a bit too much:yikes:

 

[Aston]

Re: Stuiped Priced Quotes..sick of them...

hmmmm note to myself, must talk the wife into moving to worcester ;0)

£300 to plaster ( i take it you mean just to skim, not backing plaster then skim) is an absolute rip off.

it would still take a morning by the time he arrived, prep, set up etc so i wouldnt want to be paying more than £100 for that sized area.

plasterers are getting £1-50 pm2 for skimming on most sites now!!! every spread i speak to is saying the game is so damn hard this year and the money is a joke as so many people have saturated the market as boarders and skimmers... if i lived around your way, id do it on my way home for £80 and then the wife could take it straight out my hand to get her hair done or something riduclous like what women do....says me who'll buy a tool if you wave it under my snout ;0)

 

[Andy Allen]

Re: Stuiped Priced Quotes..sick of them...

people quote what they need to do the job, certain areas are higher priced, due to the high end houses and clients, a tiler in london may quote twice as much as where i live in Gloucester due to his outgoings being a lot more than mine, if all the quotes in your area are coming out the same, then thats the going rate for your area, you either pay it, move house or get someone from miles away that you can get no local referances from and will proberly tell you where to go should you need any remedial work doing.

and as for your partner spending 9 yrs learning his job and earning x amount are you trying to say tradesmen should earn less? we spend alot of time perfecting our trade , and as such deserve a decent wage to.

 

[bunnycd]

Re: Stuiped Priced Quotes..sick of them...

"and as for your partner spending 9 yrs learning his job and earning x amount are you trying to say tradesmen should earn less? we spend alot of time perfecting our trade , and as such deserve a decent wage to"

what I was trying to say is that the difference is that my partner has peoples lives in his hands everyday, if he makes a mistake then people die and he has to live with it for the rest of his life, which is one reason he is paid what he is, plus he spent £60k training which he is still paying back. These guys were quoting based on a salary of £78k per year, I guess £20k overheads that still means £58k per year which is more than my partner earns.
I did not mean any disrespect at all I appreciate that it takes years to become good at whatever you do.

 

[widler]

Re: Stuiped Priced Quotes..sick of them...

hmmmm note to myself, must talk the wife into moving to worcester ;0)

£300 to plaster ( i take it you mean just to skim, not backing plaster then skim) is an absolute rip off.

it would still take a morning by the time he arrived, prep, set up etc so i wouldnt want to be paying more than £100 for that sized area.

plasterers are getting £1-50 pm2 for skimming on most sites now!!! every spread i speak to is saying the game is so damn hard this year and the money is a joke as so many people have saturated the market as boarders and skimmers... if i lived around your way, id do it on my way home for £80 and then the wife could take it straight out my hand to get her hair done or something riduclous like what women do....says me who'll buy a tool if you wave it under my snout ;0)

exactly mate,they aint plasterers. i wouldent get out of bed for £1.50,and nether would any plasterer i know.

so if the person in question rang you up and said,right ive got 4m2 of tiling to do,i will give you (£15 m2)£60,would you go and look,or even do it mate:smilewinkgrin:

 

[bunnycd]

Re: Stuiped Priced Quotes..sick of them...

so if the person in question rang you up and said,right ive got 4m2 of tiling to do,i will give you (£15 m2)£60,would you go and look,or even do it mate:smilewinkgrin:

Personally for those people that bothered to turn up and do the job rather than mess about spending 2 hours here quoting (yes I had some of those) I have given them more work.. then I gave them even more work through friends so for one of the roofers £100 turned into £2k for one of my tradesman. In my view £60 is still a good wage for half a days work.