impossible job obviously declined.

telectrix

telectrix

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Mentor
Arms
this might be a long one. if so, apologies in advance.

son and heir ( who has a fair amount of installation experience, but for last 5 years has worked full time on HGV electrics) has been asked to finish off a house installation that has been started, with me overseeing the job and doing the testing etc. customer to supply materials and thinks job can be done in 3-4 weekends. been to look today and it's more like 3-4 weeks for me and son. typical case of customer having no idea. son tells me the customers budget for labour is £800.i almost pi$$ed myself. 1st fix is only half done, plasterer has cut labelled ends of cables off. the site is a tip. £3000 would be somewhere in the ball park, and that's without proper costings.
 
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telectrix said:
son and heir ( who has a fair amount of installation experience, but for last 5 years has worked full time on HGV electrics) has been asked to finish off a house installation that has been started, with me overseeing the job and doing the testing etc. customer to supply materials and thinks job can be done in 3-4 weekends. been to look today and it's more like 3-4 weeks for me and son. typical case of customer having no idea. son tells me the customers budget for labour is £800.i almost pi$$ed myself. 1st fix is only half done, plasterer has cut labelled ends of cables off. the site is a tip. £3000 would be somewhere in the ball park, and that's without proper costings.
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and this customer Tele ,did she or him have a golden lamp ,and to see if the genie has gave her or him the three wishes .:D
 
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you have to love the good old we know best customer, they live in a different world..I had a guy wanting me to fit a garage cu for £100 call me up over weekend, said he had measured the distances and would buy the right amount and size of cable and would himself get the consumer unit as he doesnt like trades marking up the materials! i said no thanks im far too busy! felt £100 was fair for the labour involved...
 
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Never undersell your skills...
One day I will open a new thread about this..
(oh no! I hear you cry!)
I have been there so many times, and I learnt to walk away every time...if you do a "cheap" job, that customer will be a fekn nightmare for ever, complaining about everything he reads on t'internet...
 
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Rpa07 said:
They have ears you know!
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and eyes to go with them ,like MR spud
mr-potato-head-toy-story-3-spud-lightyear.jpg
 
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Some Customers are quicker on accepting their situation than others. I've been to a big house extension last week where the builder (and his "Electrician") has bolted midway. I was told "we've already paid heaps, so it can't be much just to finish it off?". Thats 2 hours I'll never get back.
 
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Wilko said:
Some Customers are quicker on accepting their situation than others. I've been to a big house extension last week where the builder (and his "Electrician") has bolted midway. I was told "we've already paid heaps, so it can't be much just to finish it off?". Thats 2 hours I'll never get back.
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their own fault imo, i would never give anyone more than a few hundred pounds for incomplete works or assets unless i knew where they stay, i dont buy a car for the same reason, so that if it breaks down within an hour of me buying it ill be right back to their house to have "words" and pick up my money
 
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MDJ said:
£800.00 quid won't pay for Tels expenses, there is his beer, his battery charging costs for his mobility scooter and his smokes, I reckon 3-4 K by the sound of things lol
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actually you're not far off mike. ( witrh the price, i mean). told him 3k min. for labour only.
 
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think the situation is that original sparks was paid for 1st fix, when in fact he'd only done about 30% of it, then done a runner and won't answer phone to customer, who was under the impression that it was just 2nd fix, test and cert. anyway, my lad phoned him last night and told him no way, as he works full time and is not prepared to give up so many weekends, and I'm not prepared to do an 80 mile round trip for several days commitment out of the area, and it's a pig of a job anyway.
 
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Gavin John Hyde said:
you have to love the good old we know best customer, they live in a different world..I had a guy wanting me to fit a garage cu for £100 call me up over weekend, said he had measured the distances and would buy the right amount and size of cable and would himself get the consumer unit as he doesnt like trades marking up the materials! i said no thanks im far too busy! felt £100 was fair for the labour involved...
Click to expand...
Its always a laugh when the customer measures up the cable to the exact length as to try to save some pennies and it then comes in a foot too short.
 
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It’s funny coming from it at different angles. Having been a customer a few years back you think that electrics are just a few wires and can’t be that expensive. Currently working on annex conversion with biomass plant room with sub main RCBO CU. Also having to run power to a Klargester sewerage treatment plant and sheds. Probably easily over £1000 in materials before any labour factored in.
 
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I WILL START A THREAD! However, there is another one currently...10 things you don't know about me, Mr Doubting Thomas, and only after I have revealed all there, will I return to this one...meantime, customers/clients are nightmares...as we have all said, if it wasn't for them, this would be a great job...
whatever job you do.
 
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the guy that ran peep peeps bar had the britains hardest pubs lot in his pub, nothing hard about his pub, but anyways, he hated his customers and his bar was pretty much full alot of the time
 
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Customers who want to get their own material is a red flag for me. I have seen there are patterns to crafty customers. Those who buy material who tell you how long your job should take, and when you ask for payment they pull out the complaint list. RUN A MILE. Don't give them the satisfaction.
 
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Unless they are property developers, customers who want to get their own material is a red flag for me. I have seen there are patterns to crafty customers. Those who buy material who tell you how long your job should take, and when you ask for payment they pull out the complaint list. RUN A MILE. Don't give them the satisfaction.
 
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telectrix

telectrix

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Arms
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cheshire/staffordshire
If you're a qualified, trainee, or retired electrician - Which country is it that your work will be / is / was aimed at?
United Kingdom
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Electrical Engineer (Qualified)
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Telectrix

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impossible job obviously declined.
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