Am i the only one who gets these customers?!

[cliffbase]

I cant be the only one...

Just had a chap call me asking for a quote, He is apparently building 2 studio flats above his shop.

Asked him to forward me the plans to which he replied he had none - but its ok because he knows what he wants (he was on a roll now), 20 double sockets in each, a cooker point and a shower point....

I interrupted him and said I need a plan, but im told he just wants a price! I asked, to illustrate, what wattage the cooker would be he didn't know.

I told him that without a plan & more info I couldn't give an estimate, so he asked for a guess!!

He lost interest when I said somewhere between fifty & a million pounds.

He may be on here in a bit asking for quotes!

 

[Leesparkykent]

20 doubles in a studio flat blimey!

 

[Martyc]

Probably knows a bloke called Dave down the pub will do it for 3 score and a monkey per flat. Can you beat his quote?

 

[snowhead]

Probably knows a bloke called Dave down the pub will do it for 3 score and a monkey per flat. Can you beat his quote?

Yes

C.U with 20 sockets under it plus a cooker and shower point below them.

 

[Martyc]

Well without the layout plan it can't be wrong- he'll just have to use a lot of extension leads. Although tbh it sounds more like a cannabis farm than a rental property!

 

[Octopus]

Its impossible to do a quote without visting an existing installation, visiting the building site or having the drawings.

That said you could fairly easily give a "ball park price" of £50 per point plus CU and bonding - it wouldn't be far out with standard white accessories.

 

[Martyc]

The worst one I had was putting in a water and electric feed into a concrete block wall..... IIRC the water feed ended up in the cavity because once it was deep enough to hide it, the block work just kinda fell thru.....

 

[Adam W]

I cant be the only one...

Just had a chap call me asking for a quote, He is apparently building 2 studio flats above his shop.

Asked him to forward me the plans to which he replied he had none - but its ok because he knows what he wants (he was on a roll now), 20 double sockets in each, a cooker point and a shower point....

I interrupted him and said I need a plan, but im told he just wants a price! I asked, to illustrate, what wattage the cooker would be he didn't know.

I told him that without a plan & more info I couldn't give an estimate, so he asked for a guess!!

He lost interest when I said somewhere between fifty & a million pounds.

He may be on here in a bit asking for quotes!

No lighting?

 

[PEG]

It will probably be existing bedrooms,above a shop,so will have lighting...what he may be after,is to "Bedsitterise" them...that's a word i hope to slide in to the new Oxford,it means "...to convert surplus non-earning living space,in to earning living space..."

To get there,go to "Regs",turn left,then right,then left again...:shocked3:

 

[Andy78]

No you're not the only one, these planks are everywhere. Usually manifested in house owners and landlords that insist on self managing their renovations to save money, then try to con one of the trades on site into doing all the organising when they realise they don't have a clue.

 

[Martyc]

No you're not the only one, these planks are everywhere. Usually manifested in house owners and landlords that insist on self managing their renovations to save money, then try to con one of the trades on site into doing all the organising when they realise they don't have a clue.

I done project managing on refurbs for 2 years, it was a harsh and painful but rewarding learning curve. It also makes you realise that some people have no concept of what works or is practical, yet they still complain when you hand the keys back after following their instructions to the letter.....

 

[Adam W]

It will probably be existing bedrooms,above a shop,so will have lighting...what he may be after,is to "Bedsitterise" them...that's a word i hope to slide in to the new Oxford,it means "...to convert surplus non-earning living space,in to earning living space..."

To get there,go to "Regs",turn left,then right,then left again...:shocked3:

There may be 'lighting' but it's unlikely that there'll be separately switched suitably IP rated lights in the area he wants to turn into a shower room, or task lighting in the kitchen area.
Chances are he just hasn't thought about it and he'll just start jumping up and down when he realises his oversight, by which time it'll be a real pain to do anything about.
OK you may be able to 'get away with' one pendant in the middle of the room, but for similar outlay decent lighting will add much more value than all those sockets.

 

[Gazthesparky]

I had the same recently back last year asked to quote for a extension project was sent the plans and said to customer call me to arrange a site visit so I could quote. Never happened then out the blue got a text asking if I did computer networks

Arranged a site visit wiring and building half done 2.5mm cables going diagonal lol

shown round guy wants network points everywhere 40 in total

Then chirps up you do Arial points too and sky points

Say yes and asked to quote then asks if I did speaker cabling too say yes and could I quote for that too

Put the quote in for the work and get a call saying out of budget and they thought it would be well in £1000

Says builder will put cabling in and could I connect it for 400

I politely rejected and put the phone down

 

[Andy78]

A mate of mine did a large bungalow rewire a few years back where the upstairs was getting converted more or less doubling the size of the house. This was to be project managed by the owner to save money. 2 huge en suite bedrooms upstairs as well as box room, landing area, heating cupboard. Price was agreed, didn't hear anything for many weeks though.

He gets a call on a Thursday morning. "Can you come and start putting some cables in soon please ? The roof conversion is nearly complete and the joiner is putting down the upstairs floor on Monday you see and also the boarders will be closing up the stud walls next week. You should get it all done tomorrow right ?" Unreal !

The whole job was a mess. He went though 3 plumbers that we knew of. The first one walked off site after just completing the first fix pipework. He asked why we were wiring for 2 stats, "Well the up and down heating zones are separate we were told from day one" The owner must have thought the plumber psychic too. He packed up and left there and then.

He also kept asking us to add on bits and bobs he had forgotten as we highlighted problems nearly every day with his original spec and design. His wallet nearly had a heart attack when presented with nearly a £2k extras bill. Apparently you can just ask for whatever you want once the price has been agreed and the price won't change.

 

[Phil Thompson]

I'd have said between £1500 and £3000 for what he's asked, but would need to see to give an exact estimate. And to check what else is required to meet regs. 20 sockets sounds too many. Sometimes I find these types are much easier to deal with than someone who thinks they know more than you. "The Watcher" types I call them lol

 

[Besoeker]

Its impossible to do a quote without visting an existing installation, visiting the building site or having the drawings.

Totally agree.

 

[DuaneMHunt1976]

Wasn't there some drug growing place wanted just 20 double sockets all stacked on top of each other

 

[Leesparkykent]

A mate of mine did a large bungalow rewire a few years back where the upstairs was getting converted more or less doubling the size of the house. This was to be project managed by the owner to save money. 2 huge en suite bedrooms upstairs as well as box room, landing area, heating cupboard. Price was agreed, didn't hear anything for many weeks though.

He gets a call on a Thursday morning. "Can you come and start putting some cables in soon please ? The roof conversion is nearly complete and the joiner is putting down the upstairs floor on Monday you see and also the boarders will be closing up the stud walls next week. You should get it all done tomorrow right ?" Unreal !

The whole job was a mess. He went though 3 plumbers that we knew of. The first one walked off site after just completing the first fix pipework. He asked why we were wiring for 2 stats, "Well the up and down heating zones are separate we were told from day one" The owner must have thought the plumber psychic too. He packed up and left there and then.

He also kept asking us to add on bits and bobs he had forgotten as we highlighted problems nearly every day with his original spec and design. His wallet nearly had a heart attack when presented with nearly a £2k extras bill. Apparently you can just ask for whatever you want once the price has been agreed and the price won't change.

I hate customers like this, I've been burnt in the past with extras when it's time to pay up. Now anything not agreed at the start I won't do untill I've received written instruction stating its an extra on the agreed price.