Discuss Job quotes you know won’t happen in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

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Dustydazzler

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Hi all

Just wanted your opinion on this...

I have an old guy keep asking me to quote power and lights for his detached garage.
I quoted this job about 2 years ago and last year.
He is now asking me to go back a quote again for the very same job. This particular job is about 25 minutes from my house so not close by.

He is a nice enough guy but I genuinely don’t think this job will ever actually happen.

Do I politely decline or just pop round and give him another quote?

Thoughts...
 
Can you not just add a % to your old quote to cover any hourly rate, material increases?

No need to waste time quoting then.

He keeps wanting different things , but yes I could
 
Do what Rob says. We get event quotes from people that enquired a year or two years ago, they didn't like the quote then, so did something different that obviously wasn't satisfactory, then they come back for another quote for next year's event. If the spec is unchanged from last year, our quote for next year is 5% more than our last quote, which you thought was too expensive. :D
 
Just add quite a big % to the quote, so he won't ask again!
 
Just add quite a big % to the quote, so he won't ask again!

I'm not a fan of the idea to add a huge amount to a quote, so you don't get the job.
The end result may be that you don't get the job but also you may come across that you are trying to rip them off. They then go and tell all their friends that you tried to charge £££££ for a little job..
Best to go along with @Paignton pete and just be honest.
 
Agreed, don't apply a huge % increase for the sake of it, but remember every business needs to move forward. Your operating costs will be nudging higher year on year on virtually all lines on your accounts except fuel, where diesel has been cheaper this year than over the same months last year. Charging 3% to 5% more year on year (or whatever works for your business model) makes sense, otherwise a £200 job today will still be £200 in ten years time.
 
I have been terrible at keeping my prices at the correct rate.
For years and years I kept my ‘rate’ the same until I got speaking to a few other trades and realised how cheap I had become.
Labour rates have skyrocketed in London / Surrey the past few years from around £30-£40 per hour 5 years ago to around £85-90 per hour today...
A mate of mine is a gardener and charges £45 per hour for small jobs and my sister in law is a PT and is £65 per hour.
A lot of people seem to have money to burn on having the grass cut and help getting fit...
 
It’s a family friend and he is about 80 years old . I honestly just think he is lonely and wants someone to talk to.
I’m a sucker and will probably end up round there next week to waste 2 hours of my time for the greater good...

I think we all have a customer or two like that and a few hours of service to the older retired people of the community every year does no harm to anyone

Like you I'm a sucker and do bits for a few older people who want a chat just as much as the job sorting although some of the best debt collecting legal advice I've had came from a retired old lady when I told her the only people I didn't do work for was solicitors as it was hard to get paid
 
Hi all

Just wanted your opinion on this...

I have an old guy keep asking me to quote power and lights for his detached garage.
I quoted this job about 2 years ago and last year.
He is now asking me to go back a quote again for the very same job. This particular job is about 25 minutes from my house so not close by.

He is a nice enough guy but I genuinely don’t think this job will ever actually happen.

Do I politely decline or just pop round and give him another quote?

Thoughts...
I think the MPs would reply...

"I refer my honourable friend to my previous answer"
 
Is his memory going/gone? My dear father-in-law(84) has the memory of a goldfish - so sad. He keeps asking the same questions and seems to listen to the answers but then a little later or on the next meeting asks the same or similar question again.

M
 
Is his memory going/gone? My dear father-in-law(84) has the memory of a goldfish - so sad. He keeps asking the same questions and seems to listen to the answers but then a little later or on the next meeting asks the same or similar question again.

M

I think you will find it's alzheimer's / dementia my mother who is a similar age has exactly the same problem. Her long term memory is good up to events in the late 60's / early 70's but after that it all gets a bit mixed up the short term memory at the moment is anything from 5 minutes to a few days
 
It's not exactly fun watching your parents with dementia,
But many of us will have to go thru it,

Yeah tell me about it my mother has got a lot worse since my father died 10 years ago but the last month or two the decline has been very noticeable. It's when you look back and realise the tell tale signs and traits were there 40 or more years ago but it wasn't really known back then
 

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