another one bits the dust..

[tileexperts]

hey guys and girls,
i had a job sorted for this week by a customer.
full house, all marble to be done through out the house.
and arrived there this morning and he said no tiles.

and the empression i got was that he was not going to go ahead.
he was meant to ring me over the weekend and he did not.
i rang him afew times and left message on phone and still, he did not call me

so this morning i went to the house and he was there.
so after organising everything and giving him a realy good price.
now i have no work for the week,
and i more than likely will close my company due to this.
because i have to many debts over my head.

no matter how nice you can be, you still loose.
anyway i just wanted to get that off my chest.
thanks for reading

 

[hillhead]

sorry to hear that fellow country man.times are tough down in dub i hear too.iv done some work down there and even cavan etc.im sure you had an idea when he didn't return your calls?hope you get something in asap! Read some of the tips on here on how to go out and get work.just a thought.im just across the border in newry today.on my mobile net here.

 

[CJ CERAMICS]

sorry to hear that mate im in the same situation myself. had work booked in for the whole month starting after my hols. phoned up clients 2 have decided that they now are going to do it themselves to save the pennies (used my qoute to buy the right materials) and cannot get hold of the other 2 left messages but no replys so far.
chris

 

[Olz]

sorry to hear that mate im in the same situation myself. had work booked in for the whole month starting after my hols. phoned up clients 2 have decided that they now are going to do it themselves to save the pennies (used my qoute to buy the right materials) and cannot get hold of the other 2 left messages but no replys so far.
chris

I dont list material quantities in my estimates for that very reason mate, I put words to the effect of

"Install floor tiles to bathroom walls, including labour, adhesive, trims and grout".

That way they see materials which helps justify the price, but they dont know what they are or how much.

 

[CJ CERAMICS]

I dont list material quantities in my estimates for that very reason mate, I put words to the effect of

"Install floor tiles to bathroom walls, including labour, adhesive, trims and grout".

That way they see materials which helps justify the price, but they dont know what they are or how much.

hi oli,
thanks for the reply, my original comment didnt come across well. i only did this for one of the customers the other just said they are doing it.
normally i dont list materials ie names and quantities but they asked if i could for there qoute so that they could be assured that the materials i was using would be suitable for their tiles (alarm bells should have rang then). we had already agreed a price and start date so i didnt think too much about it :mad2:

 

[Olz]

Some will always try it on mate, I get calls all the time asking for qoutes over the phone and what will i need to buy material wise, I just tell em I dont qoute over the phone and they wont need to buy anything because ill supply it all.

I always know when its another tiler or his wife ringing aswell because the opening line is always, "how much a m2", then they wont accept that I dont qoute without seeing a job, funny that they never want a qoute.

 

[jay]

sorry to hear best of luck with watever you do:8:

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

oh mate that is just tragic so sorry to hear this,but head up ,really go for it this week and see if somethig turns up, you know one door closes that sort of thing, GOOD LUCK MATE

 

[peckers]

Sorry to here about your situation, im in a similiar boat, A customer had excepted my quote to do 200m2 of wall and floor tiling, supposed to have started it today!!
I got home from work on friday evening to read an email that they are no longer needing my services:mad2:
I rang them to find out why this was, as the e.mail diddnt explain anything, It turns out the husband was made redundant on friday and they are no longer able to go on and finish the project.
This now leaves me 3 weeks with no work, in fact if something else doesen't come in soon then i wont have any work,
work is scarce here at the mo, hopefully something will come in soon..

 

[CJ]

:incazzato: Same situation myself today anyway..........bloody tiles are coming from Ebay:mad2:



Keep ya pecker up m8

 

[enduro]

Has anybody tried asking for a booking fee on larger jobs say £100 once they have excepted your quote, explain you need to do this to stop people cancelling at the last minute.

 

[peckers]

Has anybody tried asking for a booking fee on larger jobs say £100 once they have excepted your quote, explain you need to do this to stop people cancelling at the last minute.

I have done this in the past when I am supplying all or part materials, However when it is labour only I dont ask for a deposit, perhaps we should. but then again i can see some customers not being happy with this.. but then you could ask and if they wont pay a deposit on labour only then it is up to the tiler to decide weather to book the job in or not.
In todays climate it is understandable for a customer to cancel when they have been made redundant as in my case, but im sure some are cancelling at the last minute because they have found it cheaper/but not better somewhere else maybe.

 

[Daveyboy]

Sorry to hear your misfortunes..a painful but important lesson learnt there and one that's becoming more important to remember/apply in these harsh times..I never guarrantee a start date for work that takes more than two days, or costs more than £500 unless the client pays a deposit..if it's more than £2000, I make sure I also get a stage payment..that way, I never take a big hit and ensure my cash flow is good..

 

[faithhealer]

Sorry to hear your misfortunes..a painful but important lesson learnt there and one that's becoming more important to remember/apply in these harsh times..I never guarrantee a start date for work that takes more than two days, or costs more than £500 unless the client pays a deposit..if it's more than £2000, I make sure I also get a stage payment..that way, I never take a big hit and ensure my cash flow is good..

Same here Daveyboy

 

[White Room]

Thats bad news tileexpert, I think a few guys have had customers not being honest, I've had my share at the moment. Customers think the shop assistant know more than I do and takes their word like it's written in stone.

Hope some work comes your way mate

 

[doug boardley]

very sorry to hear of your predicament mate. I really hope something crops up asap for you:mad2:

 

[tileexperts]

guys, thank you so much for your support,and advice. its amazing,
i did not expect this big a response,
well i will let you all know wat happens as soon as i know

please god something pops up between now and friday.
ill sleep in my van if i have to, and am sure am not the first guy on this site to do this
and i now realise am not the only one on this site in this position.

anyway guys, amazing thank you all so so much.

allan

 

[brian c]

hi Allan,try and remain positive although its hard to do so.Contact old customers etc,tile shops,go around in the van looking for work,leaflet drops,contact other tradesmen and tell them you are looking to set up with say a good plumber/spark/joiner..sometimes people just need a nudge to get the ball rolling.Try anything at all that might get work...estate agents ,councils,local shops advertising,local newspapers just try anything and remain focused and im sure something will turn up..i really hope it does work for you bud.

 

[Eddie]

I've had three quotes knocked back lately. I've had people asking for estimates over the phone, but no jobs. I havn't had a tiling job for eight weeks. Done some decking, and some other work, but no tiling. I was thinking about packing in myself. just fed up with it now.

 

[tileexperts]

hi Allan,try and remain positive although its hard to do so.Contact old customers etc,tile shops,go around in the van looking for work,leaflet drops,contact other tradesmen and tell them you are looking to set up with say a good plumber/spark/joiner..sometimes people just need a nudge to get the ball rolling.Try anything at all that might get work...estate agents ,councils,local shops advertising,local newspapers just try anything and remain focused and im sure something will turn up..i really hope it does work for you bud.

you know, i never thought of contacting old customers,
great idea, thanks a lot mate

 

[doug boardley]

a few weeks ago I thought I was staring down both barrels,had no work for 2 weeks, did the card dropping, tile shops etc, but busied up again nicely now. Stick at it as long as you can, as long as you don't make yourself/family suffer too much

 

[hillhead]

So important for us tilers to build up a savings pot and protect it for hard times !!
i know it's easier said than done but its so easy to spend when it's rolling in!!

 

[Trevor Harmer]

Hi Allan,
when I started my company up "Passionate About Tiling." a year ago I got involved in all the usual marketing tricks but one bit of advice I was given has been an absolute godsend.
I joined two business networking breakfast clubs a local one called Business To Go, this cost me £75.00 one off joining fee and then £10 per week and the BNI (Business networking International). The BNI costs £500 to join (split £100 joining fee & £400 per year there after) plus £35.00 per month a total of £1000 per year considerably more to join a lot of money you may think, however, you get to network with other business people and they will find you work by referring you to clients and visa versa. Once you have joined a "chapter" you lock out your competition no other tiler can join. As I say I have spent the same amount of money on Thomson Local yell.com, local papers etc with no or very little return!! The BNI and Bus2go have brought in over £14,000 directly so far this year and I am going strong, I don't know of any other marketing that gives this sort of return.
There are many other benefits to joining for one 20-30 other business brains to help out in times of need Accountants, Lawyers, Business development managers, Builders, Architects the list goes on.

Networking is the best thing I have ever done.
Hope this helps, Keep your head high mate and look to getting involved check out these web sites. Business 2 Go! - Home page and BNI International - Business Networking and Referrals to give you some idea how they work.
Best of luck Allan and let me know how you get on.
Trev.

 

[tileexperts]

thanks a million trev, i was in bni before here i dublin, i was i the castle chapter. it was great i loved it, went every week and met loads of people in it, got two jobs out of it, but one guy in the chapter stung me, for a few hundred euro. kept saying to me i had to talk to his empoyee and all this crap.
my work was perfect, not one thing went wrong for me.
and then he became the head of the chapter.
and pulled me aside one day and said do you really want to be in this chapter, i lost it,
the reason he said this was because i was not getting much out of the chapter.
so then i decided to shame him after 4 months.
and i walked out. but i made some great friends, and we pass work sometimes.
but i might join another chapter again soon though. once i get sorted and decide wat ill do.
am going to look at business to go for sure aswell.
thanks again mate.
great advice

 

[brian c]

Good to see you being more upbeat m8,what a difference a day makes.

 

[tileexperts]

Good to see you being more upbeat m8,what a difference a day makes.

ha! ha! well i tell ya, my girlfriend gave me about 1% of the support and advice you all have given me. honestly!
she broke up with me there last week cause things were getting tight for me. i was not the guy with all the money anymore.
so there you go.
i was a silly guy. ha ha.

i am amazed really. great site.
am going to make a donation to the site for sure.
so ill be sending sterling bankdraft b4 the weeks out.

thanks mate