beating quotes

[burncross]

Recently done a quote for a builder on a new house for a bathroom and ensuite, 24 sq/m (ceramic)of wall and 8 sq/m of floor , with border and tiled skirting in both rooms, and both have pitched roofs. Went in cheapish as thought there could be more work to follow, so i said i'd do it for £15/m (32 meters in total) plus materials, which came in at £660 (labour £480, mat's £180)
He's emailed me today saying that he's going with another tilier who's doing it all for £550 ! thats £17/m inc materials
should i go cap in hand and match this quote? using cheaper materials? or let it go?
whats the lowest rates would you get out of bed for?

 

[grumpygrouter]

You could well end up in a bidding war! Trouble is with builders, they only see the bottom line cost and not ther actual quality of the work.

Your choice whether you chase it or not.

 

[grumpygrouter]

Moved thread to pricing forum.

 

[brian c]

if you needthe work then yes imo.

 

[Thespanishtiler]

Hi Burncross

on a new build thats presumably well built, ie walls flat, straight and vertical and a sound floor to lay onto, no heavy prep to do with tiles supplied on site and no one in your way all you have to do is rock up and crack on.
for the lower quote of £550 your materials with ci matting, 40 kg spf, 50 kg white set c2, grout, primer, and sili £120, that leaves you £430 labour. do it in 2.5 daysthats £172 per day

if your short of work i would consider it

 

[garretridge]

i would let it go if you match him then he will probably go cheaper again then you working fo nothing:mad2: its the same here i worked with a plumber doing bathroom refits customer gave him the plumbing work and said i was to dear for the tiling then when he got more refits he used the cheap tiler to his loss the so called tiler packed it in said to hard to make a living no wonder £200:yikes: to tile a 20 sq mtr bathroom work was dodgy .guess what plumber phoned me to tile a bathroom told him £500 plus mats that will teach him!:lol:

 

[tileexperts]

if you work for nothing you will always be employed.......
but i agree with thespainishtiler.

170 notes a day is not the worst thats if you get it done in that time no problems.

its better than nothing at all.

 

[david campbell]

the main thing is can you afford to work for that! and can you leave a good quality finish whilst working for those prices! if the answer is yes to both questions then go for it,if no then don't damage your reputation for 1 job!

 

[mags]

Depends on how desperate you are , I am pretty new to the game so untill I get a portfolio I will do jobs at a rate that gets me the work.

Once im well known and trusted I can get away with a higher fee. what I will not do is undercut another tiler, if the customer tells me fred bloggs will do it for so much , first ill ask to see the quote and If i know the person then Ill say so and not give a price. If I dont I may Match it but not beat it.

 

[burncross]

i'd struggle to do that in 2 1/2 days, i'd given myself 4 days?
don't know if i'm slow or thorough? :smilewinkgrin:

 

[kilty55]

its not about speed mate,a job like that would take me a good 5 to 6 days to do easy,all that matters is the customer geta a good job and you get a good price for doin that job.

 

[Thespanishtiler]

Agreed speeds not the priority earning a wage is so do it in 4 days it £100 a day and a dominos 2 for one next tuesday!

 

[White Room]

£15 a day on site, labour only a few years ago, still earnt over a hundred a day

 

[Thespanishtiler]

the rate between domestic and site/commercial work used to be well defined and house bashing on site could earn you a good living but with the current climate the lines are blurring somewhat and this job falls into the site catagory. imo.

addapt and survive as they say.

I moved into pure domestic and high end development work 3 years ago. I missed the hassel free site work but glad i did it now.

 

[doug boardley]

I wouldn't do it for that, I'd feel i was pimping myself. I'd go and do taxiing at nights if that's what it came to