forced to drop prices

[LM Ceramics]

i dont whether any of you guys are experiencing it but today ive been told to drop my price which i wasnt to happy about from a local kitchen company i do work for as as i dont have enough work on i cant walk out so i think im gunna have to drop my day rate is currently £150 labour only which they were fine to pay with a bit of a moan.

now ive been told to drop to £100 which i wasnt happy doing i dropped a big clanger today we agreed to ring up a few local tilers 3 of them in fact and there day rate was around the £100 mark and lower (labour only) which made me look really expensive due to this credit crunch i know ive been a bit greedy anyway we have agreed £130 a day including mats.

of course this reason is the kitchens and bathrooms arent selling as much as they were so ill have to keep on my toes ive heard that the north west is supposed to be one of the worst areas affected by this i know you cant work for peanuts but these give me alot of work so i think im gunna swallow my pride or else ill be left with nothin ive already lost one contract with a builder due to money issues and poor prep work i cant lose another

How are you guys keeping?

 

[faithhealer]

phone not ringing at the moment, will have to get networking this week.

 

[LM Ceramics]

im always on the look out looking for new contracts just incase i never thought id say this but im getting slightly worried now my phone hardly rings now referalls from my tile shop are going down it aint looking good

 

[monty]

Booked up until mid december..But phones not ringing at all..:mad2:

 

[JIMBOB187]

Last week of October I nearly took a proper job and sold my van then all of a sudden booked up intil second week in December. Have to say I couldn't sleep though and really questioned wether I had picked the right year to become self employed, honestly never been that worried before ever!!!. I know it doesn't go away so I guess it's just fingers crossed.

 

[doug boardley]

booked up 'til spring, but phone hasn't been ringing for a while now,:huh2:

 

[Fred]

I'm gonna go in at a oner a day to get money in.

 

[doug boardley]

I dunno guys, if people want their work done, they have to pay for it,most people are employed, not self employed, they'll still be getting their annual pay rise, why should we have to drop our prices? We end up getting stung twice,bills going up and income going down? not the way forward imo

 

[Fred]

I dunno guys, if people want their work done, they have to pay for it,most people are employed, not self employed, they'll still be getting their annual pay rise, why should we have to drop our prices? We end up getting stung twice,bills going up and income going down? not the way forward imo

well said doug, but it appears to me in this current climate, the public reckon their onto deals with us and the like. I go to some posh places near to where I live, folks like a certain London football team live in this area. I've lost every quote recently. A sign of the times, they know we are struggling IMO.

 

[Rad2474]

Yes people still want work done Doug but with the way things are a lot of them will take the lower estimates and risk that the person doing the job is compitent. (spelling?) The fact is most of the public don't read this site and have no idea about the costs involved ie. primer,slc adhesives etc. and the knowledge involved. And btw my phone ain't ringing either.

 

[Fred]

I went to a quote tonight, and they were not there.............:furious3:

 

[Fekin]

I dunno guys, if people want their work done, they have to pay for it,most people are employed, not self employed, they'll still be getting their annual pay rise, why should we have to drop our prices? We end up getting stung twice,bills going up and income going down? not the way forward imo

Many people are not getting their annual pay rise though, and many are either looking at possibly loosing their jobs, or are loosing\lost their jobs.
The way things are going, you might end up just being pleased to find someone wanting anything doing :huh2:

Yes people still want work done Doug but with the way things are a lot of them will take the lower estimates and risk that the person doing the job is compitent.

I honestly think most people just think they are going to get the same job done to the same standard, just at a lower cost.
I don't think it enters many peoples minds that the lower price person may not be competent.

 

[doug boardley]

surely though Fekin if they're losing their jobs they aren't gonna have work done , so that takes us out of the equation

 

[Fekin]

Many many people are going to be wondering if they will still have a job in 6 months time, but still want things doing around the home, so they are going to be far more likely to go for the lowest price.

 

[doug boardley]

Can't disagree with that Fekin, but we're not a charity and we have to protect our own livliehoods, how low do we have to go before it's not viable? ok a bit of belt tightening, but dropping your income nearly half?

 

[Fekin]

Oh I know and I fully agree, but if there are enough people willing to work for say half of what others want to earn, then without very good contacts, their phones are going to stop ringing.

A very sad state of affairs.

 

[doug boardley]

indeed, maybe I'm just being stubborn!

 

[LM Ceramics]

I dunno guys, if people want their work done, they have to pay for it,most people are employed, not self employed, they'll still be getting their annual pay rise, why should we have to drop our prices? We end up getting stung twice,bills going up and income going down? not the way forward imo

doug what you say is spot on and i dont like lowering prices but wen your local competitors are lowering their prices and some are decent tilers then you have no choice in some areas it might not be as bad but i think in preston and surrounding areas where feeling the pinch the kitchen company i do work for have to start doing discounts on kitchens and bathrooms to try and bring in more work so i have to drop.

i hope that this will blow over soon and we can start charging a fair price for professional work i hope we can all stick together through these tough times ahead

 

[graham31]

The fact is most of the public don't read this site and have no idea about the costs involved ie. primer,slc adhesives etc. and the knowledge involved. And btw my phone ain't ringing either.

I agree with this i went to estimate 2 jobs one a patch up job with a kitchen floor included and the other a 30m2 all in bathroom and en suite.None got back to me because they were scared off way the price.My labour rate wasn't that high £20m2 for the bathroom and the other job i priced 2 days at day rate.

But many clients underestimate the price of materials and of course it all depends what end of the market you deal in.

Some houses i go into i just know the price will be to dear especially when they say"i have my own grout"and come out with adhesive and grout in the one tub :mad2:

 

[sstilingservice]

Sorry to here things are slow chaps . I don't work with any contractors just private customers . they are less likely to haggle you down on price !!! Mind you must admit it helps when there is a tiler in your area saying to customers ( yeh my day rate is £300 ) PLUS MATERIALS !!!!!!!!!!! helps me out when I say £150 a day they nearly bite off my hand . Hope things pick up chaps I went through a stage a couple of mounths ago when the phone didn't ring at all, I thought thats it then back to the old job but luckily things picked up and I'm sure it will for the rest of you. As for useing there own materials if I don't like it I tell them to take it back to the shops and use my own . Even if it costs me, can save you a lot of hassle :mad2:

 

[cjbombero]

I haven't had any site work for a month, all the sites round here are grinding to a halt. I work for £130 a day, giving me £104 after tax, I think thats a pretty fair rate for a days graft. The phone is quiet but i'm still getting a few private jobs here and there.

cjbombero

 

[woodie]

Hi guys It's rather quiet down here as well i've been pretty lucky 'til now as i've been doing a site for a local building company but my phone's been absolutely dead and now the site work has finished it looks like so am i. As for dropping from 150 a day i don't think i could afford to do that as there's not enough work coming in, if these people want a good job doing they've got to expect to pay a decent price. :stupid:

 

[TilingLogistics]

There are certainly some tough times ahead and I appreciate a lot of you have to consider dropping prices because of competition.

However, the facts are each and every one of you is different with different personal circumstances and you all know by now how much you need to earn per week or month individually to stay afloat. It is clear some have mortgages and the lucky ones don't. Taking everything into consideration though it is important to remember that to earn money most need to run a van, insure, tax, mot , service and fill it with fuel. Purchase & replace tools, buy liability insurance etc etc. So bearing in mind those costs it is only worth working for a rate that covers all the above and gives you some sort of profit.

So many so called businesses go bankrupt because they cannot accept they are losing money and most realise too late. So if you are going to work and actually losing money what is the point!!! You may as well mothball everything and find another form of employment or become unemployed.

I have lost three jobs recently because the clients did not expect my prices to be so high.
On the flip side I ordered €970 worth of diamonds a month ago which would have cost me £660 six months ago £782 a month ago and I have just transferred £878.40 to pay for them today. A rise in real terms of over 30%. However, try explaining that to a client.

Kev

 

[Rob Z]

Two of my men are painters and drywall finishers, and damn good at what they do. I pay them accordingly and treat them quite well. It's extremely frustrating here because there are so many illegal immigrants that are working for very low numbers, paid in cash. The homeowners and contractors that hire them aren't paying any taxes or insurance, either.

I've done some digging to see what numbers some of these painting contractors are using for a man-hour in their pricing. I've found that they are pricing their workers out at ~$25/hr, paying the painters approximately half of that, and of course with no overhead. For comparison, it costs me more than $25 an hour just for pay and benefits for my two painters. :mad2: For the higher paid of the two, along with the costs of his vacation time, company truck, and all the insurance and employment taxes, I figure it costs me a bit over $30 an hour to keep him on the payroll.

So, when you factor in that my men take a hell of a lot more time to do the work they do, with all the proper prep and other work that needs to be done, my pricing for painting sometimes is 4 or 5 times what some of the jacklegs give to a potential customer. Many times, the customer is saying "WTF" :huh2: and, just like the tile trade, they have no clue about what a properly prepared and executed job entails. They just think "what'st he big deal, you just put paint on the wall and that's that".

So the house we are working in now, my guys covered all the doors with plastic for dust control. The blue no-tack painter's tape that we used pulled the paint off the trim when we took down the plastic. The previous painter had painted with latex directly over oil paint, no primer,no prep. So now the homeowner is realizing what the differences are and is paying us to do it correctly.

I orginally started doing the painting and drywall work as a part of my business because 1. it was nice additional income and 2. it got us inside of people's houses and gave us the chance to get more work in the area that I like-kitchen and bath remodels. Lately, I have gotten so agravated with wasting my time that I have decided to quit taking on any painting work unless someone really requests it and we are the only ones they want to do the work.

 

[CJ]

Whilst I partly agree with keeping the costs down, to have more of a chance at getting the jobs........its not worth cutting ya own throat just to get the job. I had a very quiet month a while ago, and then the phone started ringing and has'nt stopped. Not big jobs........but they ALL want it done for Christmas:whatchutalkingabout

I have one job booked in for the new year.......but then wot????:huh2:
After Christmas is going to be make or break for lots of us............and just the thought of doing some crap job for crap money really scares the poo out of me........but needs must.

I personnally will not give up without a fight.........I may have to mothball my gear and get some crap job until it picks up again.........but we all have to do, wot we have to do to earn a few quid.

If your good.......and LUCKY.........your'll survive.
New bods to this career may find it harder, since they have'nt got the connections.

FINGERS CROSSED GUYS N GALS :yes:

 

[CJ]

This is like Dunkirk................

Fight them in the air etc etc :lol:

You gotta larf............or your'll end up :mad2::mad2::mad2::mad2:

 

[macten]

Definitely not a good time to start up.
Best of British to all!

 

[LM Ceramics]

im glad i brought this topic up anyway ive agreed a pay cut of £130 a day for now for sub contract work but as for private customers i will remain at £150 for the time being there is a serious amount of competition around this area and ive noticed there are alot of experienced tilers now charging £100 a day labour only

Keep the posts coming through