Fuming with job robbing plumbers

[Peter]

Why do people want to work for 'rock bottom' anyway?

 

[John Benton]

Hopefully the customer will be starting a new thread on here in a fortninght, asking for help regarding his bodged up bathroom..


For a laugh, I'd be tempted to call him and say yeah you're right, I'll lower the spec, chuck in some materials at cost and beat Terry's price, get him hooked, book him in, then cancel on the morning of the job, ha.

Or burn his house down!

Watch out Swedish is back :sofahide:

 

[charlie1]

When it comes to business you need to be ruthless and I don't care how well you know who you are doing business with. Money does strange things to folk and I include you in this! Things need to be stable from the start and the only way to do this is with money ...FACT, Otherwise silliness can happen. Don't EVER feel awkward about asking for say 15% or price of materials upfront before you even put the job in your diary, 99% of clients would not have an issue with this the other 1% better have a good excuse!! Ok, I know there are some dodgy characters around who might take the deposit then not do the work, wouldn't be the first time it's happened so if I was a member of the public, I'd have a limit I'd be handing over but that would be relative to the size of the job but all I'm saying is, the deposit stops the silliness... We all know what the silliness is don't we, it's happened to all of us, the abrupt cancellation phone call or even worse the text to say they are rescheduling bs when you really know what's happened... The silliness has entered there head because there was no Ssm installed by the tiler (silliness stopping membrane) at estimation stage or soon after!! Silliness can cause an awfull mess if not controlled

 

[kilty55]

i take small deposits say 5 percent or 10 percent of the labour cost of job to firstly book the job in the book. most jobs i do now are bathroom refits so other men involved as well so cannot afford to be getting mucked about by customers

once thats paid which 99 times out 100 is no issue i then ask for all material and goods costs upfront 1 week before job starts i dont order a single thing till its paid.

labour and ammendments on completion

i know it sounds kinds strict but the customers feel at ease doing this i find as they feel they are dealing with some one whos organised it works for me and if some one refuses or arhues about paying i simply walk away as i know they are going to be bother it doesnt happen often

i dont make a big deal of it ,i only mention money once i have been given in writing that i am going to do the job and its nearly always fine

 

[DJS]

+1 a deposit for booking me is the latest term to be added to my conditions. Materials + 20% of labour non-refundable, balance payable upon satisfactory completion.

I feel that is fair, as they get the materials and the slot in my diary confirmed. Then if they change the date, or cancel, I get the 20% to cover food or bills and the loss of earnings due to the gap in my workload. Been messed around a few times now, and starting to realise that it's a good way to weed out those annoying customers who will get a professional in for their opinion, then either do it themselves or get a jack of all trades in to do it for half the price.