Horrified

[Sean Kelly]

I did an estimate for lady last week. Irregular shaped 5.5sqm of bathroom floor. 6mm Hardibacker to be laid first. Several corners to cut around. Plus cutting around toilet and sink. Tiles are white ceramic 300X300. Bearing in mind I would use all the correct addy & colour flex grout etc. Plus the cost of Hardi, tape, screws and bedding it down with addy etc. I also included brass door trim. I estimated it would be a very long days work and my estimate came to £340. The lady wanted the job started next week. I waited for the confirmation call, which did not happen. so I phoned her tonight. She was horrified at the price. I explained the cost of quality materials and asked her what other quotes she got. 'None' she said. She then said it was an insurance job and she had been given one 'mandate' from the insurance company. Mandate??? what's this? She did not know!!! To cut a long story short I told her to get at least 2 more quotes so she could see that I was not ripping her off. I also asked her to sort things out with the insurance company and to maybe give me a call when she knows what she is doing. I also explained that if I was tiling a concrete floor then the price would have been less than half of £340. Do you think £340 was overpriced? Cheers Sean

 

[andy-p]

sean you aint ripping her off its more than fair but i think your floggin a dead horse buddy ...

 

[Sean Kelly]

Cheers Andy. When I was told it was an insurance job I was a bit miffed. Especially when I saw the damage. It was a tiny leak from the shower door that dripped onto the bathroom carpet. I guess she thought she could get a whole bathroom floor retiled for the price of a new bathroom carpet.

 

[White Room]

They don,t understand mate, Your price with all the bits and bobs sounds about right.

 

[wivers]

Mate...Mandate work sux.

I have done it a few times and done estimates even more times wich i have never heard back from. This is mainly coz the insurance companies send out idiots they haven't a clue about tiling or the cost of materials.

They always give the customer a stupidly small ammount to spend, so by the time they have bought thier tiles they have nothing left for the labour and blame or prices!

Most of them have to top up the difference wiv their own dough which is why they try to do it really cheap, which means that they will be having another claim in a years time or so coz it will all go pear shaped.

Don't worry bout it mate, forget about it and if she comes back to ya its all good, just don't accept payment from the insurance company, get the money off the customer and tell them to get the money from the insurance.

 

[Sean Kelly]

Update: The lady rang back and said that her insurance company will foot the bill, but they will take of 15% for admin etc. The lady wanted me to knock 15% off my quote. So I asked her if she had got any more quotes.............'No' she said, but she went to Topps tiles and asked them for a quote..........they told her £400 (without seeing the room). I told her my quote was for £340 and I would not drop my price. She then asked me to do the job in a couple of weeks!!! I accepted. Bearing in mind that I am laying hardibacker on the floor, then tiling over it..........can I do this without lifting the toilet? Cheers Sean

 

[pjtiler]

Update: The lady rang back and said that her insurance company will foot the bill, but they will take of 15% for admin etc. The lady wanted me to knock 15% off my quote. So I asked her if she had got any more quotes.............'No' she said, but she went to Topps tiles and asked them for a quote..........they told her £400 (without seeing the room). I told her my quote was for £340 and I would not drop my price. She then asked me to do the job in a couple of weeks!!! I accepted. Bearing in mind that I am laying hardibacker on the floor, then tiling over it..........can I do this without lifting the toilet? Cheers Sean

wipp the bog out and stick a flexy on and an offset multi quick if it needs one