Lowering job spec to get work??

[mattle40]

Yes I'm in Bramley ls13, what about yourself?

 

[John Benton]

Between Leeds and Wakefield

It's not the same plumber I know....haha

 

[mattle40]

Lol just one of many eh!

 

[John Benton]

Strangely enough he's not working for himself anymore. He'd charge 1k for labour and materials on a straight bathroom swap + the cost of the sanitaryware. No wonder he wanted me to lower my prices.

 

[mattle40]

So that's strip out
First fix
Tile prep
Tile
second fix
For £1k inc materials????
So you got paid out of that too?

 

[mattle40]

Or is that without the tiling sorry??

 

[John Benton]

He'd rip out tiles but all the addy was left on walls no prep I did that. His was for all the plumbing only! Towards the latter end of our working relationship he would start providing the tiles as well, which is what I used to do so he was taking even more out of the job as well.

So I ended it!!!!

 

[mattle40]

I'm not surprised... This is whats keeping me from taking the next step tho
Until I'm on my own feet I'm kinda relying on these people to an extent
Iv got a job for a new neighbour coming up and he's a plumber so that could be a lead hopefully
Although it always hard to price for friends and neighbours etc and don't want to give a false impression of my prices....

 

[John Benton]

You've got to make a living. You charge what you charge, I bet they don't go to work for nothing. Try to strike up a relationship with the plumber ask him who he uses if he does a full bathroom refurb, would he fancy trying you out on a trial basis, he probably has a reputation to keep and if he's recommending trades they have to know what they're doing!

 

[mattle40]

Thanks again pal, I'm getting the Feeling I just need to be a bit firmer and take more charge of jobs if I'm going to go down this route...
I suppose all I can do is give a price to do a job my way and that's that..
No sacrificing quality, no lowering my price

 

[John Benton]

Justifying your price to customers, i.e. telling them the reasons why you are using cement board instead of ply, tanking around a shower area/cubicle help the customer gain confidence in you. If your competitors are not doing this then their prices could be cheaper but that does it mean the job will get done correctly. Always ask what your competitors are providing in their quote so you can make sure that it's apples for apples.

 

[MPM]

I wonder when that stuff hits the fan who will repair and take the hit, one bad job will cost you many more jobs build on a sound foundation, dump the plumber before he dumps you, Ive been arround to long and love my tiling for a plumber to tell me what is the standard for tiling. By the way Im a tiler with plumbing qualifications, long live the tilers