probably wont suprise you.

[lcjohno]

hi all,

went to do a quote today for a guy who ive known for years but not really a good pal. My mum and his are best mates so i see him every now an then and have a chat.

He wanted kitchen floor tiling, 15 m2, floor is a bit uneven so got the level out to see how bad it was. Decided i'd get over it with adhesive and not level it all. Tiles are 300x300 ceramic in grey/black.

Workin out the price i thought i'll just do it at 20quid a meter and addy and grout at price i get it, so i thought £20m2 x 15 = £300 plus 4 bags of addy at £10 per bag = £40 plus grout £10 TOTAL £350.

I then thought 350 is quite pricey as i think i'll be done in day and half or 2 days so i'll do it for 300 seen as i know the guy. I did say i might have to use a second bag of grout but i'll let him know if i do and it will only be a tenner extra (Mapie).So i tell him 300 quid and he's looking at me like i'd just slagged him off, "bit dearer than other quotes i've had" he says. So i say what have you had? One guy quoted £200 all in for everything job done! Another guy 15m2 all in, addy and grout!!! £225!!

He then shows me the quote, it was written on the back of his business card! 45 years experience it said on the front. The guy is either desperate for work or just clueless.

I just said let him do it, i reckon he'll make about £80 a day on it. I must admit though that i left his house feeling like i'd tried to rip him off, is my price good in your opinion? I think its sadly a sign of the times, i bet your not suprised though, so many stories like this!!!

 

[Alan M]

you said youd do it for 300. so 50 for materials leaves 250 for you. at 1.5 days @100 a day. leaves 100 . so running costs, materials colection costs, tools deprieciation, insurance ect. so say 50 left over. maybe you could do it for 50 less and have no profit in it for you. cut down price at the lowest 250 . not worth it any lower.

shame the way every thing is gone . nowone willing to pay a decent rate for a decent day. cost of everything going up

 

[carlito]

Good luck to em.This is how they'll end up:mad2: ...

 

[doug boardley]

I think your price was more than fair.

 

[Ian]

Unbelievable! £350 was cheap IMO never mind £300!


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[nybor62]

im afraid thats the way things are going , tilers working for stupid prices , idiots

 

[Andy Allen]

i would of gone in at £300 if i was supplying the tiles, £350 justs addy and grout, stick to your guns, its the only way we will get the prices back to where we need them to be..

 

[Stewart]

The more tradesmen are willing to drop their prices like this, the harder it is for them to get decent prices, even when the work picks up! Set your rate's out and stick to them. Ditch this mate's rate's nonsense too, your in business to make a wage and a profit for providing a quality service..........

 

[Deleted member 1779]

Its a real problem because there are a lot of people out there who are looking at jobs like that as a second job or "top up" money. Our tiler Paul works full time as a factory foreman in the week and does tiling as second income in the evening or at weekends. He sees it as a way to get a bit extra rather than full time. And so his prices reflect his view. But that does not help the people who work full time and it was their living.

In the past (say 4 years ago) it wasnt a problem because there was enough work to go about for all. You had a mix of work that suited full time tilers as well as jobs for part time or second income tilers.

Now everything is squeezed. No real answers short term but what we are trying to do is to reduce our outgoings and also diversifying.

 

[Dan]

I'd have said your 300 price was spot on if not a bit cheap. But I'd have expected cheaper quotes, as always in these times. I think what I'd be doing in your shoes is a lot more explaining as to why the price is the price it is. So that then when they see a cheaper quote, they KNOW that it will be for a lesser quality job that might cost them in the long run. When you factor that in a 300 quid job, cutting back on 75 quid isn't worth it IMO. So I'd be really drilling in why it's the price you said, and that you're not profiting much on that, and that the job will be guaranteed and you'll use not cheap adhesives to make sure it lasts and yada yada yada.

That said, you're still just running on a % thing. You'll get some you'll loose some.

 

[bobbynz]

Your right Dan. I itemise everything in a quote and note in the quote any other rates if there are extra's. I've won jobs that were not the cheapest because the customer hadn't been told about any pricing options nor any issues I've raised. It gives them some confidence in you and they dont mind paying for that confidence.

 

[lcjohno]

I explained everything to him, why it cost 300 quid. I told him about using flexi addy and grout etc etc. I always do that on quotes and as above I've won jobs when not the cheapest.
My point on this though is the fact guys are charging 15quid a m2. If everyone stuck to their guns and kept prices decent everyone wins. There's just no need to be so cheap, I've spoken to a mate of mine who's a tiler about this and he knows the guy charging £15m2 and apparently his works good and he's always busy. He's obviously happy working for less which is fair enough but it's harming the whole trade IMO.

 

[Mike]

unfortunately some people can afford to work for less due to many reasons, some have a pension, for some it's a second job or/and just do cash jobs and don't pay tax. some are on the giro too. some work out of the back of the car so don't need to pay for a van and don't have the relavant insurances and as we see on here so often there are lots of cowboys about cutting corners and are able to do the job cheaper unfortunately usually with poor results. untill the industry is policed it looks like we'll have to compete with these part timers.

 

[Andy Allen]

for starters i dont think anyone should be allowed to work in anyones property unless they can show they have suitable public liabilty insurance..

 

[Peter]

Depends on how much you need. That's good price for a floor in NI. Then again you're still getting around 250 in your hand (assuming he was giving you cash) which isn't bad for a days work and maybe 2 hours grouting the next morning if you didn't get it grouted on the first day. Tilers on the mainland must be making about 60k a year. Wish we got those sort of prices here.