Undercutting madness!!

[High Peak Tiling]

£4459 if I recall correctly...Hey If u need the work and ur happy to do it at that price
then that's what counts...I've been there too ! Just be sure not to under value ur
self/work.

Regards
Ian.

Thank you Ian, appreciate your support buddy.

I got my insurance for 4196 in the end. BUT with £1200 excess...

 

[John Benton]

..and accountants, bank charges, diesel, tools..etc etc etc, but I guess it's maybe better than sitting at home doing nowt. The danger with pricing low is that the low price can then become the norm and it's a downward spiral from there.

Cheap labour and you'll always be busy.

I know it's a fine line, but you need to earn enough to pay the bills and have a reasonable standard of living

 

[High Peak Tiling]

Cheap labour and you'll always be busy.

I know it's a fine line, but you need to earn enough to pay the bills and have a reasonable standard of living

thanks John,

 

[CJ]

Peaks

Do you feel as though you have been stitched up???

 

[John Benton]

That was a generalisation not a dig at you.

What i'm saying is you may need to look at the way you price. Look round the house at what they spend money on, have they got nice wallpaper, can you see the joins? All these things tell you what sort of finish the customer is expecting and they are probably willing to pay for a quality finish.

May sound stupid but you have to look into the psyche of the customer, if you see a set of golf clubs, and you play just ask them their handicap, where they play, there best round. People like nothing more than talking about their achievements.

It gets you on their side and people buy from people, don't forget that

 

[High Peak Tiling]

That was a generalisation not a dig at you.

What i'm saying is you may need to look at the way you price. Look round the house at what they spend money on, have they got nice wallpaper, can you see the joins? All these things tell you what sort of finish the customer is expecting and they are probably willing to pay for a quality finish.

May sound stupid but you have to look into the psyche of the customer, if you see a set of golf clubs, and you play just ask them their handicap, where they play, there best round. People like nothing more than talking about their achievements.

It gets you on their side and people buy from people, don't forget that

This is one thing technology has covered up, not knowing if sarcasm is shown etc..
I was thanking in all honesty John
Was it my smiley face? ha ha

I always keep a keen eye out for other tiling in a customers house !

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Peaks

Do you feel as though you have been stitched up???

How so?

 

[John Benton]

This is one thing technology has covered up, not knowing if sarcasm is shown etc..
I was thanking in all honesty John
Was it my smiley face? ha ha

I always keep a keen eye out for other tiling in a customers house !

- - - Updated - - -




How so?

No sarcasm here Peaks, just saying how it is

Customer says to his friend, "High Peak did my tiling he's good and he's cheap" so therefore chances are you will get the job, but you're stuck with the low price cos his mate will have told him how much he paid. How can you suddenly double your prices, you can't so it may have to be a steady increase in prices

 

[Peter]

Take it most people on here are earning around 2k a week then? :lol:

 

[Martyn Leeds]

Price at your price, get working, fill your diary, and then, if after 3 or 6 months you've got steady work 5 days a week - then you can properly assess your rates.

Or you can go out and quote at £35 m2 labour only - and wait for the phone to ring while watching JK, Loose Women and then Countdown

 

[White Room]

Price at your price, get working, fill your diary, and then, if after 3 or 6 months you've got steady work 5 days a week - then you can properly assess your rates.

Or you can go out and quote at £35 m2 labour only - and wait for the phone to ring while watching JK, Loose Women and then Countdown

You forgot Pointless....

 

[kilty55]

any repeat work from that job will most probably have to be priced based on the same rate as they wil tell there friends you were by far the cheapest

did a cheap job for some one once when i was struggling for work and it gave me 3 more leads all which i had to price the same way other wise i wasnt getting on them...i realised it wasnt the way forward with the business

 

[bugs183]

Thats the trouble with bigger jobs, we all have an idea what our day rate should be, and i price now alot of work on it as working with stone and large formats are much slower,
but this floor is a biggy so potentially you will earn way more than rate, and there is a big price difference that you have to consider is it fair charging meterage or cheaper (but not as fair on you) pricing as day rate.
This is why i never price at the time i see the job, some need weighing up price wise. I'd have measured up, spoken to the customer and gone home to think about which price is best for you and them.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

I don't know what experience the op has but he's just starting his business. I'd rather be working than sitting at home and as every job is different there is no reason to keep the same pricing structure for any recommendation. As others have stated there are lots of overheads involved in pricing, but when I lived at home, using my Dads car for work I charged 90p a metre instead of the going rate of £1.30!
If it gets your foot in the door, gives you photos for a portfolio and you get paid - that's the job.

 

[AMtek]

Not having a go at you at all peak but people keep on shouting about standardising the industry including prices so that people are earning a wage that reflects their skill because there are always some that will work for buttons and undercut everyone else. How many thready have we seen on here where someone has been undercut by a stupidly low price and people assume that because the price is cheap the job will be done to a lower standard and with inferior materials. I think your prices are far too cheap, if you had knocked the £56 off for them that would have been £12.5/m2 or £125 a day and that would work out to about 30k a year but by the time you have taken off your tax, fuel, tools, etc you won't be left with a lot and would probably be earning less than minimum wage.


If you're undercutting slightly to get the job then fair enough but being almost half of what everyone is charging your just going to end up doing a lot of graft for not a lot of money. I would sit down and work out how much you need to earn per day to give you a wage, cover your expenses and holiday pay etc, i would say it will be a fair bit more than you are charging at the minute. Your just ripping yourself off at the minute.

Like i said i'm not having a go at you, if what you charge is enough to cover expenses and give you a wage then more power to you, your in a good position to get a lot of jobs booked in but it is a lot easier to drop your price to get a job than to add money on when its booked in and your prices will follow you on other jobs

 

[aytiling]

I would have priced it at £700 and told him it would take "about" 3 days, and I would have been done by dinner on the second.