Another 'I'm in the wrong business' moment.

Yellow_Festiva · 18-03-2015, 09:28 PM

We have all said it...

"I'm in the wrong business....." when you hear outrageous prices for stuff, be it products, labor, materials etc etc etc.

I'm half way through a building project and it has been a real eye opener the way some jobs are quoted. Variances of up to 50% were the norm.

So I need to add some decorative features above 3 windows. Spoke to a local mob that provides such decorations.

They gave me a sample and told me the price per m - lets say $65.

He proudly calls me to say that the quote is ready and is in my inbox.... and even though they generally take 6 weeks to supply and install (as per their fine print) due to my job being so small and using generic stuff that is in stock they can fit me in where ever needed - even on Saturday.

We are talking around hmmm lets say 8 metres of this stuff at the most (but probably less)...

So, what does this quote come to??

$3316....

Is this a bloody Gee up?? It says I need 12m of the product (not a chance in hell) and 4 in the Qty column (they are only covering 3 windows???).

So materials + $1760 to install. It is a 3-4 hr job at the most! (Hence the offer to work Sat)..

They then go on to price up the consumables as extra items (glues, nails, sandpaper etc)... another $450 roughly.

I was thinking this would be a $1k job at best...

Do people just blindly call 1 mob and go with whatever they say? Is this a 'lets just hope he is a dope and says yes' quote???

Wonder what it will be for CA$H???

Windows - $30- 64k
Roof carpentry - $23-47k
Scaffolding - $5-9k
Roofing - $27-38k
Air-con - $19-70k ('con' is the right word...
Concreting + forming - $95-175k
Plumbing $33-49k

And the list will get longer I'm sure!

If this is correct I'm DEFINITELY in the wrong business!

Franco Cozzo · 18-03-2015, 11:45 PM

Usually you give a real high quote if you don't want the job.

**MR REKLAW** · 19-03-2015, 12:03 AM

Just Wait for the,Sparky to quote you?You will think you have, had your throat cut.

Yellow_Festiva · 19-03-2015, 12:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by REKLAW

Just Wait for the,Sparky to quote you?You will think you have, had your throat cut.

My brother's the sparky

Phildo · 19-03-2015, 12:36 AM

Look at the cars that they drive.

The money for that $50,000 Hilux or HSV ute has to come from somewhere...

**Polyal** · 19-03-2015, 07:35 AM

Lifting safety people...all the test and tagging, cert for simple components etc...its a rort.

Stefan · 19-03-2015, 07:42 AM

It only gets fun when they quote 50k and then charge you 100k....citing all the extra work they had to do which was excluded from the quote..

zilo · 19-03-2015, 08:52 AM

Anyone who quotes me a different price for cash gets a visit from the ATO.

Just pure coincidence of course...

GT0132 · 19-03-2015, 10:10 AM

I hear ya….In the midst of home renovations myself.

I think I'm going to get into the window covering business

$8,000 to supply and install curtains in our main bedroom

Nearly fainted

If I can't get into that then I'll become an air cond mechanic.

FPV_Steve · 19-03-2015, 11:07 AM

$600 to have a dishwasher installed in my new house a few months ago.

Was for a new house, so all the connections were there, plumber just needed to run the piping for the plumbing and then push the dishwasher into place. Took him 2 hours to do apparently.

ute83 · 19-03-2015, 11:18 AM

I've heard people are paying 1200 bucks to have their guttering cleaned in Melb. That's one side of a single level house.

Yellow_Festiva · 19-03-2015, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GT0132

I hear ya….In the midst of home renovations myself.

I think I'm going to get into the window covering business

$8,000 to supply and install curtains in our main bedroom

Nearly fainted

If I can't get into that then I'll become an air cond mechanic.

Curtains and window coverings! Not even close to that.

$8k for 1 room?? They Gold leaf curtains I assume???

I got 41 windows / glass doors....

72m2 or there abouts?

Hmmmm What does a kidney go for these days.

GT0132 · 19-03-2015, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Curtains and window coverings! Not even close to that.

$8k for 1 room?? They Gold leaf curtains I assume???

I got 41 windows / glass doors....

72m2 or there abouts?

Hmmmm What does a kidney go for these days.

It was some designer curtain place in Gymea my wife happened to walk into and asked to quote ....One large window 4m wide and 2 m tall and 3 other smaller windows incl the ensuite

**Ross 1** · 19-03-2015, 11:31 AM

I always have a bit of a smile when I hear parents whinging that their kids are doing a sparky apprenticeship instead of going to uni. Worrying about their future, most tradies at the moment are doing better than a lot of graduates, I know I'm doing ok leaving school at 15. I like the German philosophy on getting tradespeople to your house, if you are unable or unwilling to do the work, you should pay a reasonable price for someone else to do it. I do mean reasonable, as a tradie I get sick of ripoff merchants giving us all a bad name. Last week I got some materials slightly cheaper and gave the client a $250 refund, because of this I have already had a call from their friends wanting work done. That $250 will turn into a few grand.

snopony · 19-03-2015, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GT0132

It was some designer curtain place in Gymea my wife happened to walk into and asked to quote ....One large window 4m wide and 2 m tall and 3 other smaller windows incl the ensuite

I used to be in that industry....its always cheaper (9 times out of ten) to find a private curtain/furnishings maker.

Yellow_Festiva · 19-03-2015, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ute83

I've heard people are paying 1200 bucks to have their guttering cleaned in Melb. That's one side of a single level house.

For that price you could get leaf guard installed lol

Yellow_Festiva · 19-03-2015, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snopony

I used to be in that industry....its always cheaper (9 times out of ten) to find a private curtain/furnishings maker.

This is what I have found. All my jobs have gone to smaller, family run outfits where the guy answering the phone is the one doing the job.

Wonder why they are always busy? They get most of their work from word of mouth - which is how I found all my workers.

I'm not impressed by fancy websites, radio / TV advertising or the fact a secretary answers the phone.

**Giant Cranium** · 19-03-2015, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ute83

I've heard people are paying 1200 bucks to have their guttering cleaned in Melb. That's one side of a single level house.

spider tax id say!

b2tf · 19-03-2015, 12:59 PM

I get it quite a lot but in another way - I quite often have people nearly faint at the prices I quote for termite work, asking how can it be so expensive etc. Granted yes it can be dear depending on the circumstances and situation, but what annoys me to no end is how the same person will then ring you back a few months after you quoted the job for them, tell you how they got "the local guy" to "just spray them" and now it's gotten worse and they "really need you to fix it". Bear in mind this is after reading my quote where it says no less than 4 times DO NOT DISTURB or mess with them otherwise we're back to square one.

I sometimes think I should just be the dodgy guy who does the spray and run, but then my conscience gets the better of me. Until I see the dodgy bloke in his new Landcruiser work ute towing his boat of a Friday arvo.

Stefan · 19-03-2015, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ross 1

Last week I got some materials slightly cheaper and gave the client a $250 refund, because of this I have already had a call from their friends wanting work done. That $250 will turn into a few grand.

Having been in the building game for 20 years now, that is good advice.

Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

Honest tradies are a rare find and they will always have work.

Yellow_Festiva · 19-03-2015, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stefan

Having been in the building game for 20 years now, that is good advice.

Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

Honest tradies are a rare find and they will always have work.

Very true...

I have already passed on the details of the workers I have used onto others several times now.

I have also known of some dodgy operators and have said "This is the mob I've used, but be careful of (insert name of dodgy outfit) as their work is sub standard".

Yellow_Festiva · 19-03-2015, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FPV_Steve

$600 to have a dishwasher installed in my new house a few months ago.

Was for a new house, so all the connections were there, plumber just needed to run the piping for the plumbing and then push the dishwasher into place. Took him 2 hours to do apparently.

This goes on a lot when the person paying isn't taking the cash out of their own wallet. Or when the owner is several hundred km away and is relying on an agent to sort out repairs.

Seeing some of the quotes for strata work for example... Oh man...

The last school I worked at, the boss would call me in for casual days to do general maintenance / handyman stuff as they were getting quote after quote from blood suckers thinking no one would notice...

nstg8a · 19-03-2015, 02:11 PM

Goes the other ways too, the solar guys are here doing an install today, mid 30s and a hot tin roof... I don't want that job.

GT0132 · 19-03-2015, 02:12 PM

Another one – the guys that fix leaks in pools or their associated filter plumbing.

Cost to do a pool dive and check pool for leaks - $250

Cost to check filter plumbing and identify location of (but not fix) any leaks - $250

Not too bad so far.

But...

If a leak found $1,200 to dig below surface to fix

A leak found – Comes back a week later to fix. Cost $1,200 (cash preferred) . One bloke arrives 8am out by 2pm with 30 min lunch break. Cost per hour = $218

blueoval · 19-03-2015, 02:45 PM

For every story you hear of about bad trades, you also hear of about bad customers too.

With my business I charge a fixed rate which is quite fair and based on the time it takes for me to do a job, but then you get these cheeky so and so's who 'tell you' what you should be charging based on 'their' so called knowledge and expertise. Then have the balls to try and get stuff changed for free because they change their mind and then try and blame it on you. It's experiences like this that make me cover ALL my bases with a written contract and explanation of how the process works. I have found it weeds out a lot of 'know it alls' looking to swindle.

Sorry to go OT

malazn mafia · 19-03-2015, 04:42 PM

Probably why bunnings stores are everywhere. In this country, DIY goes a long way and sometimes you could even have a holiday with the money saved from the thieving crooks and backyard tradies trying to make a quick buck.

**TUF_302** · 19-03-2015, 04:45 PM

A lot of people seem to think that because your a tradie, you must be a bit, well stupid, so many people tell me how much they hate painting, yet don't like the price of paying someone qualified to do the job they think is below them, i quote fair and if there's any extra cost i'm quick to let the customer no, sometimes these things happen and cant be avoided

**Giant Cranium** · 19-03-2015, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TUF_302

A lot of people seem to think that because your a tradie, you must be a bit, well stupid, so many people tell me how much they hate painting, yet don't like the price of paying someone qualified to do the job they think is below them, i quote fair and if there's any extra cost i'm quick to let the customer no, sometimes these things happen and cant be avoided

i give them the quote, let them stuff it up then return to repair it.

in sydney there are so many dodgy trades that awesome ones like me nearly have to be on the defensive as you walk through the door

NTF6 · 19-03-2015, 05:49 PM

I got my 300L Solahart HWS replaced recently, cheapest quote from the 4 different plumbing contractors $5750. I rang the place in town that supplies the units to the plumbers and I got a walk in off the street no discount price of $2108, if I had an ABN I could have got it for $1725.

Anyway, got the unit installed as I needed hot water and two blokes came around at about 8.30am and were gone by 10.30am all installed and finished. So my calcs put the labour at $910.50 an hour per bloke, I am definitely in the wrong ******* game...!!!

danzvtil · 19-03-2015, 06:36 PM

When I owned a unit under strata management, I baulked at a quote to clean the gutters on a 2m high flat roof carport. The tradie told me it was over 1.8 m high so he needed a spotter to hold the ladder the whole time he was on it, plus the roof sheets had been cut roughly providing a hand cut hazard. I did it myself, and didn't die.
The only reason a plumber might charge $600 to install a dishwasher is because dimwits keep paying it, BUT if you are experienced and do a good job, charging like that has a way of weeding out the lowball customers.