the more programs like rogue traders and cowboy builders the harder it gets to earn a living - with new customers that is, but even ones that have had you recommended are sceptical or wary -cant fu$ k1ng win either way!!!!!!!!!

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I can't agree more. Last week I got a phone call off a an elderly lady about a problem with her roof. Got there and it was just a slate on the bottom edge that had slipped. She asked how much to put it back in. I could reach it off step ladders and have everything there to do it there and then to do it. When she asked me how much I just plucked a figure out of my head £40 (it was a 2 minute job) and she was over the moon saying some company gave her a price of £450 because of scaffolding etc. As I was doing it I was thinking to myself "is this a wind up?" and paranoid about the 'cooling off period' your meant to give them. Did it and she was still beaming and gave me £80 saying I had saved her loads of money - I did try to give her half of it back but she was having none of it. When I was leaving I was half expecting that Matt bloke off Watchdog to jump out of a bush!

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Mike
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Any time something adverse or too good to be true happens I always expect that little bald div DMIC LTLEWD OR MATT to jump out on me!, It's not like i've a guilty conscience but we're living in a blame culture and due to the media, have an air of un-trustworthyness around us because we are TRADESMEN!

and dont start me on 'sorry....scaffolding needed due to health & safety' 9 times out of ten common sense and a good quality class1 ladder is fine!


back on topic

got the CASH off the mush with the condition that he NEVER PHONE AGAIN!

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I've been thinking about this lately and wonder if the solution is to have a website where the trades could post the road and postcode (not the house number) of the rogue customer and then other trades would have to e-mail the poster to ask who, what exact address and why they are a rogue customer. That wouldn't be much different to meeting another trade in the local supplier and them telling you to avoid Mrs Smith at 69 Letsbe Avenue, for example.

Or am I missing something?

There could be a £10 annual membership fee to cover the costs of the person running the site.

I've only had a couple of rogue customers but I make sure I tell every other trade about them, and also about other trades who have let me down, especially a local deccy that I past on a lucrative job too only for him to call the bloke the night before and say he couldn't come the next day because he had a better job to go to. I used to refer quite a few people to him, but not any more. And a plasterer who always leaves the customers' houses in a right mess.

It would be open to abuse from any tradesman who got naffed off just because his tea was the wrong colour

We are lucky on this forum as most contractors seem a level headed bunch, I know tradespeople who I see down the pub who would post bad reviews just for "a laugh"

That's very true. Whatever system you have, it would be open to abuse.

When asked for a "quote" I usually say "No, but you can have an estimate".

I wouldn't use you Dan.

I want to know how much it will cost and what is included in the price.

Alterations and extra's should be at an agreed rate.

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I would have to agree with Scruff. As someone who uses trades people I want to know what it will cost and I would expect as an expert that you should have a very good idea before you started. I would not want any surprises so would want any extras labelled clearly and know what to expect. If I was to change my mind then that is my fault and a new quote be drawn up.

I would not expect you to know everything for example my dodgy plaster fell off wall as you were painting but if this did not happen I would expect to pay what you quoted.

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Nick

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I agree. I always tell my customers that I give a quote not an estimate. I tell them that I hate to get estimates as they never seem to go down, they only go up. I tell them that my quote is binding unless they ask me to do extra work or an unexpected problem comes up. I have had lots of positive comments about this on the testimonials I have had.

Having said that, I am sure that decorating is much easier to accurately quote for than, say, building an extension.

Not really Tom.

The works should include what ypou intend to do and what materials.

Extras are just that, you sit down and discuss them with the client and agree a price for them, keeping in mind, it may mean altering work done, or just re-jigging the drawing for work not done yet, so an allowance can be made.

For example a window could be moved a foot to the left or right at no extra cost, if it hasn't been built yet.

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I have taken to fixing the price of labour and estimating for materials. Refurbishing a whole house is very difficult to price exactly and customers are usually comfortable enough knowing what I am making and accept that I don't control the price of materials. I always buy cheap anyway because I have very good suppliers. Most of my customers are wealthier than I am so it makes sense for them to take the risk because they can afford to.

A lot of people expect something for nothing, I've been on a lot of jobs where the customer seems genuinely surprised to be charged more for extra work that wasn't written into the quote.

I've worked for a few dodgy bosses in time, worst one has to be one that would give low quotes, once the system was half ripped out, decided he wasn't earning enough from the job and go back to tell the customers the price has shot up. Needless to say I completed the week, got paid and never went back. I don't want to be associated with people like that.

J K Decorater just resend the invoice 'Without Predudice' at the top in bold print.
give the punter another 7 days then down to the small claims. sometimes just the shock of receiving the summons works.
good luck !

Got some of the money out of him but not all of it. Just enough to cover costs but a loss in the long run! Should've trusted my gut instinct on this one and given him a WIDE berth!
live and learn hey

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