Chasing for quotes?

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1 Oct 2007
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Hampshire
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United Kingdom
I've had a half dozen roofers round now to look at a doing a rip off and refit of an extension roof. Gotten on with all of them well, discussed in detail what needs doing. All promised to get a quote to me in the next few days.

So far, none have come though. I've been of the mind that if they're not reliable to quote, will they be reliable on the job. Or am I mistaken, and it's expected that a customer will chase for a quote to show their inquiry is valid?

Cheers,
Fubar
 
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Happens to me all the time! Can't get my head around it.

If you don't want the job, just say! If you too busy, again just say, atleast I might call you next time. Grrr!
 
Yep it's a mystery. I wanted a bit of vinyl laid in a bathroom, fair pay to a busy floorer its chicken feed but hey £100 is £100 if you don't want the job just say, I had one guy (who I subsequently learnt blocked the whole road as he came in to measure up) so popped round to measure up, all good so far but he knew it was a tiny job before he ever saw it, he left us some sample books to choose a vinyl, I chased him for a price, I chased him to book it in, he didn't turn up, was not been able to contact him again by any means. His sample books have gone to sample book heaven. Maybe he died.
 
It's the same for tradesman, running around doing quotes and not hearing anything!!!

In 8years I think a handful have got back to me to say " thanks for your time but we won't be proceeding "
 
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It's the same for tradesman, running around doing quotes and not hearing anything!!!

In 8years I think a handful have got back to me to say " thanks for your time but we won't be proceeding "

Totally agree, its so frustrating one puts themselves out to view for a quote or estimate, take in time/ travel spent thats a mornings work wasted,

When all they wanted to know was how much it would save them to do the job themselves and seek professional advice free.
 
Its not always that way though, there are client who will use your services and those that don't. You just build your 'wasted' time into every other job you do don't you. or should do.

My quotes can easily take me a whole evening to write and add in two hours travelling and an hour or so on site it can be expensive. There's no easy solution.
 
Sometimes, for tradesmen/women it can be feast or famine but usually they are not here sitting about waiting for one person's call. They want to keep plenty of work coming in and can never know which quotes will be accepted. So they can quote for 20 different jobs in a week and only get 1 or two, yet within 12 hours the following week they can be inundated with work for over a month! Most try to keep everyone happy but there are times when it just doesn't work out and customes are left waiting. A typical day here is from 8am to 6pm working on site then 1-2 hours visiting for quotes, home for tea, then start pricing and writing up quotes from about 9pm to midnight while the TV is on in the background. That's 4-5 days a week so it leaves little chance to have any other passtimes or out of work activities. Weekends then become sacred. We are plumbers so I can't speak for roofers but usually they are very busy this time of year when the weather is good (then when we have high winds they are busy too!!!). The other problem we have (plumbing) is that we ring a merchant or supplier for a price, they say they will ring you back but they don't. Another day is wasted waiting for them to call you back. Eventually you call them again and insist on a price there and then but their system is down or they don't answer the phone because they are short staffed and so the saga goes on. It's never as easy as we first think.
 
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