Some company Profit margins..

Hedge

Hedge

Hedge

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I was home this weekend doing some shopping about for new PVC windows for my Mothers house.

I called about a few places and got a couple of people visit, and some quotes.

One of the quotes seemed reasonable and the company has been trading a long time and seems to have a good reputation. Came in around £5800..

A friend mentioned a big national firm who advertise on TV and said with their buying power they probably do good prices. So I got one of their people round too.

He turned up with lots of props and spiel about every lock and seal under the sun. All very impressive. Went through the rigmarole of writing up "calculated" prices on a sheet for me... Top price being their "list price".. then after discounts he applied.. a second figure.

The top "A+" rated windows and doors, matching those I had been offered at £5800.. came in at a touch under £11000.

I had to stop him right there before he began justifying things.

Showed him my quote from elsewhere,to which he made some phonecalls and managed to Match their price afterall.

I can only imagine how many people think they are getting a bargain and agree to these initial prices.

If they can afford to do the same product for under 6k then getting work at £11k is some serious profit!


Sorry for boring yas :D haha
 
Did you try to knock the first company down from £5800 or was that the lowest they would go?
 
Got my windows and doors down from £10,500 to £2500. The first numbers are just to see what they can get away with.
 
Ah crap don't say that haha. To be honest I didn't haggle the first figure. I am pretty crap at pushing things too hard. I expected prices around 6 grand as it is two very large bay windows. 5 large windows and two large doors. It's a 130yr old house with big windows.

But ya probably right. I shoulda pushed more.
 
Hedge said:
But ya probably right. I shoulda pushed more.
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depends. they're obviously going to make a profit but will have smaller overheads. seems like a fair price going off the info and surely you'd want your money to go to a smaller, independent firm rather than the likes of safestyle etc? you'll get a better fitting service and more importantly, a better aftersales service.
 
cm1179 said:
depends. they're obviously going to make a profit but will have smaller overheads. seems like a fair price going off the info and surely you'd want your money to go to a smaller, independent firm rather than the likes of safestyle etc? you'll get a better fitting service and more importantly, a better aftersales service.
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Well this is where my thinking may have went wrong.

Places all offered a 10year guarantee on the work, So I figured that in 10 years there is more of a chance a smaller firm might have went bust (sadly as a result of dumbasses like me thinking this way). Which would render any guarantee useless.

I may be wrong though. But nevermind whats done is done. Guess we will see when the work is done I suppose.
 
I was in the same boat as the OP. Local company quoted about £4300 the national company quoted £12,500 I never even bothered calling the national company back.
 
Hedge said:
Ah crap don't say that haha. To be honest I didn't haggle the first figure. I am pretty crap at pushing things too hard. I expected prices around 6 grand as it is two very large bay windows. 5 large windows and two large doors. It's a 130yr old house with big windows.

But ya probably right. I shoulda pushed more.
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You're going to ruin an old house. PVC...appalling.
 
i just personally wouldn't advise anyone use safestyle. when i first bought my house (i assume they get tipped off by estate agents?), they visited me 3 different times and everytime dropped their quote, i was doing it for entertainment purposes on the last occassion.

the first time, a chap came round, showed me all his fancy demo window's and then quoted me. i said i can't afford that. he asked what figure i was thinking, so i told him. his reply was that they wouldn't even 'rent' me the windows for that price. i showed him the door.

they still pester me on the phone now. i've told them i've had my windows replaced everytime. they than ask if i have any guttering work needs doing, i say no. they then ask whether i've got and fascia boards need replacing, i reply it's a 19c house......
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Ours work perfectly.
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then you're in a minority. i love them but i wouldn't have them installed in my own place but i would keep them if they were already in.

my property had aluminium windows which looked awful. it was interesting to see the original pulley mechanism in the frame when they took them out.
 
I would go with a small local company,

get references from some happy customers,

I don't know how common it is but the guy that did ours was not paid until the job was done (we did have to sign an agreement to say we would pay)

get white not coloured PVC it can peel and is more likely to crack (heats up more in the sun)

we were quoted 10-12k by 3 big companies, got it for about 5500 in the end, 2 doors, patio doors, 9 windows. Once everythign is done there is not a lot to go wrong.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Ah well if they're already like that, fair enough. But it's a shame that someone put them in in the first place!
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It originally had Sash windows when my parents bought it around 30 years ago. But they were supposedly rotting and mechanisms were buggered. Being a young couple with a child I dont think my parents were rich enough to stick to the traditional style.

Any new ones will be an improvement on efficiency anyway. The house gets cold as hell in the winter.
 
what's the cost of the material? For that amout of material there is a clear market price for it.

the labour cost should be a certain %-age on top of that. This would be fair price for the whole job.
 
I used to be terrible at haggling, but love it now! 3 rules I was taught:

1) You are the customer, you are paying for a service, don't feel like you are being rude by haggling.

2) There are other shops selling the same product 99% of the time, they are lucky to have you as a customer

3) Always offer what you feel is cheap, washing machine for £300? Offer £100... Nope? Ask what they can do, then haggle. If they decline any haggling, walk away. Someone will haggle.
 
I'm thinking I might cancel that order now after reading this lol.

Think local firm is gonna get work instead
 
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