How long to receive a quote?

[inflames]

How long is a resonable amount of time for a tradesman to put a quote/estimate together. Personally a think a couple of week is sensible. Only asking as we are wanting some work done, over the last two months i have a number of trades people in. Most of the gas engineers managed to get me a quote in two weeks apart from one and i have come to the conclusion that he isnt intrested. All five of the builders who have been round, that was hard enough to get them to do that. Not one has got back to me after three weeks, i am annoyed by one of them who said he would have a quote for us by the end of the week. I know they all booked up for 4-6 months and i told them we are willing to wait to have the work done.

Am i being unreasonable?

 

[Maccapacca]

Most will be doing their own quotes plus working full time.

At the moment most are so busy they don’t need to look for work it comes to them. If your work is quite a way off they may not be interested plus many don’t want to fix a price for too long as material prices are all over the place.

Have you got planning or drawings or are you asking for cost advice to make your decision on the works?

 

[inflames]

Most will be doing their own quotes plus working full time.

At the moment most are so busy they don’t need to look for work it comes to them. If your work is quite a way off they may not be interested plus many don’t want to fix a price for too long as material prices are all over the place.

Have you got planning or drawings or are you asking for cost advice to make your decision on the works?

We are currently trying to buy our council home, what is a two bedroom house and we want to convert it into a three bedroom by spliting one of the large bedrooms, with two stud walls and having a aperture for a new window. To replace an aging boiler that has broken down every year for the last five and have it relocated. So we are asking for a little extra, to go towards for the required work. The lender is willing to give us the mortage but want to see quotes for the work that we are asking to be done before they give us the go ahead.

 

[Maccapacca]

We are currently trying to buy our council home, what is a two bedroom house and we want to convert it into a three bedroom by spliting one of the large bedrooms, with two stud walls and having a aperture for a new window. To replace an aging boiler that has broken down every year for the last five and have it relocated. So we are asking for a little extra, to go towards for the required work. The lender is willing to give us the mortage but want to see quotes for the work that we are asking to be done before they give us the go ahead.

I’d ask a plumber for a quote for the boiler without telling them it may or may not go ahead.

 

[inflames]

I’d ask a plumber for a quote for the boiler without telling them it may or may not go ahead.

All the gas engineers, apart from one, have been good and giving me a quote for the work. I have been up front with everyone that has been round and also told them I getting a number of quotes before we make our mind up on who we chose to do the work.

 

[Buffman]

3 weeks at least currently for most trades I’ve asked for quotes

 

[jaybee]

If I don't hear from a trader for a quote within a week, I add them to my majority trader list. You know...the list of traders you tried to have dealings with but did not work out. After about 10 or so of these, you tend to eventually find one who you appoint...who will turn up late and do poor work whilst on the phone to people 90% of the time they are on your property.
Ah...love dealing with traders.

 

[Semple]

At the moment most are so busy they don’t need to look for work it comes to them.

Whilst that's all perfectly fine and i don't think anyone could argue against that. But if you're booked up for the next 4-6 months or longer, surely it's a bit of common sense to say "i'm sorry my schedule is fully booked for the next 6 months and i therefore have suspended quotations on further work for the time being". I think most people would actually applaud a tradesmen for being honest upfront and not wasting their time.

 

[gc123]

Whilst that's all perfectly fine and i don't think anyone could argue against that. But if you're booked up for the next 4-6 months or longer, surely it's a bit of common sense to say "i'm sorry my schedule is fully booked for the next 6 months and i therefore have suspended quotations on further work for the time being". I think most people would actually applaud a tradesmen for being honest upfront and not wasting their time.

wish it worked that way, best ive had is i might be able to fit you in june 2022 ....no price quoted yet? for some roofing to be done. oh and he was advertising for work in the locals. 2 other firms when rang said we will be out to quote and havent seen hide nor hair of them.

oh and the wife just informed me that one of them is showing his holiday pics in spain and says he will be there over christmas.....lucky for some..

 

[Scam]

Most will be doing their own quotes plus working full time.

Isn't quoting part of their full time job? If I did the "fun stuff" in my job and neglected to do the paperwork, keep peers and colleagues informed etc then I'd be out on my ear. Why do we give tradesmen so much wiggle room? If you're practical and need to be on site 8hrs a day (or whatever) then you need to employ an office admin. There's young people crying out for jobs that could answer the phone, run a Google calendar etc. for a small business. It does my nut.

Having just bought my place and started dealing with tradesmen it's so refreshing when you find one that has a proper admin person. We had that recently for a tree surgeon of all people! And a general handyman who fixed up our window sill/lintel and did a couple of other things. They're immediately in the good books.

 

[MassiveJim]

Isn't quoting part of their full time job? If I did the "fun stuff" in my job and neglected to do the paperwork, keep peers and colleagues informed etc then I'd be out on my ear. Why do we give tradesmen so much wiggle room? If you're practical and need to be on site 8hrs a day (or whatever) then you need to employ an office admin. There's young people crying out for jobs that could answer the phone, run a Google calendar etc. for a small business. It does my nut.

Having just bought my place and started dealing with tradesmen it's so refreshing when you find one that has a proper admin person. We had that recently for a tree surgeon of all people! And a general handyman who fixed up our window sill/lintel and did a couple of other things. They're immediately in the good books.

I guess most tradesmen skill up in their particular profession as an employee, then when they realise they are good enough they branch out on their own, but then realise that the company they worked for taught them nothing about time management, paperwork, call handling etc. so they are good at the actual physical work but are rubbish at everything else, and I'm not tarring every trade with the same brush but often they are tradeys because they were better with their hands than their heads, so it would never occur to them to employee an admin, add to that its extra cost to them and not many tradeys do it, I can't see it becoming common any time soon.

Its definitely a good idea though, you could have several tradesmen all looked after by a single admin person which would mean a shared cost and they could probably work much more efficiently.

 

[flea.rider]

lol's i've had a few round to do back garden .. only 1 got back to me .. booked in for jan next yr ... most look at the job time it's going to take and forget it .. mine will be 10 days ish needs quiet a bit of prep work .. they could do 2 easier jobs in the same time and get more money ..

 

[HangTime]

Whilst that's all perfectly fine and i don't think anyone could argue against that. But if you're booked up for the next 4-6 months or longer, surely it's a bit of common sense to say "i'm sorry my schedule is fully booked for the next 6 months and i therefore have suspended quotations on further work for the time being". I think most people would actually applaud a tradesmen for being honest upfront and not wasting their time.

I guess the point is they might want to check out a job to see if it is more profitable than something else they have lined up, if they are going to be nearby anyway. Pop round for 10mins to check it out, get a feel for if they can milk the customer and if so bump some other job down the road a bit to make room.

 

[Scam]

I guess the point is they might want to check out a job to see if it is more profitable than something else they have lined up, if they are going to be nearby anyway. Pop round for 10mins to check it out, get a feel for if they can milk the customer and if so bump some other job down the road a bit to make room.

And they wonder why they have a bad rep I was half tempted to start a thread asking "how do you get over your mistrust of tradesmen" but thought it was fairly pointless, lol !!

I guess most tradesmen skill up in their particular profession as an employee, then when they realise they are good enough they branch out on their own, but then realise that the company they worked for taught them nothing about time management, paperwork, call handling etc. so they are good at the actual physical work but are rubbish at everything else, and I'm not tarring every trade with the same brush but often they are tradeys because they were better with their hands than their heads, so it would never occur to them to employee an admin, add to that its extra cost to them and not many tradeys do it, I can't see it becoming common any time soon.

Totally agree and the point crux of your point is that they don't want to pay for it and lose profits.

 

[MassiveJim]

And they wonder why they have a bad rep I was half tempted to start a thread asking "how do you get over your mistrust of tradesmen" but thought it was fairly pointless, lol !!
Totally agree and the point crux of your point is that they don't want to pay for it and lose profits.

and look at it from their point of view (as they don't know any better) why would they ?
what they are doing is working just fine and they are able to leave a decent lifestyle and the work keeps flowing in.

 

[MassiveJim]

I guess the point is they might want to check out a job to see if it is more profitable than something else they have lined up, if they are going to be nearby anyway. Pop round for 10mins to check it out, get a feel for if they can milk the customer and if so bump some other job down the road a bit to make room.

This definitely plays a part, we had a guy round a few days ago to quote for carpets he arrived about 10 minutes before me so was chatting to the missus and measuring rooms up etc.
She said his facial expressions and body language changed when I started talking, ie when he realised I knew a little bit more than the missus and he couldn't BS me.

 

[Shoza]

I’ve been waiting 14 months for a joiner in Manchester. It’s a big / decent job as well but they are all mega busy up here and I’ve been promised quotes for several months this year after waiting 5-6 months for them to come out and quote.

 

[Scam]

I’ve been waiting 14 months for a joiner in Manchester. It’s a big / decent job as well but they are all mega busy up here and I’ve been promised quotes for several months this year after waiting 5-6 months for them to come out and quote.

That's insane!