Hi Hillybilly

No it is not the builder you suggested ! The problem we have is not speaking Spanish, so we cannot telephone the guy you suggested.

Thus the Estate Agent advised us they had a builder and the rest is history !

May I just add one point, the importance of having a Structural Survey when buying a property, it was as a result of having this carried out that major structural problems were discovered - by Hillybilly - Thanks

Ambre - I'm happy to contact the other builder for you, if you email me your wish list.

I have to say that as a contractor, I would never give a charged quote.

If I lost the job, it is just part of the process of trying to earn a living.

As I said, thats just me.

When I was running the Carpet & Upholstery cleaning business we would have been laughed at if I'd said I was charging to come out to quote ...... and yes that did include going to houses that people didn't yet own

Well, I never charged for quotes either. But with hindsight I wish I had done the refundable charge - not for everyone mind you, just the ones that sound like total timewasters from the outset.

Doing a quote would take up a good 2-3 hours of my time, what with going out to the house and measuring up. A couple of those and the entire day has been wasted just because someone was curious do know how much the job would cost, rather than seriously wanting the work done. AND I DON´T WORK FOR FREE!!!

I got to the point where if I thought they were a timewaster, I would refuse to do the quote in the first place and let some other poor bugger waste their time on these people.

Hillybilly

Many thanks for your kind offer of assistance, finally found someone in Spain who doesn't want to rip us off !

Keith

Take a chill pill

I understand completely what you say. I used to finish work at around 5 and spend the next 3 hours sometimes doing quotes. A refundable charge would have been a brilliant idea, but unfortunately the customer just aint interested .... my franchise did a short trial, and people wouldn't go for it on the basis that our quote may not be the cheapest, and cheapest was best of course

I don´t think I would ever charge for an estimate for my "normal" clients. I think the whole point of making the charge is that you would only do it for the clients that you are not bothered about capturing anyway. And if they come back and are happy to pay the charge, well then you know you have a serious customer on your hands and can treat them accordingly.

I did a quote once when I thought .... "I really don't fancy this job". So I doubled the price, and they took me up on it. Then I was worrying ... "will I get paid at the end of all this"

How do you know you wouldn't get the job?

If a person is interested in a property and goes to all the trouble (and cost) of having a structural survey done and then requests a quote/estimate from a builder, why are you so certain that the said builder wouldn't get the job?.

I really don't understand your way of thinking Keith. We get 3 or 4 builders to quote us on all the jobs we undertake and we don't always hire the cheapest, but the ones that do the best work.

There are a few builders that we have never worked with because their quotes were so way off the mark (or their workmanship leaves alot to the imagination), but if I call anyone today (even from newspaper advert that has never worked with us before) for an estimate on ANYTHING (including a potential purchase), I'll probably have it on my desk by Friday.

I really believe that a builder in this area with your attitude would be jobless and heading back to wherever they came from pretty quick!

Good job I´m not in your area then!

I would classify this type of client as a weak client, a) because they don´t own the property, and b) because even if they do take you up on the job it won´t be for several months until the sale has gone through.

When there is plenty of work around you can afford the luxury of picking and choosing who your customers are.

So in effect, what you're saying is that you would not be interested in securing a potential future job when there isn't as much work around, ie in the winter!?

That is lousy customer service in my book!

My business wasn´t really affected by summer/winter trade. It was fairly constant all year round, apart from Christmas perhaps. But yes, in certain circumstances I did look to ditch a few clients who weren´t worth the hassle.

It´s not lousy customer service if I didn´t take them on as clients in the first place.

I do quotes every day, well almost, and I never charge, its just part of what I have to do to earn a living.

If you do then fine, I couldn't give a rats arse, does it really matter, you know, in the long run?

I've decided to change my career, I'm going to be a professional quoter. I reckon I could give 10 or 12 quotes a day, charge 50 euros a shot. Building work, plumbing, wouldn't really matter as I'd be too busy giving quotes to accept any of the work. Should be a nice little earner. And I'd never actually have to do any of the work.