Dont forget all that paper and ink though ;-) ;-)

Best make it 55 euros.

Damn ... why didn't I think of that

No wonder you can retire to Spain

No this is not the norm in Spain, you are being conned.

BTW, where are you in Spain exactly?

Just read this thread through and i reckon keith walters is right ..

I would charge also , or you could be driving around all day , using fuel , and losing work time , to then spend hours costing the job , to then have them have a ready quote to show to other builders and say "If you can beat this you can have the job" assuming they even do buy the property anyways ?

So keith is right ..

If he owned the property then fair enough , but nope wouldnt get me out of bed for free

Hello Big Pete,

I disagree, there should be no charge for quoting jobs and here's why. Every business has to have their doors open if they expect to have any customers walking in. In the case of estate agents they show houses to potential buyers, they may have to show the same property to many potential buyers before they make a sale. The restaurant has to buy in food and prepare it in the hope of selling it before it goes off.

It's no different for us in the building trade. We may have to do several quotes before we have one that's accepted but it's all part of keeping the doors open.

No Quotes = No work

True, but this doesn´t really address the point being made.

If 20 random people came to you and asked for a quote, would you do those 20 quotes regardless of who they were, whether you liked the sound of the job or not, their situation and whether you thought you might actually get the job?

Maybe you would, but I wouldn´t. Given that a quote in my old line of work would consume perhaps 4 hours of my time I would pick and choose who I quoted for the jobs. If I thought the job sounded dull or not very profitable it got binned. If I thought I was unlikely to get the job for some reason it also got binned. Too far away? also binned. I had many reasons for binning requests for a quote.

The "hot" clients (and I dont mean sexy females. Or maybe I do?) would always get free quotes and PDQ. The borderline "bin" clients in retrospect I wish I had suggested the refundable deposit....25 GBP would have been enough. If they weren´t serious they wouldn´t pay it and then we have both saved time. And considering that they were borderline in the bin anyway I wouldn´t have cared if they´d turned out to be genuine but gone to one of my competitors.

Hello Keith,

Excellent reply. Isn't it hot in Jerez today!

There are and will always be jobs that are a waste of time quoting for. Every builder has a criteria of what type of work they are willing to do, be it the job's too large or the job's too small, or the job's too far away, etc.

The point I was trying to make is that you should not charge for a quote when the job is within your chosen criteria. Offering a refund if the quote is accepted is like charging an entrance fee to a shop and then refund the entrance fee if you buy something. In many cases the client simply doesn't know if the job is feasible or not and charging for the quote is a sure way to send them running to the competition.

I don't mind viewing jobs that are within my defined area, and then assessing as whether I can or can't give a free quote.

A quote from a good builder should read like a mini survey,and to pay a refundable deposit of $50 is a bargain.once you have purchased the quote it is quite reasonable to show it to other builders to see if they can make changes that could save you money.If you want a speculative price for works to be done always ask for an estimate this is much quicker to prepare and should be foc.It's good manners to go back to your builder after others have seen the quote and give him the chance to requote on any amendments you have made.After having read the thread I think a few have not understood that a quote and an estimate are two different things

ah yes, we have all got it wrong.

Not all.

I think we are talking self employed tradesmen here not Henry McAlpine that employ estimators and quantity surveyors etc and are all added into the prices.
I could always look at a job and get it within a few quid just by experience and knowledge of what I did on other jobs.
It is very bad etiquette to show the estimates or quotes to other builders as it is obvious they will beat the price if they are short of work or can see a way to cut corners and get the job, keep them to yourself.

I totally agree, if a client showed another trade my quote they are doing it for one reason and one reason alone. To get a cheaper quote.

Exactly. And reading between the lines of the original poster, I am guessing that she falls outside of the builders "chosen criteria" given that she doesn´t own the house for which she has requested the quote. At least in my book that would mean she wasn´t a desirable client (again, no reference to sexiness intended!).