haggistini wrote:It's a crazy way of pricing because you get bitten when you have to dig out more, cart away more, cut radius, miter cuts, manhole recess trays, find services!! It's ok to give estimates on first visit as you know if they call back they are not like the majority of time wasters who want quality work for pikey prices and you can quote more detailed an accurately then. I have worked my bolloxs out for wages for to long now so I have increased my prices latley and I've heard nothing from 7 jobs and only 1 got back to me (a friend ) and asked for me to quote cheaper materials I ain't budging on labour tho! I'd rather sub contract or go back on site as dealing with some private clients just dont pay.......
I agree, but it isn't as bad as you make it out to be as long as you detail exactly what you are going to do for what price and sign a contract then you can charge them extra for any extras or hidden problems etc.
This year I have been booked out since the winter and taken on another labourer. Had customers from previous years wanting more work done and a lot of work from recommendation.
Last year I wasn't booked out at all, I was busy the whole year but I didn't have anyone booked in advance.
a lot of pavers are leaving the game
if i was paving alone i would be bust now
the last 3 years have been appalling for hardscapers
thank god people are still refurbing their houses
LLL
I would be as well if I didn't have my finger in a lot of pies.
I sell bottled gas, red diesel, kerosene, oils and lubricants (the engine kind not the fun kind). I have a regular gardening run that keeps getting added too, for a lot of customers I have done any work for or sold anything to I'm their go to handyman for odd jobs, life modelling, fixing / building computers, I have a couple of customers that phone me occasionally to move / pickup things in van, in winter I have the four wheel drive for towing people, dog sitting, maths tutoring, probably more I'm forgetting.
haggistini wrote:Who needs the yellow pages 1 number does it all! your like tescos mate
:laugh:
I tell all my customers there is a lot I can do, if I can't do it I will be honest with them and tell them I can't but I can probably find somebody who can. I then go and read a lot of books, download a lot of videos and go learn in case somebody else asks.
Keeps me busy, stops me from getting bored (I get bored really easily, no way I could do an office job).
variety is the spice of life
i enjoy doing loft conversions now and again for the challenge
i do bits for my allotment society ,always some project on the go
and there are always *love* jobs to fall back on
i find that people with a bit about them mix with similar types and they talk about their builders
its not just the work its the way you interact with everyone involved,leave them smiling if possible
LLL
lutonlagerlout wrote:chipies got a rollocking today,they were told to pitch a roof at 15 deg, when i checked it they had done it at 16.5 deg
not a big difference but over 6 metres that made it 133mm too high and messed up all the leadwork,
i wont accept near enough and i wouldnt expect the customer too either
keep your standards high and it will come good
LLL
surely if you had cut in for lead at the top and you got the wall plate on at the bottom, you had only neened to cut the rafter to fit. you had done all the work for them. i dont bother with many other trades for this reason, you might aswell do it yourself its not rocket science, least you know its right. also if works tight it keeps you in work for longer. just my thoughts.
its more complicated than that dylan,there is a conservatory adjacent to the gable that has to be pitched at 15 deg
if the brickwork above the conservatory is skew whiff it will look cat malogan
its coming down monday anyway
LLL
Went to look at a job the other week 600sqm drive at this massive house, pulled up and the drive was half done had a nosy around waiting for the customer to arrive it was laid on 100mm of sand, no sub base, edgings/levels all over the place and a mixture of old and new blocks. Don't like to but gave him a rough sqm price to redo it all, and he said I'm not paying anything like that to have it redone i've paid for some of it once! I thought yeah and thats why you've got the mess you have. As Cookie said you pay peanuts you get monkeys.
i would hazard a guess of around £50 a metre?
we worked on a farmhouse in soulbury that had a driveway 900M long (measured it on my mileometer)and 2.5M wide
the guy had thoughts of blockpaving it but when he heard the price of nearly 80 grand he decided to stick with his 150mm concrete farmtrack
LLL
I've got to give a guy a price this week for 350m2 driveway. It was laid 16 years ago by some builders, it took them 6 months to do and it is all over the place now.
The 2 steps have sunk, main driveway part has sunk in a few places and risen in others because of leylandii roots (12ft high hedge bordering his driveway), big section beside steps has sunk because a pipe burst there at some point and the edging at the other part of driveway where he keeps his caravan has sunk because they weren't concreted in. Because he has left it so long since the drive started sinking it has now started drifting everywhere so you can easily lift blocks out by hand.
He has been told £35,000 for PIC, told him to steer well clear of that but he wasn't interested in spending £35k on his driveway anyway.
Wants me to try and repair it but doesn't want to spend the money to get it relaid properly, I have a feeling whatever I do to it won't last very long, assuming I do the work.
lutonlagerlout wrote:i would hazard a guess of around £50 a metre?
we worked on a farmhouse in soulbury that had a driveway 900M long (measured it on my mileometer)and 2.5M wide
the guy had thoughts of blockpaving it but when he heard the price of nearly 80 grand he decided to stick with his 150mm concrete farmtrack
LLL
Slightly more than that LLL but not as much as what LPAD would of wanted :p .Have since found out he's not a very good payer so pleased didn't go to all the trouble of doing a proper quote.
My drive is 112Sqm. half is grass half is tarmac. I want the whole lot block paved. Ive had around 10 quotes between £4500 - £5500 for tumbled setts. im based in Birmingham.
