Last laugh!! - Sweet justice

[mickavalon]

I've just finished pointing a 250m2 Stone Paved Patio, for a Builder/Developer that I've done a bit for in the past. We originally quoted to do the whole of the Project(Labour only), way back in July, but got undercut, nad by a large margin. I then fell out with the developer, who accused me of trying to rip him off, even though I hadn't and the price, as I'd costed it at my normal rate, which he was aware of.
The Lads he got to do it subbed it out to someone else, they made a proper cock up of it, loads of cross joints, long lines and as we pointed with Flowpoint, we found loads of loads of dips/puddles and rocking slabs. The blokes just paid me the difference in meterage he wouldn't pay me in the first place, plus 27 bags of flowpoint @ £15 per bag.
I remained Professional at all times though, and only seeped a bit of smugnees on-site, did most of my laffing to and from site. :laugh:

[Hawk]

nice one, serves him right, next time double your price

[lutonlagerlout]

heard another similar tale today
client got 5 prices,ours and 2 others were around the 100k mark,1 was 140 and and east european outfit priced it at 80 with no VAT?
anyway they told client it was a 20 week job and they needed 4k a week
yep you guesses it after 17 weeks client realise job wasnt even half done,the sole bricklayer slept in his car mon-thurs on site and didnt wash in any of this time
a lot of the work is not up to BC standard so has had to be redone
the job has now cost the client 145K and 6 months of grief on what was a 16 week job
cavaet emptor
LLL

[Dave_L]

I swear some people just look at the bottom right hand figure only on quotes when comparing.

[local patios and driveway]

Cheap isnt always cheapest. We all know that, however people all know it but they are almost greedy and cant resist the cheapest, let them learn the hard way. Who cares, we will be there when thy want quality instead of false quantity

[dig dug dan]

it still amazes me why people think such a price difference is going to be anything but crap?
on the note of tendering for contracts, if you do not win a contract, is there any legal right to ask who the contractors were that priced the job, and what their prices were?

[mickavalon]

Not sure about that, but if a client asks me to come down on a price I always ask to see the Quotes I'm up against, check who they are and what their saying their doing for the Price. I know most of the firms, so you know their prices and work. I've caughta few who've lied to get the price down, either by seeing other quotes or asking the guys who've quoted. I spoke to one lad, who asked me how come I'd charged a large sum for a job he'd won, and I'd never been near the place. They'd must of pulled my name off an advert or our Vans and made up a figure to beat him down. Donut still went and done the work, and it went messy.

[lutonlagerlout]

the council inform us of any tenders we have lost out on and by how much
it is all sealed bids and we have lost jobs by £5 before
but they have a duty to the council tax payers to get the lowest tender
however the job has to be A1 or you are off the list
suits me fine
LLL

[London Stone Paving]

There are things that you can haggle on without worrying about any decrease in quallity and building work on your house aint one of them. you'd have to be stupid to accept the lowest quote on major building works on your property, only costs in the long run

[rab1]

been sat in meetings where the tender folder has been left on the desk as the potential client party all suddenly have to leave the room. 1-3 mil jobs. ???