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Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 6:14 pm
by dig dug dan
had an argument with a friend today who employs me from time to time.
Doing a simple paving job, and he has arranged for a 4yd skip to be delivered. due to the fact we were building up the ground, We only put about four dumper loads in it (mainly turf and black matting), then the skip was finished with. He complained about it, but what else do we do with the rubbish. there was still the cement bags, sweepings and plastic wrapping to go in. I offered him £20 to put some old fencing in from another job, which he duly accepted.
He then moaned saying its the customers skip, he has paid for it.
I argued that its actually HIS skip, he has priced to do a specific job. the customer has accepted his quote, so regardless if we had a 2yard, or 20yard skip, the price for the paving job stays the same, and any leftover room in the skip is his.
Got to site this morning and he is unloading all the fencing as the customer wants to put an old shed in it.
I had to walk away an leave him too it. The fencing went back in, but the moaning continued for the rest of the day
your thoughts on this??
Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 7:08 pm
by rab1
The skip costs are included in the price, end off.
Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 7:28 pm
by Dave_L
Cock!
Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 7:30 pm
by rab1
Well put Dave 
Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 7:33 pm
by Carberry
Never make any money if you price for a skip then let the customer fill it with any old crap and you still have a skip load of rubble from the drive / patio to get rid of :laugh:
Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 7:38 pm
by dig dug dan
I had similar last year when I managed to get away with 2 loads of muck away instead of 4. Customer thought he was getting £500 back!
Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 9:38 pm
by lutonlagerlout
I always use a minimum 6 yarder
the 4 yarders are only 30 quid cheaper
he sounds like a berk TBH
waste management is part of a job
we had an eejit last year I priced to knock a few walls out in a house and brick up 2 windows
anyway he asked would I be using a skip and i said yes
we did the work in 2 days and he asked could we leave it for a day or two while he stripped the wallpaper
next thing i get a call from my mate at the skip company
we had it 5/6 full and he has tried to put a whole kitchen in it and a bathroom suite
it was 5 feet above the sides!!!
when i told him to get his shite out he got the hump
strangely I dont return his calls anymore
LLL
Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 9:43 pm
by dig dug dan
thats the problem. the customer thinks its his.
Funny enough my mate had two bags of cement and 0.2 of sand left today.
Will he be knocking it off the bill ???
Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 9:25 am
by lemoncurd1702
I never quantify materials other than the meters to be laid etc.
Don't tell them how many skips, tonnes of sand etc. its included in the cost anyway. It's swings and roundabouts you may use less sand than costed but more sub-base.
It's a fixed price, if your down on any materials they don't expect to pay extra, if you're up its best they don't know.
Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 5:45 pm
by dig dug dan
thanks. I agree. from now on, my customers will not get a broken down quote. It will be labour and materials only!
Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 6:41 pm
by GB_Groundworks
I just quote the price ex vat and plus vat that it
The price is the price I've done a few breakdowns for customers at their request etc but it kinda feels like your justifying your profit margin etc;)
Bit Like tesco having milk at 30p but a sign next to it saying we pay 27.2p for a pint
We are working on a big factory site split across 6 large units on an industrial estate got a 20 yArd skip in one of them left over from the large concrete tank we did with maybe 5 tons of soil/ clearings up in it. So we've been over on another building for 8 weeks came back today to the skip and it's almost full of their production waste and caught the gardeners chucking their shit into it. Annoying as mine is sat between a 40 yard skip of there's on a compactor with a big general waste sign and some smaller 16 yard metal and wood skips yet they've filled my skip up
Although not bad at £220 inc vat for 20 yard skip and they'll get a nice treat as I put a ton of aluminium suspended ceiling bits in it
Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 6:45 pm
by dig dug dan
Although not bad at £220 inc vat for 20 yard skip and they'll get a nice treat as I put a ton of aluminium suspended ceiling bits in it
blimey giles why did you not take it to the scrap yard yourself and get money for it!!! thats £1000 lost!!
Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 7:33 pm
by GB_Groundworks
not literally a ton but a ton of them (6 x 1 ton dumper loads of 600mm and 1200mm sections)
plus id need a permission to remove them off site from the factory and have a chain of paper work to account for their proper disposal where as i can skip them and get a waste transfer ticket and its all sorted and traceable
Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 8:06 pm
by msh paving
I never have quoted for material cost and labour cost, its a price +VAT ,paving jobs the m2 quoted and thats it, then there is no issues if any paving material is left over from packs you paid for 20m2 and got 20m2 if the pack was 20.5m2 i take spare away, if they ask for a certain paving product i put that on quote
i wont let customer put there waste in a skip if used ,as again save any problems from skip owner.
over the years i have learned several lessons from telling customers to much about what is used and not used etc. etc.
ground work job i give a outline of work to be done but no cost per item or quantities,
to many customers don't want you to make profit
MSH
Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 8:49 pm
by lutonlagerlout
I try and put as much detail in as possible and sometimes have even put profit in to the quote
I have won work like this being stand up but obviously not all the time
depends how i feel on the day
but generally a drive will be
removes 250mm of spoil to waste transfer station over 58M2
etc etc
as said no point specifying too hard as some people try to nit pick it apart (my mate says he can get skips £15 cheaper etc etc)
LLL