Comparing quotations can be very difficult no matter what project or where you live. The reason is because most customers are trying to get value for their hard earned cash, however they can receive such varying quotation values? how can this be? … surely all quotations should be roughly the same. Well, keep reading below as to why and how quotations can differ quite considerably from one to another.
Here are my top 5 reasons quotations prices can differ. (In no particular order)
- 1) INDUSTRY NOVICE+ COWBOYS. A cheaper prices can be a sure sign you either have a tradesperson new to the market (with little or no experience), unregistered tradesperson, or worst a cowboy. When one utters the word ‘Cowboy’ almost every person knows this is a tradesperson who carries out substandard workmanship, walks out of the job half complete, turns up when they want, even worst may not even be a registered company with no insurance in place.
- 2)COMPANY STATUS. Company status is important to understand. This can effect the price of a quotation dramatically. Take a VAT registered company for example. A VAT registered company will have to pay 20% tax on any work that is carried out. This goes straight on top of your quotation, before they’ve looked at labour or materials. So, even if 2 separate companies supplied exactly the same project at the same level of quality but one is VAT registered, one price would come in at say £10,000 and the other £12,000. So you can only imagine that anyone would look at this and say how can this be?
- 3)MATERIAL QUALITY. Material quality is also very important to the price of a quotation. Lower valued quotations could pose a real issue with the materials the tradesperson is choosing to use. For example, some Bathroom fitters fit plasterboard in a shower enclosure (not industry standard) which is allot cheaper than using say a Cement board/Hardybacker, which is the types of material that should be fitted as it is 100% waterproof and protects the house from leaks.
- 4)UNDERVALUING PROJECTS ON PURPOSE. Unfortunately this industry is full of people who charge lower initial quotations/prices to temp customers to buy from them, to later raise the price knowing there will almost defiantly be further/additional works, which will raise the price to what the tradesperson wanted in the first place.
- 5)OVERHEADS. I will give you 2 scenario’s. The first is a companies that a cheap van, minimal tools and registered as a sole trader, the other may have 4 new vans, rent a premises and employ 4 employees. As you can see, the second scenario would need to recover some of that cost which will need to be added per project.
To summarise, although this is just a top 5, there are so many reasons why one price is high and another in comparison is very low. Far too often customers find out the hard way that they have either no carried out proper due diligence or chosen value over quality.
If you are looking for a quotation on any projects please get in touch. Phone: 07388 325 951
‘There is a saying, pay peanuts and get Monkeys’