Will I win work with prices like this?

[Sean Kelly]

I did a quote last week for laying marble floor tiles. Please see quote below:

Dear Hameed,​

​

Please find (below), an estimate of the costs involved in providing tiling services (as previously discussed).
You will have to purchase a total amount of 160 tiles, as the amount you have ordered will not cover the area you want tiled. Also, you will have to purchase another bag of adhesive, and a bottle of primer. Any unused adhesive or full tiles can be returned to Topps Tiles for a full refund.
Natural stone (as explained to you) needs to be treated very carefully. The process of laying the tiles is very time consuming. Each tile has to be ‘back buttered’ (i.e. a layer of adhesive is applied to the back of the tile). The tile is then placed onto the cement adhesive (which has already been applied to the floor). The cutting of each tile has to be done using a wet cutter, the tile has to be then dried.
I have allowed 4 days labour for the job.
All work to be carried out by myself (Sean Kelly), using the latest tiling techniques and to the standards I would wish & demand to have in my own home.
If you wish to instruct my services then please do not hesitate in contacting me on one of the numbers above.

Description​

Qty.​

Unit Price​

​

Line Total​

VAT Rate​

VAT Amount​

Labour only to lay approx 13.5sqm of Natural Stone (Marble) tiles 300x300 in kitchen. Price includes cleaning tile, priming floor, fitting tile, sealing tile, grouting tile, sealing tile (2nd time).​

1 ​

£640.00​

​

£640.00 ​

0% ​

£0.00 ​

After a few days I sent the customer a polite email:
Dear Hameed,
I just wondered what you thought of my quote (and the advice I gave you last week).

Basically, I am after some feedback on what I can do different in my quoting system.

Many thanks.

Sean

A few minutes ago I got a reply:
I found Your Quote was too Excessive Price, i have get it done by GBP 220.Two days work.
i hope you make reasonable price in your Quotes in the future to customers so they can afford to call you.
Kind Regards
Hameed

So, the question is am I expensive? (I am based just inside the M25). The kitchen was a bare room and it needed leveling in places.

Cheers
Sean

 

[Sean Kelly]

The formatting (above) has gone adrift, but I think you get the gist.

 

[TT Tiling]

hi not for me to say ,as dont live near you ,but down here in the southwest £220 - £250 would be a good price ,

 

[doug boardley]

I did the calc on my rates and i got it to £520 inc materials Sean

 

[kilty55]

i get the gist of it alright sean my friend,dont waste another seconds thought on what this guy has mailed you back and move on mate your price was fine. if someone wants to lay 13.5 metres of marble for 220 quid well carry on

 

[kilty55]

sean 220 is aridiculously cheap,,let him get it done at that price,remember you have a van and a business to run as well as a tax bill and a wage to make as well as tools etc to buy,you cannot run a succesful business charging 220 for a job like that,id be looking for more money for a 1 day splashback

 

[nybor62]

ive calculated what i think is a good price 485.00, dont think it would take 4 days imo

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

his price to cheap IMO,

 

[mikethetile]

sounds reasonable for inside the m25

I have noticed that london prices have really taken a hammering over the last few years whereas the cost of living hasnt dropped

you need to reply to the cheeky blighter and thank him for his advice on how to set prices in your successful, fully insured business, and that you hope he gets the job hes paid for, fixing stone requires skill ,knowledge and attention to detail to achieve a desirable result, please feel free to contact me should you require any further asistance

 

[kilty55]

personally as nybor has said i agree it wouldnt take 4 days but everyone has different speeds sean,i dont generally highlight how many days it will take me as some customers will scrutinise this if you finish early and want money off,i price the job seanif you finish half a day early then you have either scored or you couyld aslo have the choice to give them some money off the job if your that way inclined.

just remember many jobs end up running over on what you estimate and do you get paid extra for that? so weigh it up

your quote looks fine to me but i wouldnt ask the customer on feedback on the initial quote while trying to win the job,,maybe ask for feedback on everything once you have won the job and completed it

 

[Gazzer]

I wish i could get £47 m2

Far too expensive for up this way

 

[Sean Kelly]

Cheers for your replies. I guess I over estimated by 1 day, but £220 is still a joke price to pay, especially in London. What beats me is that the customer handed over all that cash to Topps for full price addy,grout,sealers,primers,cleaners etc. I think I'll buy some shares in Topps! (ooh - the shares were 95p in December, but now only 55p). Cheers Sean

 

[Colour Republic]

I did a quote last week for laying marble floor tiles. Please see quote below:

Dear Hameed,​

Please find (below), an estimate of the costs involved in providing tiling services (as previously discussed).
You will have to purchase a total amount of 160 tiles, as the amount you have ordered will not cover the area you want tiled. Also, you will have to purchase another bag of adhesive, and a bottle of primer. Any unused adhesive or full tiles can be returned to Topps Tiles for a full refund.
Natural stone (as explained to you) needs to be treated very carefully. The process of laying the tiles is very time consuming. Each tile has to be ‘back buttered’ (i.e. a layer of adhesive is applied to the back of the tile). The tile is then placed onto the cement adhesive (which has already been applied to the floor). The cutting of each tile has to be done using a wet cutter, the tile has to be then dried.
I have allowed 4 days labour for the job.
All work to be carried out by myself (Sean Kelly), using the latest tiling techniques and to the standards I would wish & demand to have in my own home.
If you wish to instruct my services then please do not hesitate in contacting me on one of the numbers above.

Labour only to lay approx 13.5sqm of Natural Stone (Marble) tiles 300x300 in kitchen. Price includes cleaning tile, priming floor, fitting tile, sealing tile, grouting tile, sealing tile (2nd time).​

1 ​

£640.00​

£640.00 ​

0% ​

£0.00 ​

Price is fine, maybe could have been a little cheaper, personally I would have dropped it to £585 to keep it under the £600 mark if i needed the job

What I will say is that in areas the style of writing can come across aggressive, you may want to re-word it slightly in the future. i.e. rather thae You will have to... say sadly in order to complete your floor an extra ?sqm will be required to allow for cuts... blah blah blah

I wouldn't go into too much detail of how you plan to do the job, I understand you are trying to get over how it's not as simple as it looks and not any muppet can do it, but again maybe word it different, rather than say how you are going to do it, tell them why you are going to do it

i.e. The beautiful marble tiles you have chosen requires extra care and attention in both the installation and subsequent after care, the tiles will need sealing with a quality blah blah blah

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

😛rrr:😛rrr:😛rrr:

 

[Sean Kelly]

I understand Colour Republic. Thanks for your input & time. I guess the customer had not realised that I had spent time researching the job and quantities of materials to be used. I had not just plucked out a figure from thin air. I am always tweaking my quoting template..............looks like I have to do some more tweaking :smilewinkgrin: Cheers Sean

 

[merlecollins]

Irrespective of your price Sean, there's no way it can be done for or you can compete with £220 - so just forget about it and move on mate
4 days does seem a bit excessive though, but it's the finished job that counts.

I've had a knock back today as well on a big stone job, so snap!!!

 

[david campbell]

that price is way too cheap, i would be looking at £450-500 where i am including mats

 

[mikethetile]

those quoting the price they would charge where they live need to remember the higher cost of living inside the m25

I think seans price is reasonable for the area, theres no way he could have the job completed in one day so cant compete with £220

 

[united]

You have priced it to how to much you can do the job for, taking into account all your running costs and how much you want to live on so you can't say fairer than that.

I like your email to chase up the quote, that's a very polite way and one I may use too

 

[faithhealer]

Hi sean, I agree with Rob (Colour Republic) about too much info about back buttering etc etc. Forget about it and move on, and hope some body makes a dogs breakfast of it.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Saw the first line of your quote - Dear .............
and knew you were going to be too expensive.

 

[Sean Kelly]

Saw the first line of your quote - Dear .............
and knew you were going to be too expensive.

Ahh - the old ones are the........................old ones.:smile5:

 

[Scott]

Stick with it Sean, you know your area and the prices

 

[peckers]

hi not for me to say ,as dont live near you ,but down here in the southwest £220 - £250 would be a good price ,

Too cheap m8 you need to put your prices up

 

[Daz]

Sean, your price was a tad high, as others have advised. The price that your prospect accepted was far too low.

I would have pitched in at 3 days work (2 days spent fixing and grouting and a days worth of sealing).

As you are only quoting labour I would have been a lot more brief with my quotation. At least then you may have received a call to request further detail and you could have verbally sold the benefits.

Don't forget 50% of being a tiler is being a salesman.

 

[Sean Kelly]

Captain,
All comments taken on board.
I had not done any domestic marble. So reading through the forum I saw that all the cuts on marble should be wet. The tiles should be dried after cutting. All the back buttering. The uneven tiles. The cleaning off the wax and the sealing. Not to mention the uneven floor. Basically I only estimated 1 extra day for the job. Another factor was that I could not park the car at the property. The only parking was in some dodgy car park on a housing estate about a minutes walk away. I’ve moved onto my next quote now, which I’m keeping my fingers crossed I’ll get. Cheers Sean

 

[Daz]

Captain,
All comments taken on board.
I had not done any domestic marble. So reading through the forum I saw that all the cuts on marble should be wet. The tiles should be dried after cutting. All the back buttering. The uneven tiles. The cleaning off the wax and the sealing. Not to mention the uneven floor. Basically I only estimated 1 extra day for the job. Another factor was that I could not park the car at the property. The only parking was in some dodgy car park on a housing estate about a minutes walk away. I’ve moved onto my next quote now, which I’m keeping my fingers crossed I’ll get. Cheers Sean

There's a lot of extra factors there Sean :incazzato:.

Good luck with the next one mate .

 

[ricmrc]

working by my rates, £337.50 would be as cheap as i'd go,
couldn't get close to the £220 and don't know any proper tiler who would.
if he's daft enough to go with the cheapest possible quote then its his problem, remember the wise saying, if you pay peanuts youre only going to employ monkeys

 

[Sean Kelly]

I got an email from the customer yesterday:

'they did the good job, i have one year guarentee from topps.'

I won't bother replying.

Cheers
Sean

 

[White Room]

Did'nt know Topps done guarantees

 

[DHTiling]

1 yr..:lol: