this is a job i was on in dublin last week. the bath was being held up by 3 legs under it only and caused major hassle. the tile were all but jointed and fell of the walls because of the dampness creeping in behind the tiles by the bath seal.

needless to say it broke my heart to make it right. i put in a new bath and got it perfect with the sealux seals and proper adhesive. thanks bal.

Flippin heck Gareth...what a mess , bet the customer was glad you came to the rescue

Gaz

yeah he was very happy alright yet he still let me short €200. well sickened. here's some more of the finished product minus the bath area because the file failed.

i can onlyupload 1 photo. reached my limit i think

Why were you short €200?

because the guy was sure the cost of the job was €800. and it was but then we had to fit a new bath and resupport it and fix all the joists under it. so i wanted €1000 but he wouldn't give it. what ya gonna do,thats just the way it has gone over here.

Always give a written Estimate Gareth - detailing everything that you have agreed to do. That way, when extras crop up you can add any extra charges - of course agreeing any extras with client before you proceed. Written Estimates protect you and indeed should reassure the client. If you anticipate any extras (i'e whenever I have to lift a floor, I explain that I can't anticipate what I might find underneath) I verbally explain this to client. If they can show an element of trust, I agree that we will recalculate any extra works / specific materials after we lift the floor. If they don't want to show some trust, I either offer them a 'worst case scenario' Estimate or more often then not, don't really want the work. I appreciate the fear of the rogue trader but if I can't win an element of trust before I start the job, I make a judgement call that this particular client may not be for me.

Andrew

This post has been edited by aostiling: Mar 9 2009, 08:25 PM

Good advise Andy

Absolutely right Andrew, although sometimes easier said than done. There is a website somewhere for "rogue clients" www.roguecustomers.co.uk that names and shames these types that think they only have to pay what they think not pay you for what you have done

[quote name='Paul BAL' date='Mar 9 2009, 08:31 PM' post='882']
Absolutely right Andrew, although sometimes easier said than done.

I've honestly (excuse the pun) never had a problem using my system. I detail everything, including materials that I intend to use, size of tiles to be fixed, susbtrate etc. Crucially, I also include what I'm not including such as any carpentry works, door threshold trims, etc. Heres an example of my small print for a recent job where I was had to lift floor tiles prior to installing new tiles:

An assumption is being made that the subfloor is suitable to receive insulation boards without any extra works required
Floor substrates to be prepared as detailed in e-mail accompanying this Estimate
Waste water generated by works to be disposed on-site – not in drains.
No plumbing works / fixing of plumbing fittings included in these costs.
No carpentry works included in above costs
Client to dispose of waste tiles & rubble .
Please allow a minimum of 15% extra for wastage when sourcing tile quantity
All materials supplied remain the property of AOS Tiling until paid for in full.
Estimate subject to site inspection prior to works[/i]

I find that my clients actually get reassured by the detail in the quotes - there's no fear of hidden extras and we all know where we stand before we start

thanks for all the advice lads. i think i'll have to spend some time writing up a contract for these jobs. it always seems to run in to extras so i try and just price for the worse case senario and it usually works out pretty good.

if anyone has one of these contracts made up already maybe i could copy the template and trim it to suit my line of work. mainly full bathroom renovations.
thanks again for the support.

Heavens!! that was in a bad way, and as for the 200 short, dont some people realise that etsimates are called ' estimates' for a reason!?!?, finished job looks great though

This post has been edited by tankatron: Mar 10 2009, 04:10 PM

Great post Andrew, i also have a verbal arrangement with any potential customers where exsisting tiles need to be removed, nothing worse than not pointing out what could happen then finding yourself doing tons of extra work for nothing.

I finished a job las week that i had to originally remove laminate floor before tiling (no major problem in that i thought) but where i had not worked for nearly 6 weeks i was slightly out of my flow so i forgot to mention that my estimate for £550 was for removing floor and tiling 25 sq matres of 600 x 300 porcelain (bloody good price for them as it was cos this also included all materials) anyway when i removed the laminate i found a load of vinal tiles that i had to remove cos some of them didn't seem to be fixed to well, so not wanting to cut corners i thought i would remove the lot!!! big bloody mistake, sometimes they just pop up and sometimes they don't, well this time they didn't so i spent the next day and a half chieseling, scrapping, sweating and swearing that i had messed it up.

Once i removed them all i then noticed that there was a big bow from the front door to the back door, now what i should have done was levelled it but cos i was now 2 days behind i decided that it weren't that bad and i would just roll the floor slightly and pack out the areas that needed it (obviously making sure there was still adequate coverage underneath) another big bloody mistake cos what i forgot was that they were having brick bond so had to keep it level throughout, where i had levelled the first tile i now had to come off that and keep them all the same but as i was going further down the hallway and deeper into the bow i was using more and more adhesive to keep it level!!!! i know you wont beleive this but i used 12 bags of 20kg adhesive on this floor and spent £240 in materials. Half way through he asked me how i was going to join the hallway tiles to the carpeted front room (the door threshold) my heart sank cos again i had forgot about that in my quote and cos i said it included all materials i just happily replied that i was gonna fit the threashold, MORE TIME AND MORE BLOODY MONEY!!

Anyway by the time i had finished i had spent £260 on materials and spent TEN DAYS working and i mean really grafting to get this floor looking great, this is how costly getting your quote wrong can be, i have made small errors in the past but nothing on this scale i was so so gutted.

The upside was that the couple loved it and gave me a £50 tip but i was exhausted at the end and after 10 days of slog and by the time i worked out all my expenses i walked away with about £280 profit which on a day rate works out to £28 a day!!!!! All because i was not clear in my quote and cos of the way i opperate i couldn't start charging for things i had not been clear about. It was my mistake and i paid the price.

It did look nice though and they were a nice couple (especially the girlfriend and her sister grrrr)

NEVER AGAIN!!!!


TJ