For making use of Free Quotes

Omg this is a zombie thread, whoops!

I have to disagree with the PP saying you're a time waster because you're not planning to get the work done.

You clearly were but now have better idea of what the cost is will have to save up for longer. They can't force you to spend money you don't have. And from experience, windows is all a bit smoke and mirrors price wise until you actually get someone around.

The advice on here is ALWAYS to get three quotes, so that's always going to be two businesses that have had their time 'wasted' ..... So make your mind up Mumsnet, do you have to say yes to every trade that quotes to not waste their time or get three quotes for every job and pick one?

OP I think YANBU

I have been through the mill with companies and quotes. So much so I chose , in one case, to just live with the problem. Spending £2,000 without you having seen the taps they are putting in, or the kind of radiator which willl replace yours. Are they for real? I have, out of desperation, chosen the person with the best manners. As I am 88 years old I take the line of least resistance now.

I'm always upfront with tradesmen and mention I'm getting 3 quotes before going ahead. I have had to invoke waiting for my non-existent DH to get home and review as reason for not going ahead straight away for a couple who were a bit pushy.

I'd never arrange for tradesmen to come and do quotes if I knew I wasn't going to go
forward with any of them. That's just wasting the tradesman's time.

You’re not actually planning on getting the work done - YABU to waste their time.

Can't seem to edit my post- I see it was the windows guy that was rude to you, not groundworks guy.

I'd say he was out of order. They are salesmen, that's their job, as opposed to groundworks who would have to be doing these quotes as part of his day (ie actually doing the work).

Big window company guy needs to suck it up.

The problem with this is, many contractors don't want to give a ballpark figure.

A) they don't want to underprice it and the client tries to hold them to it.

B) they don't want to overprice and do themselves out of work.

C) they want to get face to face to properly assess the site and discuss other options etc, and also face to face is easier to get someone to sign up.

So it's a double edged sword.

Totally agree it takes up a huge amount of their time, but also, I see why giving ballpark figures is difficult.

However, I think in this instance, the OP has listed off quite a large amount of work, numerous materials, and is aware that machinery will be involved.

She then says she's saved up "a couple of grand".

OP, this is the issue. People don't value tradespeoples time. You know lots of materials will need to be purchased. You know machinery will need to be hired. You know there's a lot of labour involved. Surely you can see £2k won't be enough?

I think that is probably why the person was frustrated.

Good grief. I couldn’t make it simpler in the post. Someone put up pictures of THEIR new drive and I asked how much it cost. Who do you think I asked? The tooth fairy?

Good tradesmen will have some qualifying questions they'll subtly ask you to find out how genuine you are. Decent groundworkers and many other trades for that matter will be booked up for a few months at a time and can largely pick and choose jobs. Anyone getting more than 3 quotes for the same job is a bit of a timewaster if you ask me.

It's fine OP.

If a business offers free estimates, they have to take it on the nose when they don't become jobs.

And you should be getting multiple quotes. At least three.

I used to work in construction and I have done massive estimates, drawn up bills of quantities and spent many hours measuring up for loads of developments that didn't come off. I've also have subbies do me literally hundreds of quotes for work they havent won in the end. It's all part of the game.

Who did you ask? The tradesman or the customer? Most tradesmen dont give out the prices they charged other customers despite hundreds of people asking on facebook threads how much was that?!

Well you are being unreasonable if you know you can’t afford it. You could always ask around to see what others have paid for similar work, post on a local facebook group to see if someone can give you an idea. I did that when someone on a local group posted pictures of their new drive and I asked how much it had cost.

"Do you have any idea how long it takes to visit a site, price materials and put together a quote? I do as my dh is a builder. It takes literally hours. Often after a day on site."

Well best of luck in your husband's unique building business which resents giving customers quotes. It's awful your husband has to not only work on site and help prospective customers. * *

I've given genuine, time-saving advice. To help the OP. I also politely gave my opinion, which the OP asked for.

Checking the rough price on the website I provided will save them time and will also mean they don't unnecessarily take up the time of tradespeople who they have no intention of using in the near future.

The OP sounded genuinely aware that it was taking time and effort and seemed like she felt a little guilty about it. She specifically asked what else she could do. I provided an alternative suggestion.

You then made some rather unpleasant and unnecessarily personal comments and judgements to me about that for reasons known only to yourself, so I responded in kind. 🤷‍♀️

Oh dear. You've obviously not read my post where I took my own advice and did indeed 'Google it' and got this ...

https://www.checkatrade.com/blog/cost-guides/patio-laying-cost/

Perfect for those who have no intention of committing to work and just want a rough idea of price.

Maybe check your facts before attempting to scoff and belittle people next time. You've not been very successful with that attitude, have you?

Oh dear, if your DH has an attitude like you, I cant imagine he is very successful. So your best advice is "Google it"?

I would expect this from a windows salesperson. Big pressure and ridiculous prices.

A tradesperson however would fully expect you to get various quotes or not put pressure to go ahead instantly.

Look elsewhere, a small freelance person who fixes and installs double glazing from a local factory, rather than a big sales company.

OP you aren’t unreasonable to get quotes, you are unreasonable to get quotes for work you know you can’t afford and seem to have no immediate intention of undertaking.

If you wanted the drive doing and needed to save up more to get that job done, why are you getting quotes on more work you won’t be able to afford?

Except the OP has openly stated she's not planning to commit to getting work done, and knows she can't afford it.

@987654321abc there are pricing guides here ... might be of some help to get the general idea of prices? It took me literally 10 seconds to find this information on google BTW.
https://www.checkatrade.com/blog/cost-guides/patio-laying-cost/

I don't think you are unreasonable.

However I am extremely jealous that you can actually get people to come out and give you quotes. My experience is that I fill in the form on a trader's websites and explain the job I want doing and request someone come out to quote for the job as per advertised on the site and they ust don't get back to me at all. No acknowledgement or anything. If you try and phone instead of using website forms all you get is answer phones. All the more annoying because I've generally sifted through likely firms and decided they look like one I quite like the look of. All they needed to do was provide a quote in the region of my budget.

Absolutely soul destroying. I just put off getting jobs done until I can stomach actually trying to get someone interested in doing the job.

The free quotes benefit both sides. A tradesperson will want to see the job before committing. I've had plenty come to quote and then ghost me. It's absolutely fine to get quotes from a few companies before committing to one.

What the heck are you meant to so, they just need to suck it up. That's life how do they get work if they naffed off quoting 🤔