To think this was shitty of her

[Stcatherine]

Dp handyman was asked to take a look at a ladies small job she wanted doing nothing major. So along he went spoke to her about it then he had to search around the shops looking for suitable style colour etc and also on the Internet he sent pics of what he had found and asked her if she would consider this or that etc. She sent reply saying no and I've got someone else to do it.

I can see how that would feel shit, it's hard not to take it personally especially when you could do with the money.

Don't go too far giving someone tips and ideas until you've got a deposit off them!

This exactly! Scout the shops for materials after job has been agreed.

Right claw I think that is a valid point.

Alot of jobs he can quite easily give quote there and then but this was a patch up repair job trying to match up.

The situation is really bad for him nothing is working with people not responding so many timewasters etc.

I’m afraid that’s part of running your own business, nothing is guaranteed until there’s a contract.

He needs to change his mindset from thinking those that don’t choose to utilise his services are time wasters.

He needs to give a quote for an hourly rates and advise it will be plus parts.

Totally normal. I've recently had five companies quote to do some fencing for us - it was only when I met the majority of them that if found I didn't feel comfortable with them, or they didn't seem experienced enough. I wouldn't know that without meeting them.

The first few were all off Checkatrade and I was very unimpressed - won't use it again. The one I went with was a personal rec from a friend.

Can he tile bathrooms and do you live in or near Hull? We are finding the opposite - ringing tradesmen to quote us for jobs and them not bothering to turn up. It's bloody annoying. It's taken us 2 months to find a plasterer happy enough to plaster 3 ceilings!

You are in for a lot of disappointment if this is how you handle one person saying "not hanks, I've changed my mind".

A lot of self employed people (whatever the service) carry out work at risk, without guarantee of payment in the hope of currying favour with the potential customer. Without asking for a deposit for the work there's not much more your partner could have done.

then he had to search around the shops looking for suitable style colour etc and also on the Internet he sent pics of what he had found and asked her if she would consider this or that etc.

That's where he's gone wrong, wasting his time before he gave her a price.

HE shouldn't be looking around for style and colour, he should be asking customers to let him know what style and colour they want so he can prepare a proper price.

He could have a few ideas on his phone to show them if they are that clueless, or refer them to a website where they spend their time not his, deciding what they want.

It's poor behaviour on her part, yes - she should have contacted him as soon as she decided to go with another person to stop him wasting his time still searching for the stuff for her job.
So she's thoughtless and rude.

I hope he gets a few jobs soon, word of mouth is really the best way to get started, even in this day and age.

We own a scaffolding company and I would say about a third of jobs we quote for come to nothing.

We have to go out look at the job, talk to the client, take photos, go back to the office to do the quote, email it and wait for a response. All takes up valuable time.

Mostly we never even get a reply. Its very very rare that people are polite enough to let us know they are going elsewhere.

Mostly we never even get a reply. Its very very rare that people are polite enough to let us know they are going elsewhere.

Whenever I've asked for 2 or 3 quotes I've always contacted the people I'm not going with to say thanks, but no thanks. Almost invariably they've been very polite back - I guess because although it's not the best outcome for them, it's better than hearing nothing!

Yes he can tile bathrooms and plaster but we don't live anywhere near Hull

Possibly she just didn't take to him - it happens. Imagine if someone posted on here that a handyman had called but she didn't really want to see him again, the advice would be to just message saying she had found somone else to do it.

I do sympathise with how hard it is to get a business like this off the ground. I firmly believe facebook is good for drumming up local interest. Whenever I've employed a builder/handyman it's been because I saw their advert on facebook and thought "hmmmm actually I do have something I need doing" or I have asked for local recommendations. You get lots of responses and if several of the responses say that same person then that's good enough for me.

If he's done his own leaflets himself, are they nicely presented? Good written English?

Are you the same poster who was asking last week if her husband should adopt a traditionally English sounding name to advertise?

Done them to the best of our ability but as I said we are new to this.

Yes circle that's me. I didn't wanna drum it all up again in case it started into a race row

Don't have loads of money to throw abt on advertising they wanted flipping £100 for business cards.

I wouldn't wait around whilst someone looked about and hadn't even given me a quote yet.
I've had minor jobs, they've given me quotes with plus parts. By the time I have got people in to get quotes, I've already looked around myself to see if getting a match is possible. Because if not then I know that I'm wasting everyones time, and the job will be more as a total re-do.

Ahhh!!

Good luck to your DH. It does take time to build up a reputation. In the meantime try not to take each set back personally.

In the past, I've done the free trials for business cards. Then I got a decent printer and print them myself on quality card.