To ask for extra to cover this

[Clappingforjoy]

Okay so dh is a newbie in the trade and today he is doing a tiling job for somebody and material cost had already gone £20 more than original price quoted and lady was fine about it
Today he has found that it has again incurred another 20 in material cost.
Do you think its fair to again ask for another 20 or should he let it go.

He needs to pay it and add some small contingency to future quotes , the last thing he wants is a bad reputation for getting jobs then hiking the costs.

Is it because of his own inexperience that the quoted price keeps changing? Either because he has quoted incorrectly or has underestimated how much material to use? If so, I think he should probably suck it up and chalk it up to a learning experience for next time. If it's outside of his control and the materials provided haven't been enough for him then he should go back, but he has to be sure of what he needs to avoid having to keep going back and forth.

He underestimated the amount of material

I think he needs to suck it up this first time as it's a small amount and he's building a reputation. He needs to build in a contingency in future people will be cross for him to keep hiking it!

He didn't see the room first and relied on measurements and pics provided by the customer

No he gave a quote and should stick to it. If a tradie kept putting the price up on me I would likely refuse to pay, I get a quote so I can budget, if the price is higher I may choose to wait until I can afford it.

If it’s the clients changes adding cost that’s fine as long as agreed but if you get it wrong you have to suck it up. You’ll get a reputation for quoting cheap to win jobs then adding unexpected costs when other trades will have quoted correctly. It’s a learning curve. (I once missed an item off a quote but included it in the description and it cost me thousands, it wasn’t a good day but it was my fuck up not the clients so I can emphasise a fuck tonne over)

He shouldn't ask for any more. He must check what he is quoting for in future.

What training has he done?

Were her measurements wrong? If yes then he should present her with correct measurements and say he needs x amount for materials.

He really needs to cover the cost, and not quote in future unless he's physically seen the space. How could he possibly quote for a room he hasn't been in anyway?

Some customers seem to only be happy if you can quote via pics and dont seem to like the hassle of having tradesmen coming.
Anyway I will ask dh to check the measurements she gave him.against what they actually are.

Then you explain to the customer that you cannot quote without a visit. If they still insist, then you do not quote for the job.

All sounds very unprofessional.

Some customers seem to only be happy if you can quote via pics and dont seem to like the hassle of having tradesmen coming.

Then he needs to add a disclaimer that if he’s quoting by pictures he reserves the right to adjust the quote on seeing the room in reality.

This time, he needs to suck it up.

Some customers seem to only be happy if you can quote via pics and dont seem to like the hassle of having tradesmen coming.

Then he either tells them he can't quote, or he tells them he'll give them a provisional quote and then gives them an updated total when he's seen the room for the first time - but he'll need to sort out what happens about payment if they don't want to pay the higher price, then.

Sadly this is his error, and if he keeps hiking the price, he'll ruin his reputation. He needs to swallow this one.

Okay thanks all for good advice

If he didn’t survey in person before the job and relied on her measurements then you need to send estimates not quotes and state that the cost is subject to possible changes once the area is surveyed in person. It may be she accepts the additional cost if her measurements are wrong but changing from quotes to estimates with disclaimers for this sort of job in future will have your back a lot better.

If he could build in a contingency for future jobs, allowing for extra and stating that materials will cost "a maximum of £XXX" - and then, whenever he finds that he overestimated, making a point of knocking that amount off what he charges - even if it's just a fiver - he could well find himself getting a lot of repeat custom and customer recommendations to friends, as people really value honesty.

"Right, we agreed a maximum of £250 for the job, didn't we - but I was allowing for extra contingencies with materials to avoid any unforeseen costs. The materials were actually £20 less than the maximum I allowed for, so let's just say £230, shall we?"

That way of doing business would really go down well and many people would insist on paying the full amount anyway. Of course, if the full contingency is needed, he just charges the agreed amount and nobody is any the wiser or unhappy.

Yes he admitted himself he should have seen it first.
Will be careful in future and sucker up the extra

Loads of starting up a business is learning from mistakes. At least it was only £20.

Did he explain to her why the first £20 was added, ie because the room measurements were inaccurate? If so he could do it again, explain that “as before an extra 2 foot square of tiles costs an extra £20” (or whatever). Or suck it up in the hope of a good reference.

"material cost had already gone £20 more than original price quoted"
If it was a quote then that is the actual price to be charged. The fact that your husband has made an error of miscalculation is his problem. He is extremely lucky that the lady has paid the extra £20 for materials. If he asks again he will be seen to be taking the pee. He has already displayed a lack of professionalism. He needs to suck it up.

Just because she has already paid the extra £20 doesn't mean she will recommend him to others.

Underestimated the cost of material unfortunately

First 20 he explained before starting the job that material was going to add an extra 20 onto the cost

He checked out some prices and it was going at more than expected. She was fine about it.

I realise that it's not going to look good to say we need to add another 20 on so will sucker up the cost.