To want my quote?

[spottystriped]

Having some garden work done.
Had 6 people who agreed to quote for the work.
2 of them didn’t want to leave their house and asked for diagrams/photos. Fair enough with the corona situation. 1 came back and said the job would be between £7000-£10,000, one never replied after seeing photos.
4 people actually visited the garden and I spoke through plans. All still happy to work with the Coronavirus situation. None of them said they didn’t want the work or that the job was too big/small. Only 2 came back with quotes. One for £8000 and one for £12,000.
Is this usual that out of 6 quotes only 50% bother to get back to you.
I just feel like I’ve wasted so much time drawing diagrams, taking photos, having conversations over email, meeting up with people and going through what we want done for at least an hour each time. I would have preferred them to be honest and say “it’s not the job for us” or another reason there and then.
Our garden is a smallish housing estate garden and I feel that they don’t think our garden is goof enough for them!
I’ve had this before with building work too. People wanted to comfy and quote our extension but only 1 in 3 ever bothered to even come back with a price. Is this usual?

Sometimes they just really don’t need the work. That’s why I post my jobs in Rated People because they have to pay for leads which means they actually bloody turn up and do the work!

Yeah. I asked time scales for all of them and they all said they could start within 3-8 weeks.
So they didn’t seem massively busy.
I’ll take a look at posting jobs on there next time. Thank you.

And also if they don’t need the work then why don’t they say “we are fully booked up for the next 6 months so if you are still looking around autumn time then we could quote then”

Frustrating but very normal in my experience.

Very normal! I have found this with all areas of trade that I have wanted quotes from.

I wonder why it is?
Do they not want the job, or maybe the profit margin isn’t big enough. Or it’s a lot of work for profit when they could find something easier?
Don’t suppose it matters really. But yes very frustrating.

Yes happens all the time, whenever I have asked for quotes from companies.

I've got someone coming to do mine next week. He needs the work. It's no contact as he will be outside etc. he came round to look and measure and I spoke to him through the phone. I messaged one who got back to me and asked for measurements but then they didn't get back to me. Then another one came to measure and then didn't get back to me. I just don't think people want the work

I do think yabu to come on here and talk about how much money you are planning on spending on your garden when so many people are at massive risk of losing so much either now or in the near future.

Great you have the money, nothing wrong with that, but such a blatant stealth boast. No need to have even mentioned the money!

Quite often it's not the work that puts a tradesman off doing the job.

Why on earth did you have six quotes three or at a push four would be sufficient. If they got wind that you were having that many they may have chosen not to quote.
I run a business (not gardening) and honestly if I find that someone is asking for more than three quotes I tend to not bother - unless it’s a huge contract.
You’ve said you feel like you’ve wasted your time doing plans photos etc - but surely you only did that once. Five out of the six (well ok three) will have wasted their time.

£8-12k for a small garden! You are being ripped off doing a lot!!!

I only stated the amount as I wanted to put across that it wasn’t a small job that they perhaps couldn’t be bothered to do.
As it happens we’ve gone with one of the lower quotes. Also I only got other quotes when some of the first ones didn’t come back to me. I wanted 3 quotes to compare and in order to get 3 I had to have 6 people quote!

We’ve gone with the £8000 quote but modified a LOT so it’s coming out around £6000.

As a trades man I have to admit i will visit a customer to sound them out
Luckily I don’t have to deal with the general public as I will only work for industrial customers as it’s just not worth the hassle
You get a feel for the customer and when you get the feeling that the deciding factor is price you don’t bother wasting your time quoting
You say you have invited 6 quotes that’s 5 people who have wasted time as only one can get the job
Any trademan that are any good won’t be working at the bottom of the pile house bashing as it’s a thankless no matter how good of a job you do you just get grief.
I have your exact problem trying to get my own jobs done at home no one is interested or the job is a bodge

Is this usual that out of 6 quotes only 50% bother to get back to you.

Yep.

Out of curiosity, what are you having done?

Is this usual that out of 6 quotes only 50% bother to get back to you.
This is my experience too. Frustrating.
I guess maybe they come and quote to see if the job is worth more than others they have in the pipeline. Then pick and choose their preferred job.
@Carolduckingbaskin can you explain your reasoning. Is it because you want to charge too much and don't like competition?

@themandalorian not at all! However for the job that I do - a proposal takes a good hour of my time - in fact more like two once you factor in initial calls etc. It’s normal for our customers to maybe get two or three quotes - those who want more are generally shopping around for the cheapest quote and are less worried about value (note I run a B2B service based business though).

However am sure a garden designer is probably similar - an hour visit, writing up a plan etc.

That said op has explained why she ended up with six- so fair enough!

We had a new bathroom fitted last year. First 2 plumbers came round measured up for quote but were busy and couldn’t do the work for a couple of months, which was fine with us as we wanted it done whilst we were away on holiday. We heard nothing.
A neighbour was having their bathroom refitted and we nabbed the trader, he came straight over and came back with a quote a few days later. He did the work whilst we were away, which he stated was easier for him, he even did some extra work without charge.

@MrsJoshNavidi 3 new fences, around 20m in total, garden is 10 x 5. A couple of areas of patio on different levels, some sleepers separating the areas, sleeper steps up the middle, a bit of Astro where the kids can play which is too boggy for turf.
Originally wanted much more elaborate, eg pergola seating area, bbq area etc but couldn’t afford the extras.

@Carolduckingbaskin so how does someone indicate that it's not all about the price without getting ripped off? Frankly I'm happy to go with the first person willing to do the work a lot of the time especially when I'm 3 months in, I only ask for a quote so that they think I'm shopping around and don't overcharge.

It's going to be lovely spotty. I hope it turns out as nice as it sounds.
FYI, if you want to save some money, or do a bit more yourselves, my DH, who is by no means experienced, bought a decking kit for about £200 last year and installed it himself. It only took about 3 weekends.

I asked semi jokingly if he thought he could do it, as we wanted to cover a boggy patch in a corner, and he said he'd give it a go. He looked it up on you tube.

We are both very pleased with the results.

It's the labour that costs, not the materials.

@AGoodDay as I say, my business it totally different - so I’d expect that people would ask about our experience, previous work, how we plan to help them etc.
@Garfa looks like he may be better places to answe the question when it comes to home improvement type stuff though.

@AGoodDay also it’s not so much asking about the price - it was the high number of quotes - but The op explained that she had to get more as the first ones didn’t respond.
As in - I won’t waste too much time on someone who is getting a quote from every Tom, Dick and Harry