Paying to get a quote from Handyman

[ClaymationHeartsStillBeat]

Is it normal to have to pay for someone to come out and quote for a job? If so how much do you get charged??

I’ve paid for some quotes, but I’ve always gotten something specific in return. Like when we bought a storm door and we decided to get the measurements done professionally, they charged for that, but we got the measurements to keep and if we ended up buying a door from them, it went towards the installation price. They get accurate measurements which saves a headache all around, but avoid getting used by people who just want to order online.

Or when we had a plumbing problem , but we weren’t quite sure what was wrong. We got charged for a service call only for the plumber to basically tell us the problem was much bigger than a plumber could handle and we would need a contractor. Thankfully we were able to confirm that opinion with some phone calls.

And for that remodel, we didn’t pay for quotes, but we did pay a hefty deposit. The contractor bought all the materials and delivered them to our home before starting the job including the very expensive fixtures. Our deposit didn’t even cover what the company was out of pocket. It was part of why we chose them because they don’t start a job unless they have all the expected materials so there are no supply delays mid work.

No, you never pay for a quote.

In all honesty I would prefer to pay for a quote. If I'm paying for a tradesperson to go to the efforts to give me me a precise quote - then I expect to pay not a penny more at the end of the job. No quibbles. If I get a 'free' quote, it's going to be either priced cheap to win the job or done without much care as the tradesperson doesn't know if I'm a time waster. Either way - I could end up paying 10-20% more on cost overrun or when they decide to factor in something they didn't originally factor at start of job. Free quotes are a false economy a lot of the time. It feels like it's just to get you in the door.

Quotes are part of the job. It's perfectly common go get 3 or 4 quotes before deciding on a company, you'd be paying £120 on quotes alone in that case!

@SamphiretheStickerist

At the moment there is so much work being asked for that many trades are inundated with requests for quotes.

Quite a few have reverted to the old 'call out charge' to cover their time, petrol etc.

Our neighbour is a proper carpenter. He got sick and tired of going, giving a quote and getting the 😯 reaction from someone who expected to pay twenty quid for 'knocking some shelves together'. So now he too charges for his first visit, the chat that leads to a quote.

People have no idea how much carpentry actually costs do they

No. Tell them to get lost.

I’ve not no

But maybe you could Agree to deduct it off cost if they do the work

if it’s particularly complex / time consuming like

Booper42 Then they should build that cost into the quote. No way would i employ any tradesman who asked for a fee for a quote.

If he goes around all day doing that, quoting ridiculously high so he doesn't get the work and then charging each customer for the privilege of coming out to do the quote, well... he doesn't have to do any actual work at all.

What a cheek.

Whenever tradespeople have come here to quote for something, they have either popped in at the end of their working day, or when they were passing between other jobs. I have never paid for a quote.

Never.