For making use of Free Quotes

[987654321abc]

Booked an appointment with a company to get a price for replacing windows and doors. Salesman came, gave us a price that we simply can’t afford right now, so we said we appreciated his time and it’s something we’ll have to save up a bit longer for.

He was polite, but clearly unhappy and pissed off. I get it, it felt like a waste of time for him. We’ve had a few tradesman quoting for various things recently and I wondered, how am I meant to find out how much things are going to cost without “wasting someone’s time?” Is there a way?

I hate upsetting people but equally I don’t like being made to feel bad for not just immediately saying yes take my money.

So, am I being unreasonable for asking for quotes from people in order to get an idea of costings, when I know that I probably won’t be able to afford it immediately?

No, of course not.

If you have any sense you'll be getting at least 3 different quotes for any work done anyway, so that you can compare between tradesmen. It's perfectly normal and part of their cost of sales.

And of course they don't like it cos they want the commission (if they're sales as opposed to a small outfit where the worker himself gives the quote). But that's the job.

Quotes only tend to be valid for 3-6 months though, so if you have no intentions for a while, and literally just want a rough estimate on pricing, you can do that with a phonecall or email, and get your comparison quotes which are more personalised to your situation once you've saved up.

It sounds like you have no intention of having the work done in the near future, so yes YABU.

Rough prices for building work can be googled.

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. Also, the price is very likely to change within weeks/months due to changes in prices of materials so it's pointless for everyone.

Haha I knew the builders spouses would come for me 🤦‍♀️
I do understand how frustrating it must be. I guess what I don’t understand is how to get a ball park figure in the first place, before getting the quote, so that I don’t waste time?

As an example, one job we need done is extending our driveway, removing a sloping ground level flower bed and levelling it, removing a large crescent shaped raised bed, and fixing the steps that are on the other side of it. Other than roughly measuring the square footage of it, and googling how much paving slabs cost, am I really supposed to google things like how much sand and cement is needed for the pointing? How many tonnes of soil needs to be removed, what machinery is required, and how much the hire is? How many days this job will take, how many workers would be needed and what each of their hourly rate is? I really want this job done asap, and have saved a couple of grand. Got quoted £8 grand so had to say sorry can’t do that anytime soon. Am I just supposed to have a a five figure pot of cash ready to go? I’m genuinely puzzled.

I don't think anyone has 'come for you'. They are just answering your question

Be honest.

“We aren’t sure of the price, if I email you pictures and details could you give me a ball park figure so we know if it’s in budget and we won’t waste your time coming out to us.”

Ask for an estimate so you have a ball park figure.

I think using a bit of common sense as well..... I don't even own a house and I know that all that work you listed would cost more than £2k!

Some tradesmen now charge for quotes to save their time being wasted on errrr timewasters like yourself.

That’s perfect, thank you - I will do this next time

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 🤔

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.

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.

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/

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?

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.

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

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?

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. 🤷‍♀️

"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. * *

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.

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?!

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.

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.

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?

Thanks for your responses everyone.

Living in a bit of a ramshackle house, getting through the odd jobs now and then but it’s hard to know which order to do things in, hence getting quotes for different jobs! I appreciate my approach might sound inconsiderate to the tradespeople, and I will start asking if they can provide a ball park figure before they visit, to try and avoid time wasting. However I stand by my argument that google doesn’t help much! Trust me I have tried regarding the driveway, and came across the very same article as the one shared above. Unless you’re dealing with a flat, perfectly rectangular garden, it’s really hard to work out. (Additionally, we had a paved area treble the size of the driveway area cleared, levelled and turfed for £1700 last year, so didn’t think £2-£3k was that far off the mark!)

Appreciate the comments though, thank you!

Also just a reminder to maintain a bit of perspective and sense of humour when on Mumsnet, and don’t get yourself all wound up over minuscule issues like someone else’s driveway haha ✌️