I am clearly rubbish at dealing with tradesmen...

[LemonDrizzleCake11]

So, am due to have new central heating system installed next week. Plumber stated he needed 2x new electrical feeds to where new boiler will be, said (not in writing) his electrician could do this for under 200 pounds. Therefore (retrospectively foolishly) decided not to bother getting other quotes. His electrician was supposed to come round a fortnight before job started to quote; he cancelled at last minute, and came round tonight, 3 days before plumber due to start....

And promptly huffs and puffs a lot, makes statements about 'not wanting to endanger your children with unsafe electrics' and condemns circuit board. Which, to be fair, I couldn't really argue with.

But his manner, and insistance in talking in acroymns, made me suspicious so I phoned a friend of a friend for a rough quote on how much it should be... they felt around 450.

The huffing and puffing guy has now come back with a quote of 840 plus VAT for new circuit board, new earthing and 2x feeds to new boiler.

This seems like A LOT.

Does anyone have any experience on whether this is as overpriced as it feels?

Many thanks and sorry for ranting.

Trust your instincts, remain polite and be straight ( " i have had a better quote so will be using them"), but especially trust your instincts.

It isnot about you being bad with tradesmen, it isTHEM being bad for you.

I always have dealt with tradesmen in our house, and instinct is often right.

I also question the cost structure and ask them to break it down in parts and labour, ask the hourly labour rate etc. I do not apologise or worry about offending them, after all it is a business transactiob so I act "businesslike".

They will even respect you more, as long as you remain polite and reasonable you can really ask things like " that sounds very expensive to me, can you give me a breakdown on how you got to that amount." The honest bloke will give you a clear breakdown, explaining all costs. The scammer will pretend to be offended or hurt, or be vague, or try to make you feel at fault or suspicious.

Instinct, you know you gave it, use it!

I also question the cost structure and ask them to break it down in parts and labour, ask the hourly labour rate etc. I do not apologise or worry about offending them, after all it is a business transactiob so I act "businesslike".

They will even respect you more, as long as you remain polite and reasonable you can really ask things like " that sounds very expensive to me, can you give me a breakdown on how you got to that amount." The honest bloke will give you a clear breakdown, explaining all costs. The scammer will pretend to be offended or hurt, or be vague, or try to make you feel at fault or suspicious.

Instinct, you know you have it, use it!

Argh sorry for double post

Thank you. I think I'll just get a quote from another sparky and be more direct about what I'm (ballpark) expecting it to cost (friend sparky is not close enough to do job himself but has given me good estimate of time to complete and cost of parts).

Not sure theres much point in discussing with first one beyond simple 'thanks but no thanks' given that he is pretty much twice as expensive as I anticipated and I just didn't like him...

Thanks Parmarella, your tips will be useful as I continue on my oddessey of dealing with tradesmen...!

Practice makes perfect , have done an extension snd loft conversion AND new boiler in last 10 years

tradesmen tend to give a fixed price for the job, an hourly rate is a bad idea as they my drag their feet. My DH is a decorator and people want it for next to nothing and think he should work for £40 per day!!! and don't realise that a big tin of quality emulsion is £35.00. He is not even VAT registered so that saves the customer. find out yourself if you can source the parts as he may have marked them up