quotes

[nandodo]

esd for builders quotes? We gave 3 builders drawings 3 weeks ago and have heard nothing so far. is this the norm?

I thought they would be falling over themselves. I personally know my builder, he has done extensions for 2 friends so I know him through that.

We talked through what I wanted, artchitect came and drew up plans. I gave the builder the plans, he came back to my house the next day with the man who will be making the windows (there are issues about matching in new ones) and he quoted me there and then.

When I submitted my planning application I was inundated with builders mailshotting me, some of them were 50 mile away.

I am very surprised you are still waiting, is it a particularly complicated project?

I thought the same fizzy. we are doubling the size of our house so a big project but nothing fancy. I thought they would be fighting for the business but so far we have heard nothing back. we are a little perplexed - its probably 4 months work and in this economic climate not to be sniffed at.

It is the summer - quite possibly they are or have been on holiday for some of that time.

builders are builders. they like building, not doing quotes. so quotes are always at the bottom of the to do list. give them a ring and nudge and ask if they are interested in the job. they may be honest and say no. Did you have active conversations with them at the beginning of the process?

also dont be too concerned with domestic builders not falling over themselves. good builders are busy and work on word of mouth and are often booked up months in advance.

Ditto what HH says. I would call each team and ask "when can I expect your quote? We want to make a desicion by end of next week so if we could have it by end of day monday that would be great."

Yes 3 weeks is our norm, we run a groundworks company, with my husband working long hours, sitting down in the evenings phoneing around is no joke! Its hardwork, theres not many people who go to work all day and then work more in the evenings and weekends pricing up jobs!

These people arnt sitting around they are prob grafting bloody hard all day.

What annoys the hell out of me the hours and hours we put in pricing up jobs when we should be siping wine and watching eastenders only to be told that the job isnt going to happen or some cowboy has come in at half the price!!!!

Its worth a phone call to nudge them or ask whether they are interested as many good builders could be booked up for the next 6 months so really they have no intention to coming back to you. Some jobs are too small for some builders and the profit margin aint worth all the overheads.

Yep - with HH and Bacon. We run a small building company and are pretty booked up till beginning of next year.

Like Bacon says - give them a nudge. DP is dreadful...he gets so focused on the job he's on that by the time he gets back he really needs to be bashed into submission to do quotes! Oh to sip wine and watch Corrie (don't do Eastenders!)

Ask them if they think the job is something they would be interested in and have the time to fit in. You might find that by being upfront with them that some fall away leaving you the option of getting other people in to have a look. If they're good they'll be working damm hard!