Roofer charging for quote

[AllBoxedUp]

I was wondering how normal this was. The survey on the house we are buying said there were a couple of tiles lifted by birds nesting so I phoned a local company for a quote. They asked me to email the details and someone phoned me the next day to say it would be £100 + VAT for a quote. This would not be refundable but would be deducted from any work.

I'm hoping this is going to be a smallish job so it seemed excessive. We have since had a recommendation of a roofer so will probably go to him instead as we don't know the other company but I was just wondering how common this was. I do understand that the company needs to spend time doing quotes but I was actually thinking they could give a rough estimate without even visiting the property. I guess they must be a good company if they are doing this in a way as they must be busy but I don't like the idea of being tied in before you even know how much it will cost.

We had to pay but it was knocked off the actual bill. It would have been free if we owned the house. He did go on the roof, take pictures and write a report for that so seemed fair.

I've had quite a lot of work done to my house over the years and I've never heard of this. My immediate assumption is that he doesn't really want your job (too much work?)

I'm on the roof fence on this one. My DP is a builder and doesn't charge for quotes and will often spend hours putting together estimates for jobs. It also takes him time and petrol to go and look at the job - he doesn't like to give estimates without seeing the job as there are often things that the customer don't realise will need doing, measurements etc. This time, DP doesn't get paid for and eats into time that he could be working and earning money, or his evenings/weekends as the appointments are set to the customers convenience. He of course does, factor this into the estimate but does not charge for estimates and visits. Based on the fact that people are advised to get three quotes, statistically he is only going to secure a third of the work that he quotes for.

Lots of companies do refundable "deposits" for estimates, which a) encourages the client to use them (although i suspect they would simply add the £100 to the price and then take it off again) b) to cover themselves against time wasters. (you are clearly not a time waster as your work needs doing, but you would be surprised how many times DP has been asked to price for non-essential works by people who "just want to get a feel for if they can afford it and have no real intention on having the work done - its very frustrating) . DP works for himself and doesn't employ someone to do estimates etc (apart from me!) but bigger companies will have to pay their staff to go out and do estimates, write them up etc.

The worst one I had was "we'll have to put scaffolding up to look at it before we can quote. That'll be £1000". They were the "trusted" local builder. Needless to say they were ejected from the premises!

Went with a one man band who did a good job in the end but I had to check his work to make sure everything was done. Hasn't leaked for a decade now

Well my DH is a roofer and he would never charge for a quote on a job this small.

He has done a couple of inspection reports for buyers recently, through a local EA, and charged a fee for those. Thats because they are only really used by the buyer to knock down the price and not because they ever actually plan on getting the work done. One of them did come back recently though and he knocked the inspection price off the final cost.

There are an awful lot of time wasting customers these days, and it does get frustrating sometimes when they get an estimate from a proper qualified, experienced, locally recommended tradesperson, and then use that detailed quote to hand to the local Romania cowboy who does the job for them for less as they are using crappy materials and illegal labour! So I can understand companies in a way charging for estimates to deter timewasters who they know full well won't offer them the work!

A good tradesman is always busy (here in London anyways),

What is wrong with getting a quote to see if you can afford it? Sounds very reasonable to me!

Thanks for the replies. I did wonder if they were only charging because we have not completed yet but DH didn't think that was the case. I had seen them recommended on a local website and our seller had used them previously so that's why I went to them first. We probably would have just got them to do the work if it had been a reasonable quote. Our budgets are pretty tight though so I don't to pay £120 and be told that the whole roof needs redoing and then lose that money if we get a second opinion and go with someone else.

If it works for them as a business then that's fine but I was curious how common it was.

Suzie, it is reasonable if you are upfront about this and are looking for a "ballpark" figure. I assume you don't go to work for no money? Preparing quotes takes time and whilst you accept that you wont get all the work you quote for, its nice to think that people actually have the intention of getting the work done in the forseeable future.

I am a lawyer and spend quite a bit of time on quotes. This can sometimes extend to being interviewed by the prospective clients at their offices or preparing a tender document. I wouldn't dream of charging for that work. I think it's outrageous that a roofer or builder should charge for quoting. We had three quotes for roofing work done recently and none charged us for the quotes. I think you should use someone else.

Allboxedup - i would be very dubious if they told you the whole roof needed doing as this surely should have come up on the survey. I think you have done the right thing though, going with a recommended builder. My DP doesn't advertise and always has work, all through recommendations.

I don't work at the moment but the company I used to work for had a massive Presales department who would spend a huge amount of time working with prospective customers to help them decide whether the product suited their business and budget. They didn't charge if the 'customer' took their business elsewhere.

Unheard of! Quoting without charging is just one of the 'hidden' costs of any kind of freelance or self-employed work: you build the cost of this time into your hourly rate for the work that is chargeable, just as you build in a fraction for holidays and/or sickness.

I'd never pay for a quotation, and I don't know anyone who has - or who'd dare to try it, either! Imo, this company either doesn't want your work, or will be out of business within a year or two!

Outrageous !! Find another roofer !! Checkatrade is a good place to look !
Best of luck with it all ! :-)

I suspect its maybe because its not your house yet. They probably get lots of people wanting them to quote for various things on houses they're thinking of buying, a high percentage of those wont turn into jobs.

I've paid for quotes from fireplace people in the past, but that's because it takes them a good hour to get to us, and both would deduct it from the final bill. Not had to pay for quotes from builders though.

I don’t charge quotes but it sure would filter out a group of clientele that’s not suited to your business process

You need to get out more

Thats because they are only really used by the buyer to knock down the price and not because they ever actually plan on getting the work done.

Yes, I'd say that's it. Why should a roofer give his time without payment to benefit buyers who want to use his quote to blackmail sellers?

As one would assume you do too, seeing as you're commenting on a post that's over 11 years old!