Haggling with contractors

[Soundbathfan]

Do you haggle when getting quotes from contractors? We have someone doing our drive soon. Hubby just accepts quotes where I am more keen to haggle!

Don’t haggle. But do get several quotes and make sure they are comparable. Good trades will walk away if they think you’re trying to haggle for the sake of it but fine to change the spec if you want to save £.

Good luck with that. Where we live, we are currently looking at end of July to get our front lawn paved over, we accepted the quote 6 weeks ago. The guy is highly recommended. We’ve just had a porch built, we were happy to pay the price quoted, again we waited a long time for this builder. My DH is a plumber and usually told people when he quoted, that’s the price take it or leave it, he was never out of work in over 30 years being self employed.

I was coming on to say similar. I wouldn't mess about haggling with the price. If you don't want to pay then there are plenty of others who will take your place.

Dh's company is booked up till August. Most sought after contractors will be booking a good 6 weeks ahead this time of year. Don't haggle as such but ask each for their best price. Don't necessarily go for the cheapest either, there will be a reason that the cheapest is so cheap. Ask about insurance, warranty of sorts, aftercare and spec.

We're also in the midst of some home improvements and it's been quite the journey! We recently got a quote for redoing our kitchen, and the wait time was just as long. We've found that using construction estimating software has been super helpful in comparing quotes and getting a sense of what's fair. It really helps when you’re trying to navigate the whole Construction Quotes process without feeling overwhelmed. My brother is a contractor, and he's always said that being upfront about prices and timelines is key. Much like your DH, he sticks to his quotes and is always in demand.

I wouldn't haggle around here - it's hard enough to get builders to quote, so wouldn't want to put one off we'd got a quote in from. It's a good thing to get 2-3 quotes though, from the point of view of getting the right person for the job and hopefully the right person is one of the cheaper quotes - if not, you decide what's most important.

Why would you haggle? It's not a pair of secondhand trainers at a car boot, it's someone's skill.

Definitely get a few quotes to compare, but if I tried to haggle with a contractor I'd expect to be ghosted sharpish.

No, you don't haggle. Haggling is something you do at a jumble sale or car boot sale or a dodgy car salesman in a dodgy back street garage! You certainly don't "haggle" with professionals!

What you can do is negotiate with different options, i.e. ask for a price for a lesser quality product, or a reduced scope of work, etc.

But ultimately, it's more a matter of getting at least 3 quotes (like for like of course) and choosing the "best fit" for you, in terms not only of price, but of timescales, your perception of the firm (are they trustworthy/reliable etc), etc.

No way.

The only haggling you'll find over trades is when blokes come to your door offering to jetwash your driveway or similar. You say 'no thanks' and then they'll start the haggling. I don't advise taking them up on their offers...