AM I being conned

P

Pokerface

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I have been asked to price a cuplock stair access 30m high with a 2.5m long x 2.5m wide x 30m high loading bay (top lift only boarded) including 4 weeks hire to the side of a church tower

The main contractor tells me he has a price from a scaffolding company 120 miles away for £3,920

I thought my price of £4,820 was competetive

Am I being conned into reducing my price
 
There are some firms desperate for work, or have very low overheads and will undercut you, its up to you if you want to work for less than you think is a fair price
If you have plently of work on, call there bluff!
 
Maybe you are hiring the kit in and they have it sat in there yard, just a thought.
 
mate if you think your price is being compeditive then personally i wouldnt drop for them let them bring their firm from 12omiles away,like above call their bluff also mention on any emergency or eventuality your LOCAL and can respond to a callout in good time nothing like a good local service.
 
Sounds very cheap to me Pokerface ,30 meter high staircase and a 30 meter high loading bay , that defiantly aint to expensive , thats 15 x 2 meter lifts for under 5k , you sure you aint UNDER priced it. :worried:
 
At the risk of sounding like a NASC suit, have you allowed in your price for a drawing? You know, TG20 and all that? ;)

Joking aside, we recently priced a staircase only to 20m and we won it at £2900. Its only up for 4 weeks.
 
Pokerface
The crux of the matter is that it is your price for doing the job,if you are happy with the bottom line then your pricing job is done

wether the customer accepts the price or not is down to him

By all means talk up you being local and giving a good service but do not drop your price
 
Stick by your guns any price dropping will look like he's got his way. Said contractor will no doubt try it on every project afterwards if he's not happy with your quote then he knows what to do,
 
Yeh stick with ya price theres is to cheap , dont get me wrong we have done similar in the past to get gear out the yard
 
you can sit in the house and make nothing, why work for nothing. Stick to your own price, if you knock any off there is only one winner thats the client not you.
 
Tell em why

let the guy know that quality, service, safety make you the beter company and you are local reducing the carbon foot print and should he have further requirements you are on the spot for additions and extras

good luck with it
 
....... And it will still come down to price as you know
 
If you want to reduce it, tie it in with an agreement that you will let him deduct 5% providing he pays in full, within 30 days. But as all the others have stated stick to your price, main contractors will often get a cover price from a firm they deal with near them so that they can compare or check that you are not too high. The carbon footprint and being local for any "extras" or alterations should make them think twice about giving the contract to a firm 120 miles away!! good luck Pokerface
 
scaffy said:
....... And it will still come down to price as you know
Click to expand...

Same in the insurance world - we price our insurance, another broker offers half the cost with an unknown insurance company that would barely be able to cover any claims yet the bottom line wins.

Stick to your guns, as when the market changes you will be let to be rewarded with correct costings.
 
Would you be reffering to gable or quinn
 
scaffy said:
Would you be reffering to gable or quinn
Click to expand...

not in the slightest - we use/d both insurers and were comfortable in selling both. What we find is some brokers don't understand construction insurance and especially when it comes to high risk trades (scaffolding, roofing, demolition etc) they relay on basic information to obtain pricing, hence the reason why there can be substantial differences in cost but limited coverage to you - the scaffolder.

Just this week we had an underwriting insurance company pull out of the contracting sector, leaving alot of policyholders in run off. They were trading for two years and found the high risk market non profitable. They were competitive, but could not continue to trade due to large claim reserves.

Their policy was Lloyds backed and certainly covered all your needs - but whereas a long established insurer was pricing 25% above this, the customer would buy from the cheaper end. next year it will more than likely be the long established left.
 
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we welcome competition - it keeps us on our toes. the only problem is when the competition are in it for a quick buck then leave you without insurance or inflated renewals. I am sure you would remember back in 2002/3 when The Independent went bust and your renewal went up by 300% or more.
We dont want that to happen again, hence why advice and coverage is critical.
 
Yes i remember that , we had been with helm for a few years and our premium renewal went from 8k to 32k with no claims - needless to say went to another broker
 
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