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Quoting for work

I would be interested to know how others go about writing up quotes for work.I put a lot of time and effort into preparing a quote so that the price you see is the price you pay.I have always given a breakdown of materials labour and vat, (I know you have to show the vat separately when invoicing), but I'm wondering wether I am complicating things. I know I like to see a breakdown of the price if I have any work done but are most people only interested in the final price they will pay.I have lost a job to another company recently where they had quoted in round figures to the nearest £1000. It gave me the impression they had plucked a figure out of the air with little effort, even if this was not the case.I would be interested to hear your opinions.

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  • I just came on here to get a break from doing a complicated quote! I've had the same situation where I have seen competitors quotes and they have a lot less detail than mine. I've always included the detail, initially because I carried this over from my previous career but now I continue to do so as I think transparency is always a good thing for the client.

    I've had positive comments about this in the past with clients who like to see the workings out to some degree as it reassures them that you have actually put thought into the quote. And for the more savvy clients they can recognise that things will be done properly.

    I always try and lay the quotes out clearly and with a summary at the end so those who don't want the detail can skip to the juicy bit.
  • I'm with you on that one nick. I always break my quotes down into materials and labour, even if i'm doing a quote for a maintenance job I tend to break it down into labour, cost of removing green waste etc.

    I Find it gives the customer some idea of whats involved and they can clearly see the costs at each stage.
  • I have never split my quote into materials and labour and was only once asked to. I gave an itemised specification detailing the work to be done with a price for each item with subtotal vat and total at the bottom...I want to avoid clients nitpicking over detail.
  • Susan Gallagher said:
    I have never split my quote into materials and labour and was only once asked to. I gave an itemised specification detailing the work to be done with a price for each item with subtotal vat and total at the bottom...I want to avoid clients nitpicking over detail.

    How much scope do you find this gives you to get more funds from the client if the project runs on or if the material estimate increases as the project developes?
  • I try very hard to work with customers during the initial stages to better understand what they want and to build as much trust as possible given that they want to achieve certain work within a given budget. So I tend to use a time and materials basis then ask what their budget is.
    If they won't tell me or don't have one I tend to respectfully decline.
    If they do tell me, I take it as a sign that they trust me to work to the agreed specification rather than the last penny they have.
    I do tend to introduce a contingency sum to cover the "unforseen", if nothing occurs which falls into this category then the client obviously isn't charged but if it does they are prepared.
    I used to do long detailed quotes which took a lot of my time and tended to encourage prospective customers to discuss detail, which they could then use to barter with my competitors, without placing an order.

    That's just my view and I appreciate there are many other options.
    HTH
    Bernard
  • It is well worth working out all the detail in a quote for the following reasons:

    1) You are not going to lose money on something you have missed
    2) You are going to have the answers to the potential clients questions
    3) If the client say he/she wants a fixed price you will know weather you are going to be safe on the price
    4) You will look far more professional that the 'wet finger in the air' crowd
    5) If you don't win the job you still have a lot of useful info that will make the next quote easier
    6) You may still get a recommendation due to your professional approach

    From your experiance weigh up the rough value and profit in your head and then decide how much you want to put into it.
  • At my present and previous firm we use a software pakage called LiberRate. It's designed specifically for landscaping/maintenance.
    It breaks the costing into 4 major parts, Materials, Labour, Plant and sub-contract.
    You enter the details into these sections for each element of work and it will produce a bill of quantities.
    You can enter mark up rate for each part, plus and a mak up for overheads.

    The final bill will be marked up and ready to present to the client.
    As each element is separated it will also produce reports on the jobs, from item details, listing all the elements in a job to collated materials, making ordering easier.
    It also has libraries for your jobs, elements or individual materials, which means you can shortcut them into a new quote quickly.

    It's not the cheapest software but very useful. There is a free trial available and Sam Hassell who developed the software is very helpful. He also has a spreadsheet on his site to calculate you labour costs. It's similar to Philip's but designed to include more overheads such as accountants, MD's etc.

  • Nicky I give a price and do the job for the price quoted. I have in my quote a note that makes it clear that if any unforeseen circumstances appear (eg bedrock!0 then we will negotiate an additional sum. Its a clients nightmare to ahve projects run over budget, and so I guarantee a fixed cost. Is this unusual?!
  • When i started out i sent out detailed quotes which included material cost and specifications of the work to be undertaken, but found that it wasnt getting the work so I changed to a final figure quote with a specification of the work carried out so the client can see exactly what work you are charging for and it stops any queries when the client asks for extras and you ask for more money because it wasnt quoted for.
  • HI Susan, i always give fixed price. My impressions from customers is that they want a clear payment structure knowing exactly what they can afford. also its very easy to upsell from a fixed price if the client knows that there is a bit left in the pot whereas an estimate..the client is reluctant to increase costs because final figures are still in the air.
    Dont get me wrong personally id love to give estimates then id never squeeze my profit margins.
    personally i give quotations as labour, materials, vat at least customers can see where there money is going. but tell me do you give your labour price as whole for the job or per sqr mtr with a total?
    i can never get the balance right....i suppose i tailor them to whoever im quoting.
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