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But ive just had a quote accepted of almost £16000 for a series of raised terraces
financing was a issue so I've agreed stage payments with the client 25 % prior to commencement as a deposit then a 50 % payment and the final 25 % on completion
I've carefully planned the works and material deliveries to fall in line with the funds avaliable I've also subbed out elements of the work mainly the foundations ( machine work ) and brickwork to achieve the programme dates and ease my workload on labour only
I've also took on a labourer for the duration
the figures stack up and it helps with my cashflow
hopefully all goes well
i was upfront with the client from the start with regard to issues financing the project
they had no problems with the stage payments
I really didn't know how to go about it. I'm writing the quote out now. But he's near enough said as long as I can do it for under 6 grand the jobs mine. He already has most of the materials bricks etc. Its just a matter of buying in sand and cement and hiring in a breaker maybe a few more bricks just to finish off. Oh and skips to get rid of rubbish.
Gary is spot on about stage payments. I work on either 2 or 3 equal payments. It's standard practice.
It's a personal choice but it doesn't sound like your area of expertise so be mindful of the learning curve you'll probably go through and working to his budget is not the way to run a business. Price it as accurately as you can. If it is over £6k then it's over £6k
Sorry to be blunt. For what it's worth I did what you did for far too long but I wouldn't change a thing. It's how I learnt.
Good luck in whatever you do and let us know how it goes.
Regards neil
If you only do maintenance and have little or no experience of hard landscaping I would pass on the job.
Have you got a builder in to quote for the walls ect?
Why is the client so keen to give you the work?
Will you be letting down long standing customers to make a quick buck?
I have a couple of different landscapers that I recommend for work like this and in return they pass me work. This has led to some good profitable work for all parties concerned.
It also lets the client see that you are putting their interests first and keeps the work within your circle.
I'm in Reading Berkshire.
If guys that do it day in day out won't take it on how do you propose to do it and make money.
Jason, that would start sounding alarms bells to me....have you done a prelim project plan to see how this pans out time wise?
You could end up between a rock and a hard place with a 'demanding' client if it looks like you'll overrun...then you'll be putting off existing clients / contracts...followed by issues with payments..
For your first hard landscaping job chose one with straightforward access and perhaps a smaller budget.
This sounds like a very easy way to get under masses of pressure and potentially be knocking your pan in for very little reward.
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