Looking to have a tube and tile replaced.

Magnumst · Jan 17, 2016

As a consumer I can understand the wanting to save money. Believe me, Im as cheap as they come which is why I try to do all my own work (home and cars). But as a business owner I can not afford to put my company in a position to loose money because the customer wants to save a few dollars on their end.

Pinecone · Jan 18, 2016

Also, contractors get discounts on materials. So even if they mark them up, they may charge less or the same as you buying.

Basically, when estimating, they add up all their costs, and add profit to that. So they don't exactly mark up materials, they need to make X per day of a crew.

I am having a bathroom done, and most of the materials are actually being paid for directly by me. To the suppliers. At a discount.

Don H · Jan 18, 2016

Pinecone said:
Also, contractors get discounts on materials. So even if they mark them up, they may charge less or the same as you buying.

Basically, when estimating, they add up all their costs, and add profit to that. So they don't exactly mark up materials, they need to make X per day of a crew.

I am having a bathroom done, and most of the materials are actually being paid for directly by me. To the suppliers. At a discount.

So who pays for the contractor's time when your new tub that you bought from your supplier at a discount has a crack in it and has to go back causing the entire job to be held up?

Or how about this one; homeowner wants siding on their house but thinks they can save money so they buy it themselves and have it delivered to the site. Contractors start to install siding, homeowners goes off work for the day. When they come home almost half the house is sided but now they don't like the color. Seems the sample they looked at at the big box store they bought it from wasn't exactly the color of the siding they got. This happened to me and the customers couldn't understand why I charged them to remove the siding they now didn't like.

Pinecone · Jan 18, 2016

Don H said:
So who pays for the contractor's time when your new tub that you bought from your supplier at a discount has a crack in it and has to go back causing the entire job to be held up?

Or how about this one; homeowner wants siding on their house but thinks they can save money so they buy it themselves and have it delivered to the site. Contractors start to install siding, homeowners goes off work for the day. When they come home almost half the house is sided but now they don't like the color. Seems the sample they looked at at the big box store they bought it from wasn't exactly the color of the siding they got. This happened to me and the customers couldn't understand why I charged them to remove the siding they now didn't like.

Why did you quote me???????

I agree with you.

In my case, the contractor is responsible for working with the supplier to make things right. But for many of the items, I went to the store, picked what I wanted, and they will pay for certain things in the contract, and others I pay for. But they treat it as if they supplied everything.

And yes, I could have saved some money by going to a big box store, and they are even happy to do this, for SOME things.

Don H · Jan 18, 2016

"I am having a bathroom done, and most of the materials are actually being paid for directly by me. To the suppliers. At a discount."

You're buying the materials for your bathroom remodel that's being done by the contractor you hired. That's cool, no problem as long as everyone agrees. The contractor saves time because he doesn't have to go buy and deliver materials, lay money out in advance for them, chase items down between several stores and deal with no help from the Big Box sales people when he can't find what he needs. It all takes time and time is money. And if he's like most of the small contractors I know he's not getting a discount.

But if there's a problem with an item (wrong size, wrong color, missing pieces, broken parts etc) there's a cost incurred by the contractor.

Just last week I drove 20 miles to install a kitchen sink faucet in a rental unit. The homeowner supplied the faucet. Unfortunately the faucet was for a 1 hole sink but the sink had 3 holes. I couldn't install the faucet so left the job. Good thing I looked at the new faucet before yanking the old one. I had to go back 3 days later to do the job again. Two trips, 2 hours labor, 80 miles driving, for $75.

Magnumst · Jan 18, 2016

Don H said:
So who pays for the contractor's time when your new tub that you bought from your supplier at a discount has a crack in it and has to go back causing the entire job to be held up?

Or how about this one; homeowner wants siding on their house but thinks they can save money so they buy it themselves and have it delivered to the site. Contractors start to install siding, homeowners goes off work for the day. When they come home almost half the house is sided but now they don't like the color. Seems the sample they looked at at the big box store they bought it from wasn't exactly the color of the siding they got. This happened to me and the customers couldn't understand why I charged them to remove the siding they now didn't like.

Most times I give the customer an allowance for them to work with. They can go pick out the fixture directly form the supplier. Most of my suppliers know how I work and know that the customer is coming and the allowances.

Magnumst · Jan 18, 2016

Just last week I drove 20 miles to install a kitchen sink faucet in a rental unit. The homeowner supplied the faucet. Unfortunately the faucet was for a 1 hole sink but the sink had 3 holes. I couldn't install the faucet so left the job. Good thing I looked at the new faucet before yanking the old one. I had to go back 3 days later to do the job again. Two trips, 2 hours labor, 80 miles driving, for $75.[/QUOTE]

In this case the customer knows before hand that there will be a trip charge if the product they supplied will not work or needs me to run for additional parts. Its just the cost of doing business when the customer wants to supply their own material to save money.

t84a · Jan 18, 2016

I would have installed it and let them deal with the extra holes. :lol:

Don H · Jan 18, 2016

t84a said:
I would have installed it and let them deal with the extra holes.

They would have raised Holy Hell!

In that case I ended up eating the lost time. They're good customers who give me lots of business. Sometimes you gotta bite the bullet.

NatBoh · Jan 19, 2016

Magnumst said:
Most times I give the customer an allowance for them to work with. They can go pick out the fixture directly form the supplier. Most of my suppliers know how I work and know that the customer is coming and the allowances.

This is what I do. I don't do any markup on materials, I make my profit from the labor. This way the homeowner is free to choose materials from any source they wish, subject to my consultation and approval.

This model serves me pretty well, and the homeowner appreciates being able to have a wider choice of sources to choose their materials from.

Shemp · Jan 19, 2016

NatBoh said:
This is what I do. I don't do any markup on materials, I make my profit from the labor. This way the homeowner is free to choose materials from any source they wish, subject to my consultation and approval.

This model serves me pretty well, and the homeowner appreciates being able to have a wider choice of sources to choose their materials from.

I do the same. I will give them an allowance but will give them sizes and amounts needed. I've been doing this way too long to let them say I think I have everything you need.

Pinecone · Jan 20, 2016

Don H said:
That's cool, no problem as long as everyone agrees. The contractor saves time because he doesn't have to go buy and deliver materials, lay money out in advance for them, chase items down between several stores and deal with no help from the Big Box sales people when he can't find what he needs. It all takes time and time is money. And if he's like most of the small contractors I know he's not getting a discount.

But if there's a problem with an item (wrong size, wrong color, missing pieces, broken parts etc) there's a cost incurred by the contractor.

Just last week I drove 20 miles to install a kitchen sink faucet in a rental unit. The homeowner supplied the faucet. Unfortunately the faucet was for a 1 hole sink but the sink had 3 holes. I couldn't install the faucet so left the job. Good thing I looked at the new faucet before yanking the old one. I had to go back 3 days later to do the job again. Two trips, 2 hours labor, 80 miles driving, for $75.

Well, they supply the services of an interior designer to go along when shopping to make sure that what you pick will actually look good. They handle paying the suppliers (some cost built into the contract, others I supply credit card). No idea who does delivery.

But in case of problems with the materials, they handle getting things fixed.

And YES, they do get a discount. On the fixtures, some 20% below the normal price, over 30% off the MSRP. The tile place they use, gives them 30% off.

And they are not such a small contractor.

And with the job of yours, he probably supplied a low end box store product, and will want you to come fix it (for FREE) when it does not work right.

Pinecone · Jan 20, 2016

NatBoh said:
This is what I do. I don't do any markup on materials, I make my profit from the labor. This way the homeowner is free to choose materials from any source they wish, subject to my consultation and approval.

This model serves me pretty well, and the homeowner appreciates being able to have a wider choice of sources to choose their materials from.

This is basically how my contractor works.

They have preferred suppliers, some due to the discounts.

And they supplied an estimated cost for materials, and I am free to go above or below. But when picking things, they keep track of how I am doing on budget, and tell me if I am over or under, so I do not get a nasty surprise at the end.

Pinecone · Jan 20, 2016

Shemp said:
I do the same. I will give them an allowance but will give them sizes and amounts needed. I've been doing this way too long to let them say I think I have everything you need.

In my case, someone went along and THEY figured out the amounts needed with the supplier. I only picked what I wanted.

jeffie7 · Jan 22, 2016

I don't mind paying someone to do a job, but I do mind when they quote me crazy prices.
I was debating doing my tubE job and hiring someone just to help removing the tub and installing it since I didn't want to do that myself, one of the companies quoted me a price for the whole job I thought was very reasonable. so I had no problem letting them do the full job.

Looking to have a tube and tile replaced.

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