If you quote, it was accepted, then the job was quicker than planned, would you reduce the invoice?

[majordan]

I am trying to generate more money into the business, I have always had good/low prices, but I am always busy with a lot of work to make an average salary because of it!

I quoted a job, few hundred pounds based on 8 hours, but when I did it, I did it in half the time I thought I would when I quoted.

When that happens I often wonder if I should reduce the accepted quote to match the time. I feel bad charging more than I should, but then again it was accepted.

They are mostly regular customers not one offs, so I like to look after them, I like to maintain a good reputation.

 

[Mark T Jones]

If you quoted for a job and have completed the job to a good standard then the quote stands.

if you overturn quoted based on time then you should adjust it for time taken.

 

[Socio South West]

At the other end of the scale... If the job over runs, and takes way longer than estimated can you put in another bill? No.. The price is the price.... but I am sure you can find something extra you can do or enhance to keep your good customers sweet

They don't have to accept your quotation, but in accepting it they agree to pay your price for the job. Get the money in the bank to offset against others where you don't do as well.

As Sugar once said on the Apprentice, 'The only 'fair' you get around here is your bus fare home'

 

[mattk]

Alan Weiss (author of Million Dollar Consulting) says payment by the hour/day should be illegal, as it is counter to providing a timely service. Therefore you should charge for the delivery of a service.

In which case, your ability to finish a job sooner shouldn't result in you charging less.

 

[BusterBloodvessel]

If people accept a quote then they're happy to pay that amount for a job to be completed. If that job takes you 8 hours or 80 hours is of irrelevance, you have achieved the result they wanted and were happy to pay for.

Plus, I don't actually know what your line of work is but I would imagine that it's not like you can go and pick some more work up to compensate at the drop of a hat. E.g. say you expect the job to take a full day so you quote £300. If you finish at lunchtime so only charge them £200, you can't just go out that afternoon and find a £100 job to make up the difference...

 

[Abbyboo92]

You quote for the job, not for the hours

 

[Abbyboo92]

Next time you get a customer say the quote is for the job and you expect the work to take approximately 8 hours

 

[DavidWH]

When we quote we estimate the time it'll take, but give the customer a price for the job overall. You'll get some customers who question why it'll take X hours to do Y. They dont need to know how long.

As above, it might take 5hrs, but what can you realistically do the rest of the day?

I am always busy with a lot of work to make an average salary because of it!

ever heard of a busy fool? Could you Increase prices, do less work for the same, or more money?

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

You could register as a charity or non profit organisation if you keep coming up with ideas on how to reduce revenue

 

[Alison Moore]

I guess it depends if they know it took you half the time? If you're working at their location and know it only took you 4 hours then it's going to be difficult to charge the full 8, but if they don't know how long it took, then definitely charge the full 8 hours. If you'd underestimated and it took 12 hours instead, I doubt they'd pay you for 12 hours as you'd only quoted for 8. Some you win, some you lose. That's just business.

 

[LeasingEval]

I think it all depends on the service you are providing and if your time is the main component of the bill or not. e.g. if you were re-roofing my house and said it would take 3 weeks, but you finished it in 2 and half weeks then so long as the work was to standard then I would be chuffed and happy to pay the full price.

On the other hand, if you came to clean my house and charged me for 4 hours but finished after 2 hours then I would feel a little cheated.

 

[LeasingEval]

When I had a boiler fitted a couple of years ago, the guy told me it would be a full days work and priced accordingly. As it turned out, he arrived at 8am and left just after mid-day.

When I needed 4k of bathroom fitting work done, I called someone else instead.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Why on earth would you show the customer the estimated hours it will take ,most will just quote something like
To paint front room including ceiling walls and woodwork at £400
To Paint hall including ceiling walls and woodwork at £600

Total to pay £1000

There is no need to include labour costs

 

[LeasingEval]

Because when getting a quote, the cutomer wants to know 3 main things :-

1) How much will it coat
2) How long will it take
3) when would you be able to do it

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Why on earth would you show the customer the estimated hours it will take ,most will just quote something like
To paint front room including ceiling walls and woodwork at £400
To Paint hall including ceiling walls and woodwork at £600

Total to pay £1000

There is no need to include labour costs

I have to agree with Chris You quote a price If you are even going to get in the area of talking about price for time Then I understand that some of the supermarkets are now recruiting !
It maybe the time of year but there are a few people coming on here at the moment that are just out to mug themselves !

You are in business here !

 

[GlennP]

I used to work providing IT support and training. I charged a fixed fee of £450 plus expenses for support calls irrespective of the time taken. My rationality being that I didn't know what the problem might be but I never received any complaints in respect of my charges. I guaranteed a fix or no charge. The majority of the work was finished in a couple of hours although I did have a significant number of jobs that were completed within 15 minutes. In five years, I had one job that took two days to complete.

I never received any complaints about my charges and did receive many recommendations, I believe if you are upfront with your charging structure, people appreciate it.

 

[tony84]

I am not against doing this, but you also need to weigh it up against the jobs that over run.

I have ended up reducing our prices a handful of times over 8-9 years.
If I could, I would have increased our price on easily 3 times that amount over the years.

I would not make a habit of reducing prices but if you have a particularly good customer and it came in well under than I would maybe give something back but not the full 50% you "overcharged" (for want of a better word) by. Those where you win help to pay for the ones where you lost on time quoted/expected.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Because when getting a quote, the cutomer wants to know 3 main things :-

1) How much will it coat
2) How long will it take
3) when would you be able to do it

If it's painting and decorating they don't want to know how long it took to survey the job, prepare the estimate, source and pick up the materials so add that at number 4

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

I've sold stuff at full price on a Friday that has gone on offer on the Monday, and refunded the difference. I've refunded the difference in actual and charged delivery costs when a customer has had to add a couple more bits to an order.

Why? Because the small sums of money involved pale into insignificance when weighed up against things like advertising for new customers. I'd rather keep the ones we've got.

 

[Onthebrightside]

If people accept a quote then they're happy to pay that amount for a job to be completed. If that job takes you 8 hours or 80 hours is of irrelevance, you have achieved the result they wanted and were happy to pay for.

They won't be expecting you to reduce the quote and if you do they may expect the same on future work.

I sense that you wish to treat your customer well and in your mind you have not. If they are repeat customers why not offer them a discount on their next project with you of say 5 or 10 percent? That way you feel like you are giving your customers something back and hopefully get some repeat custom from them.

 

[RobinBHM]

When that happens I often wonder if I should reduce the accepted quote to match the time. I feel bad charging more than I should, but then again it was accepted

All that matters is that you provide a service a at price your customers are happy to pay.

If you get repeat business and your prices are competitive, it doesnt matter how long it takes, as long as you can complete the work within the number of hours you allocated for in the labour cost.

If you finish quicker, then thats good for you -your experience means you are good at your job.

Never ever tell customers how long you expect to take

 

[Higgsy]

Quote for a service not the time. It’s your business, I decided a long while ago, that if We will charge the price that I feel the business and business experience is worth.
If the client isn’t willing to pay and the work is at the standards you set, then I would focus your effort on finding clients you really want.

 

[CVRO]

To the OP: Just google "Picasso principle" and you will feel better about not adjusting the price...

 

[majordan]

That’s great everyone thanks a lot. Makes me feel better.

About when I take too long on a job... it’s correct in saying I don’t ask for more so it does work both ways.

 

[Eldy70]

There's a couple of ways of looking at this:

1) Start quoting for the job, rather than the time it takes. BUT, be careful not to cut corners because you're guaranteed a price for the job.
2) If you have a regular client that you do regular work for, then charge only for the time you've taken. We do this with our regular clients because it's transparent and builds goodwill. We actually have software where they can see how much time we've taken, and then we bill accordingly.

In practice, we use a combination of both of these approaches. Billing by the hour can become problematic, because the better you get at something, the faster you may do it - and that shouldn't mean that your price for a good job should come down.

On the other hand, if you have loyal clients who give you a regular stream of work, then we take the view that part of us repaying that loyalty is to allow them to benefit from the fact that we know their work so well that we can do it quickly.