Risks of offering something for free?

[Romore]

One of my services on offer is going to be lime mortar repointing. For a short period, to get things going I am going to offer a free sample of repointing. This will involve me going out to someones property and doing about a quarter of a square meter of repointing, mainly to show how good it looks and how much it can transform their old brickwork. In doing this i'm hoping they will pay me to do the rest. I think it is a good way to get me out to peoples houses and give them a qoute, have a chat and show them what I can do. The cost of this to me will be minimul, the main one being fuel to get there.

But is their any legal issues with offering something like this? If they decide they dont want any more work doing and dont like small section of pointing I have done because it stands out (or for whatever reason) will I have to go and remove what I have done, legally?


Also do you think it's a good idea?

Cheers

 

[MH1]

Personally I would stick to a simple quote for the work, then doing a good job.

 

[Romore]

Personally I would stick to a simple quote for the work, then doing a good job.

But I want it to appeal to people who may not have thought about having the work done before and to make them think, well what have we got to lose.
It is something no one else is doing and hopefully it will make people pick me rather than the next person. It will be for a limited time only, until I get enough work to jack my job in and work for myself full time.

 

[maxine]

Hiya

Not sure how you would stand legally with terms and conditions as I believe (not sure) that if you are offering to show something as an example of what you can do then this is an "Invitation to treat" and it's not yet part of a contract until you then "Offer" to do the work on that basis and it is then "Accepted" with other things to make the contract valid such as "Consideration" etc. (I've put the contract law bits in " so you can look them up if you want).

So, for what you are proposing, I should imagine that you would need some reliable terms and conditions for doing the sample saying that it could not be put back as it was previously and you won't be liable for anything along those lines.

You could offer to do all of the work and give a quote for the whole lot but make this subject to an initial patch test which is their only financial commitment. After the patch, the customer could then accept to have the rest of the job completed, but you could have the sample as a sign off point to serve the purpose of you would only carry on if they were happy after that initial test. This would be good as it would make it difficult for people to argue that they were not happy with the work when they have effectively signed off the standard of work from having seen it on a small scale.

Or you could get a good portfolio or photos together as before and after or have a few reference sites that people could visit to see the final finish.

Good luck and my advice is to get t&c's sorted

Max

 

[MASSEY]

You would need them to sign something to cover yourself.

What if you repoint that area and it drys a different color to the rest (like when i do it)

and they ask you to remove it or repoint the rest of the house

Its thinking outside the box but i personally would not do it.

 

[Romore]

It would without a doubt be a different colour to the original. The old mortar is a few hundred years old. you can only try and get a close match. The old stuff would have to be falling out if not already have fallen out to need repointing.

It would not take long at all to remove I just dont want to waste more of my time doing it... I honeslty think that once people see how it transforms their brickwork they will not want it removed, and will want the rest doing. I am in the process of having a website built with loads of pictures of work I have done and old brickwork I have repaired, so people can get a realistic idea of what they can expect. Included in this are before and after pics.

Maxine thanks for your reply. I will reread and try and digest it better later.

 

[Merchant UK]

I wouldn't even bother doing it on their house, even if its for free, if they don't like it, then perhaps they may say to you to take it off and make it look like the rest.

i really cant see homeowners getting a 1 metre square done and then leaving it??

Your best bet, as there are many different types of pointing is to set some 1m x 1m plywood squares and stick some Brick tiles on it, and then point them.

You can show customers a nice variety of pointing whilst holding up the Plywood sample against their wall

That would be a better way and your not wasting good production time doing samples on peoples walls

 

[Beachcomber]

You could approach the problem from another perspective.
Could you knock up a wooden frame in which you can hold 1/4m2 of bricks (like a mini wall in a frame)
You could then point the bricks in your sample frame to show the difference.

You get the visual aid without any issues of liability.

 

[Romore]

Pointed panels is a good idea. We made some at work for the shows and open days we do to show the different brick bonds in traditional brickwork.

 

[Rainbow Chasers']

Why not just take the average cost of doing the job in your area and offer 25% off, rather than doing free patches - it will gain you more work than free sections that people won't go for, as they will feel pressurised into having to do the rest, rather than wanting to.

If you imagine i was a painter, and went around painting houses, did 1/4 of a wall - would they feel they HAD to repaint the house? Or want you to continue as they liked the work? Even if they didn't like the job you did but needed it finished, they would get a competitor in to finish off. Which would mean your free effort gained them work!

Keep photos of old and new, before and afters and go with that. You could even, with a bit of imagination be able to sort something out with a computer to show what the finished house would look like.

 

[Romore]

I get your point but I was hardly talking about doing quarter of a wall, I was talking about quater of a meter, their is a HUGE difference. And offering 25% off would not really be viable and also does not compare to the offer of doing quarter of a meter which would cost about £15 to have done.

 

[Matt1959]

I think if you need the work and times are difficult you can't pussy foot about and just about anything goes which sets you apart from the competition and makes you look different. I'm always looking at ways to set myself apart from the others and I think its always the most simple and subtle things that can have an impact. No idea bout the terms and conditions side though!

 

[90DC]

I agree that it's not worth it. You're clearly an honest person, wanting to set yourself apart from the rest. Keep the ideas flowing and i'm sure you'll hit the nail on the head.

 

[Esk247]

no need to waste time doing that. just have a poster/advertisement with two photos on, one with damaged rendering and the other with clean and tidy mortar.

hundred odd leaflets printed for less than £50 and you've saved yourself time and money, add the same photos to your website, before and after shots.