I appreciate an honest ballpark figure, even if I'm thinking a project might cost a grand, and a contractor says it may run from 3 to 5 grand I immediately re-evaluate my scope. I may get 1 or 2 other bids to confirm, but at least I am brought down to reality quickly and I can go from there. The worst is when someone drags me on for hours and hours with questions and run-arounds to finally come out and admit it's going to run me 4 grand. That kind of offer I will immediately turn down. But if they lead off with that 3 to 5k estimate then I am more likely to listen and consider their 4k bid at the end.
Yeah I totally agree with that and we would hate to spend hours running the materials, numbers and working things out to realise we are miles away. Honesty is key with all business transactions as otherwise it's a surefire way to end up costing yourself or other people money an winding prospective clients up!
@TheNaturalWorkshop Ye good thanks mate, so many people not in the real world. Oak furniture land don't tell you how much each hinge runner screw is etc and you pay upfront with these companies when you order yet when it's a small business people try to take the p#ss sometimes I've had a few this year.
🤣 I know right. I've been told a whole bunch of times I'm on the take or don't know what Im talking about. When I try to explain things as per the video I'm apparently the only person who works like this 🤷♂️😂
I totally agree with what you say. I've been doing woodwork since I left school, started in furniture went onto making stairs and left to go self employed. I've been self employed for nearly 16 years and I've been lucky enough to work with some very skilled people so learnt a lot. There are a lot of parts about it I still like but the majority I hate. I was in hospital last year for surgery on my arm so with that, all the price increases and getting screwed over by a couple of customers I've decided enough is enough and I'm getting rid of my workshop and everything in it I'm going back to working in private homes and without all the expense of a workshop I can cut my workload in half.
Yeah man, I hear ya! It's definitely a conversation that we have had in our shop. The last 3 years has been a real pain in the butt to be honest. Even in the last couple of months we had 4 customers not pay in same week, as much as I can prep the business for hard times, things like that can nearly break you. That's why I've been quiet on here as I had to work double to get some money in for Christmas. Its a real soul killer at times and the workshop is a big expense. We have a rate increase of £3000 this year in April...cant wait to find the money for that! We have a whole bunch of changes coming up this year as things need to change otherwise it won't be viable. I think its going to be a wild ride this year lol, sure at the very least I'll get some good content out of it and some excellent lessons to teach the kids lol. Happy New Year man and Good Luck in your new endeavour!!
