DIYbanter - View Single Post - Customers purchacing their own material (long)

thetiler

wrote:
This is one of the recurring threads -- a couple of times a year --
with consumers arguing they have the right to save by providing the
materials and paying the contractor only an agreed upon hourly or job
rate for labour.

When they order a pizza, do they supply the ingredients and allow the
pizzeria labour costs only?

I'm a contractor. Occasionally, prospective customers tell me they
want to supply their own materials. I just say "no".

Installing a tub, for example, costs me maybe 300 dollars for the
tub, materials and controls and 150 for the plumber, a total of 450
dollars. I mark it up 25%, say 125 dollars. So the cost to the
consumer is 575 dollars.

IIf the tub arrives and it is scratched, it is replaced and the cost
remains 575 dollars. If the tub arrives and it is the wrong tub, it
is replaced and the cost remains 575 dollars. Until the job is
complete, the risk is entirely mine. If a material or installation
problem shows up three weeks after the job is complete, and the tiles
have to be removed and the tub replaced, the cost remains 575 dollars.

Takes too long to explain it. Easier just to say no thanks to the
job.

Does the consumer have a right to insist on supplying materials.
Sure. His house, his money, his right.

Does he have a right to insist that I use his materials? Nope.
My company, my reputation, my risk.

Ken

Great post. You've said it so much better than I tried.

It's an issue that probably can't be resolved- contractors
understand their risk and reputation, homeowners (some)
are thinking with tunnel vision solely about money and cost.

Like I tell people when I'm bidding a job and they say the
other guy is much cheaper- I don't try to explain myself,
I just tell them that if he's a reputable contractor like me
but his bid is much lower, they'd be smart to hire him.

thetiler