5-star quotes & 5-star inspections
MrFix supports Customers and experts in agreeing on the price for building repair & maintenance jobs without misunderstandings or unnecessary delays. In practice that means the expert estimates the labour cost for jobs of less than a day’s work / ~€500 based on the info the Customer shares. For bigger jobs a quote is usually better, although most experts need to inspect a job before they can quote a fixed price. Inspections and quotes can cause major problems. MrFix tries to help Customer and expert to avoid these so the process is smooth & fair.
5-star building repair inspections
Inspecting a building repair job seems simple, but it is not. Customers often choose MrFix after a contractor came to inspect but left an unprofessional impression. If a contractor does not even do the inspection properly then it gives the Customer little confidence in his execution of the job. An expert needs to get 5 aspects right for a professional inspection:
- Scheduling. First check by when the Customer needs the job to be completed. If you cannot meet that deadline then don’t waste time inspecting. And make sure there is enough daylight & favourable weather: you don’t want to inspect a roof when it’s slippery & dark
- Preparation. Check the job request, ask any missing info and check any external sources to make sure you can evaluate the job properly
- Tools. Bring/wear what is relevant to the inspection: safety shoes, helmet, (head)light, ladder, measuring tape, (paint) colour chart, CO/other gas detector, pressure gauge, moisture meter, voltage detector, outlet tester, thermometer. (IR) camera…
- Advice. A paid inspection visit entitles the Customer not only to a binding quote but also to professional advice. Make sure you can provide it or else don’t take the job
- Communication. Ask the Customer questions before the inspection, let the Customer know if you’re delayed, use professional clothes & toolkits, ask before entering rooms / stepping on clean floors, listen carefully so the scope of the job is clear and finally: confirm that the Customer can expect your quote within 72h
That will result in a 5-star building repair inspection.
5-star building repair quotes
The same goes for quotes. We have heard crazy stories over the years: from experts who quote €20,000 amounts without even specifying labour and materials separately to experts who quote three times as much for the exact same job. But let’s focus on what the expert needs to get right for a professional quote. Again we see 5 aspects:
- Speed. We aim to mail the expert’s quote to the Customer within 72h from inspection. In practice we even mail most quotes within 24h, but sometimes the expert needs to wait for input from a supplier of material like window frames
- Completeness. The quote amounts and descriptions must cover the full scope of the job. The only item that is normally excluded is any parking cost
- Clarity. Professionals provide crystal clear quote input without unnecessary jargon. MrFix translates between Dutch and English, if required
- Specification. We advise experts to balance detail & overview sensibly. In practice that means breaking each job down in components, listing them in chronological order and specifying the labour & materials cost of each component separately. As an overall rule of thumb we specify each individual item over €100 separately
- Competitiveness. We sometimes get quote input from experts that simply looks too expensive. When we check we can discover mistakes in calculation and scope, but sometimes the expert simply fails to offer a discount. For example our standard rate of €50/h for paintwork is meant for jobs that only take a few hours (and inspections). Of course painters would rather spend their working week doing one 40-hour job rather than many 1-hour jobs: they could do far fewer than 40 such jobs due to travel time & scheduling issues. Customers therefore expect, and smart experts offer, a discount on these standard rates when quoting labour cost. MrFix recommends a 10-25% discount.