09/08/2026
Hit the nail on the head here.
.
I don’t think this will ever change, but I’ll always highlight it..
Something that’s always increasingly frustrating for tradespeople…
You ask us for a quote.
You chase us for a quote.
You message, call, follow up and ask when we can get it over to you.
So we make the time.
We drive out to your property.
We assess the work.
We can spend 30+ minutes standing in your home after a long day at work or on a weekend answering questions, giving advice and helping you make decisions.
“What colour would you go for?”
“What paint would you recommend?”
“Is this finish better?”
“What would look best here?”
“How would you fix this?”
And of course we’re happy to help. That’s part of providing a good service. We use our experience to give you honest advice and help you get the result you want.
We measure up.
We discuss what you want.
We work out materials and labour.
We put together the quote and send it over.
We’re now in to hours of our time. Plus fuel costs.
The quote gets sent…
And… silence 🤐
No “thanks”
No “we’ve decided to go with someone else”
No “thank you for your time”
Nothing.
Tradespeople completely understand that you may get several quotes and choose someone else. That’s business. We don’t expect every quote we send to turn into a job, if we did we’re actually doing something wrong..
What is frustrating is when we’re repeatedly chased for a quote which takes up our time asking for advice and guidance and we can’t even get 10 seconds to acknowledge the quote once it’s been sent. Of course this isn’t every time, but in my experience it’s about 8/10 quotes.
Behind every quote is a real person and a real business.
The time spent driving to you, standing in your home, answering questions, offering advice, measuring up, sourcing materials, working out costs and preparing a detailed quote all adds up.
A simple “Thanks for the quote, we’ve decided not to proceed.” …is all it takes.
What’s difficult to understand is complete silence after we’ve invested our time helping you.
A little courtesy and communication costs nothing. If you know you don’t have that decency, aren’t sure if you’re serious about a quote and wont respond, please don’t waste our time. Respect our time and we’ll always respect yours.
