This is to our forum regulars who are in the trade themselves.

What would make you go out to price up a job but then not bother any further.

Is it the size of the job or the state of the house or over-bearing customer or what?

I am really, really curious.

H,

I used to work as an office manager (general dogsbody) for a plumber. We used to go out & do loads of quotes & only about 5% would get done. I used to get all the flack from the customers cuz he would never speak to them. I think it was just general laziness with him. Needless to say I left after a year cuz it was driving me mad.

Talking to an architect just the other day and he says builders have got so rich off the recent booms it's hardly worth the good one's getting out of bed.
He was telling me about one, mid forties, who's made more money than he'll ever be able to spend and is finding it hard work getting the motivation up for anything less than a full-on housing estate.
A lot of cowboys doing the small stuff nowadays.

It's often a bit of both. I've been to look at jobs where the attitude of the customer says "don't touch this with a bargepole"

Some places are so filthy, I'd be afraid of catching something.

Others just say to you, this job is going to be more trouble than it's worth.

Then there are those where you can see someone else has started the job, and you think to yourself "why didnt they finish it ?"