Builder’s Quotes - whistle while you wait

Who knew getting quotes from builders, in this economic climate, would be so difficult?!

With the nearly all industries taking a hit in this economic downturn, and with all the doom-and-gloom that seems to be surrounding the building trade at the moment, why have I struggled to get builders to give me quotes for this project?

Is it because the design is so unique and most of them don't really want to depart from anything standard? Or are the companies I've approached been so busy due to all of their competitors going under, that there is more than enough work to go around?

In all I have approached 6 different builders in the area - and only received 2 quotes - in over a year! To me, this seems shocking. I'm sure there are numerous factors involved here - the complexities of build; their comfort factor in building something like this; their current availability; or just plain bad service or willingness to produce quotes for new clients.

For example, one builder that I approached, seemed to have very good credentials and some excellent work on their portfolio (which I visited in person) and I was more than happy to let them take all the drawings and info to produce a quote. I was so confident they would be the right candidate and I even stopped looking around for other builders while I waited for their quote. About 6 months later, after some chasing, they declined to quote, stating they had enough of their own projects to work on (which would be more profitable) so wouldn't be able to fit mine into their schedule.

WTF?! It took 6 months to tell me this! A few weeks I wouldn't have minded but 6 months is crazy. Thanks a lot for waisting half a year guys!! As you can tell I was very pissed off. Moral: Don't wait for other people too long, otherwise nothing will get done.

Anyway, this turned out to quote a common thing - not the 6 month delay in getting a quote - but the fact that a lot of builders are so busy they don't need to consider all jobs that come in. I'm sure this is changing on a quarterly basis, as most people are considering extensions to their existing properties rather than going for a new build, but I consider myself lucky to have found a good builder that was able to give a good quote, in good time.

Thankfully both the quotes I received are very similar - although I wonder how much of it is 'quote' and how much is 'estimate', coz you never know what you might find once you start digging a hole in the ground.

So, I have made a choice and we are now moving forward with the project at last. Paperwork here we come!!