Reading the small print is something that almost everyone skips over and ignores. We are all guilty of it! Whether it’s buying new electrical goods for the house, or taking out insurance. I know that I cut right to the end to tick the “I Agree” box.
Recently we have seen flyers and deals from some competitors offering estimation services similar to our own. It piqued our interest to see what they had to offer, so we done some research.
On the face of things, they were offering a very similar service to ours. Providing detailed costings for materials, plant and labour. Prices tailored to the client’s area. Quick turnaround periods. All seemed well and good, until I asked for a sample report to be sent over.
The first two pages of the sample detailed out 34 points in small print. Some of the points were self-explanatory and are similar to our own guidelines. However, there were some terms that took me by surprise, especially for the service that they are offering.
5 of the 34 points basically noted that the company would not take any responsibility for errors in quantities, prices or information provided by them. Furthermore, if the client did spot an error, they would have to fork out a hefty labour charge per hour rate to get it rectified!
Of course, there can be variances and tolerances during a construction project, but they are stating that they take absolutely no liability for anything which I found very strange. As a service provider of the same product, we at least hold our hands up if there is a typo in a client’s report and will revise it Free of Charge. At the end of the day, these are projects which are going to cost the client a lot of money and you must have a high standard and level of accuracy when it comes to providing this service.
Maybe this is standard practice for the bigger more established companies? With the smaller independent guy being more honest and subject to criticism? My only advice for today is to make sure and read the small print!
“If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is!”
