Pricing a Three-Storey House and the Customer's 8 Per Cent Demand
A plumber in Patiala is quoting the internal plumbing for a three-storey house: three bathrooms (WC, wash basin and shower each), one kitchen sink, a washing machine point and two garden bib cocks. His take-off is 90 m of 25 mm CPVC, 60 m of 20 mm CPVC, 40 m of 110 mm SWR, 30 m of 75 mm SWR and 50 m of 40 mm waste pipe, at ₹180, ₹130, ₹260, ₹180 and ₹90 per metre respectively. Fittings and valves are a lump sum of ₹12,000, and three WC suites, three basins, one sink and the bib cocks total ₹46,000. He adds 5 per cent wastage on pipes, 18 per cent labour on material value, and 10 per cent overhead and profit on material plus labour; GST is 18 per cent on the whole. A competitor has quoted ₹1,42,000 including GST. The customer asks for 8 per cent off the total and wants the work finished in 12 days.
1. Work out the quote stage by stage and state the final price.
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Step 1 - pipe value:
- 25 mm CPVC: 90 × 180 = ₹16,200
- 20 mm CPVC: 60 × 130 = ₹7,800
- 110 mm SWR: 40 × 260 = ₹10,400
- 75 mm SWR: 30 × 180 = ₹5,400
- 40 mm waste: 50 × 90 = ₹4,500 Pipe total = ₹44,300
Step 2 - wastage at 5 per cent: 44,300 × 0.05 = ₹2,215, so pipes carry forward as ₹46,515.
Step 3 - material: 46,515 + 12,000 (fittings and valves) + 46,000 (fixtures) = ₹1,04,515.
Step 4 - labour at 18 per cent of material: 1,04,515 × 0.18 = ₹18,813. Material plus labour = ₹1,23,328.
Step 5 - overhead and profit at 10 per cent: 1,23,328 × 0.10 = ₹12,333. Pre-tax total = ₹1,35,661.
Step 6 - GST at 18 per cent: 1,35,661 × 0.18 = ₹24,419.
Quoted price ≈ ₹1,60,080. Against the competitor's ₹1,42,000 the gap is about ₹18,000, or roughly 11 per cent - worth explaining rather than simply matching.
2. The customer wants 8 per cent off. What does that do to the job, and what would you offer instead?
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What the discount costs. Eight per cent off the pre-tax figure is about ₹10,853; taken off the final bill it is about ₹12,800 including tax. The whole overhead-and-profit line is only ₹12,333. The requested discount therefore swallows roughly 88 per cent of the profit - the plumber would be working for wages plus overheads with nothing left for a call-back, a cracked fitting or a lost day.
What not to do: do not recover the money quietly by fitting a thinner pipe, an unbranded fitting, skimping on primer or skipping the pressure test. Those are precisely the savings that generate the call-back and the ruined reputation.
Counter-offers, in order of preference:
- Adjust scope, not standards. Offer to omit the two garden bib cocks and the washing machine point (roughly ₹6,000 of the total) or to fit a standard-brand WC suite rather than the premium one, keeping the same pipe grade and jointing quality.
- Part-discount with a condition. Four per cent off if the customer pays 50 per cent advance and accepts a 16-day programme instead of 12 - the 12-day demand is itself a cost, because it forces extra labour.
- Sell the difference. Put the pressure test, chlorination of the tank, a written one-year workmanship warranty and a free seal check after the first monsoon into the offer, and ask the customer, politely, what the ₹1,42,000 quote leaves out.
3. Which items are most likely missing from this take-off, and how do you protect yourself contractually?
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Commonly omitted:
- Excavation, bedding and backfill for the underground tank connection and the external sewer line.
- Wall chasing, making good plaster and paint patches after pipe laying.
- Clamps, supports and fixing material.
- Consumables: solvent cement, primer, PTFE tape, thread sealant, rags.
- Testing: filling, hydrostatic test, tank chlorination and flushing.
- Overhead tank, float valve, and the pump with its starter and wiring.
- Rainwater harvesting or septic tank, where the local byelaw requires them.
- Making good around WC pans and floor traps, and re-waterproofing wet areas.
- Access equipment - ladder or scaffolding - for the stack above the roof.
Contractual protection: quote from a measured take-off with an item-and-rate schedule, never a single lump sum; state exclusions in writing on the quotation itself; show the wastage and GST assumptions; add a validity period (say 15 days) because pipe prices move; require written approval of variations before the work is done; and set out payment stages with a small retention until testing is complete. A one-line lump-sum quote is what turns into an argument in the last week of the job.