Quotation, credit terms and a customer who wants the RCCB removed
You run a small licensed electrical contracting business. A tailor wants wiring for a 60 m² shop: 8 LED fittings, 6 fans, 10 socket points, one 1.5 TR air-conditioner point, a distribution board with a 30 mA RCCB, and an earth pit, using 60 m of conduit wiring. Your material list from the wholesaler comes to ₹18,400 including tax. Labour is 6 man-days at ₹450 per day, transport ₹600. You apply 10 % overhead on direct cost and 15 % profit on total cost, then 18 % GST on the final value. The tailor wants three months' credit with no advance, and asks you to drop the RCCB and the earth pit to bring the price down. A competitor has quoted ₹24,000 without those two items.
1. Prepare the quotation step by step and explain why the competitor's ₹24,000 is not comparable.
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Direct cost: material 18,400 + labour (6 × 450 = 2,700) + transport 600 = ₹21,700.
Add 10 % overhead: 2,170 → ₹23,870 (this is your total cost; it must cover tools, vehicle, insurance, phone, and your own time on site).
Add 15 % profit: 15 % of 23,870 = 3,580.50 → ₹27,450.50.
Add 18 % GST: 18 % of 27,450.50 = 4,941.09 → ₹32,391.59, quoted as ₹32,392.
Comparison: the competitor's ₹24,000 omits the 30 mA RCCB and the earth pit. Those two items are roughly ₹3,500–4,500 in material plus half a day of labour, so his like-for-like price would be about ₹29,000–30,000 - and even then his margin is thin enough that he may cut corners on cable size or skip testing.
How to present it: show the two quotations side by side with the missing items listed explicitly, not as a vague claim that 'he is cheap for a reason'. State the cable sizes and make of MCB in your quotation so the customer can compare specification rather than just a number. Never win a job by deleting a safety item.
2. How do you answer the request for three months' credit and no advance, and the request to delete the RCCB and earth pit?
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On credit: material has to be bought for cash before work starts, so no-advance is not workable for a small contractor. Offer a standard schedule: 60 % advance on the work order (covers material), 30 % when wiring is complete and tested, 10 % on handing over the test certificate. If he needs time, offer 15 days on the final 10 % only. Say this plainly at the quotation stage, not after the wiring is in the wall - that is where most payment disputes begin.
On deleting the RCCB and the earth pit: refuse, and explain in his own frame. The RCCB is the only device that protects a person who touches a live part; on a shop floor with an air-conditioner, wet cleaning and metal fittings, it is exactly where it is needed. The earth pit is not optional - the earth is the return path that makes the MCB trip on an earth fault, and without it every metal enclosure in the shop can sit at a dangerous voltage. Deleting them makes the installation non-compliant and transfers the liability to me, because my name is on the bill.
What to offer instead: phase the work. Do the wiring, DB, RCCB and earthing now - they are the parts that cannot be added later without re-opening the walls - and defer the air-conditioner point or the fans to the next month. That reduces his immediate cash outlay without touching safety.
3. What written records should this job leave behind, and why do they matter to a small contractor?
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Before work - a written work order signed by the customer: scope, number of points, cable sizes, make and rating of the DB, MCB and RCCB, price, payment schedule, completion date, and what is excluded. This single document prevents most disputes, because 'I thought ten sockets included the kitchen' becomes a priced variation instead of an argument.
During work - a job file: the quotation, the signed work order, wholesaler invoices for the material actually used, and photographs of concealed conduit before plastering.
After work - a test and completion certificate: insulation resistance values, earth resistance value, polarity and earth continuity results, with dates. Hand the customer a copy and keep one. If a fire occurs later, this sheet is the evidence that the installation was correct on the day it was handed over.
Business records: serial-numbered invoices, a cash book, a record of advances and balances, and a list of warranties given. In most states a service provider must register for GST once turnover crosses ₹20 lakh (₹10 lakh in special-category states), so track turnover monthly rather than discovering the threshold at year end. A registered supplier with proper invoices also wins commercial customers, who cannot claim input credit from a cash-only electrician.