Quoting for jobs - Honest and Upfront!

[paulears]

I was trying to find a video person for a job, and came across some great down to earth info on a web site.

 

My rates are for me, the crane, the car and the 39 years it took me to get here. Cameras, sound, additional staff, massages, counselling, some great curry recipes and anything else are extra....well, maybe the recipes are free.

 

I charge GBP 800 (approx EUR 900/USD 1200) each operational day for me and the crane. That's it, all inclusive, no extras, no hidden surprises.....unless it's a very, very long day or it's on the other side of the planet. In other words, if it's an early start or I can't get home, you pay for hotels, drinks and dinner. I think that's fair.

 

I live in North Wales which is, surprisingly, central to most jobs. I also usually don't charge for travel days in the UK unless it's a monster distance. In which case you won't mind paying GBP 150 (approx EUR 170/USD 240) each day for me to get there and back.

 

All rates are negotiable, but you know where I start. I'll ask you what the hours are and you'll tell me the truth, even if you think it might be a very long day. I offer a good day's value for a fair price. Pay me on time and I'll work for you again.

 

My invoices are delivered by email using PDFs. It's quick, it's free and they're exact replicas of the real thing. Your side of the deal is that you pay me promptly.

 

I like the humorous bluntness - this is what I will do, this is what you'll do approach. I think perhaps we should adopt this approach to quoting - he seems to have the tone just right, no offensive, but making it clear he wants paying promptly and he offers good value!

[David Lee]

Love it.

[stevefez]

Fantastic, I think I might have to adopt that... As you said, not offensive, just straight forward.

[gareth]

That's not Keith Brook, by any chance, is it? He's the only Jib/Crane guy I can think of who's based around this part of the world.

[paulears]

Yup - that's him. Funny how just getting the words right seems to do the trick.

[gareth]

Just done a Google on him and found the website in question - he writes like he speaks! Some marvelously straightforward and forthright wording on there. Great stuff.

[Joe Bleasdale]

Thats funny but in most respects true. Very blunt yes, but it gets his point across!! I can't decide whether it is a good or bad thing though...

 

Best Regards,

[Jivemaster]

I hope it works for him! I'll guess that his customers are usually male, men tend to like blunt accuracy.

 

However MY recent experience is that clients are usually women who would likely regard that delivery style as rude, offensive and abrupt.

[Bobbsy]

Well, if I can be a dissenting view....

 

I don't have an issue with his writing style but what concerns me about his spiel is that it's not nearly as clear and straightforward as he makes it out.

 

He specifies that his rate is for a long day--but how long? Will he do ten hours or 12 or 16 before charging extra? Similarly, he keeps the door open to charge for travel and travel days but doesn't give a formula for the client to know whether a job at, say, 7AM in central London requires extra expenses or not. Especially as he lives in North Wales, his idea of "a monster distance" could be different to mine.

 

Entertaining but not particularly clear.

 

Bob

[gareth]

I hope it works for him!

It does! I know Keith (well, know of him really - don't know him that well, but I've console op'ed some shows that his jib has been on), and he's a very busy man.

 

 

I don't have an issue with his writing style but what concerns me about his spiel is that it's not nearly as clear and straightforward as he makes it out.

I think the point is that it's a website, and not a definitive set of T&Cs. I get the impression that it's intended to give potential clients a broad picture of the way he operates, and that it in no way replaces a more traditional way of defining his terms.

[John Diamond]

I don't know him but like he says - 'all rates are negotiable'.

 

And to do that you need to pick the phone up and give him a call and make a deal. Nothing wrong with his pitch at all. Its unique - gets your attention!

 

Has Sir Alan Sugar taught us nothing? Your fired!

[paulears]

At the risk of derailing my own topic (so ignore this if you like) the reason I found this was a friend told me that Jimmy Jibs have a potential safety issue, like our Tallescopes. People are trying to write kind of Safe Operating Procedures - but the HSE can't at the moment accept them, so they're not getting anywhere. I've probably got these details slightly wrong, as I've been trying to compile them from a number of sources, but I find many similarities with our Tallescope issue. I guess that waving a very heavy piece of kit over the heads of staff, freelancers and members of the public does have it's own set of potential problems.

[gareth]

I didn't realise the HSE had decided to pick on Jimmy Jibs now. Are they really that short of genuinely useful things to do?

 

Jibs and camera cranes, in one form or another, have been around for many, many years - how many incidents have there been over that time involving injury sustained through collision between the business end of a jib and a person? Very few, I'd wager ...

[the kid]

Jimmy Jib and Crane ? what is the difference to a layman? ?

[gareth]

Not much difference, really! I think the terms are fairly interchangeable - although I guess most people would think of a camera crane as being something a bit more chunky and 'old-fashioned', where the camera and its operator are on a platform at the end of a larger lifting arm, while they'd think of a jib as a slightly smaller type of arrangement with a remote-operated camera on the end.

 

(Jimmy Jib is a trade name for a particular brand of lightweight modular jib.)