Estimate for a home repair job

Tonk. I sell mobiles. I also climb stairs with a bag when someone wants CCTV or a TV on the wall.

I am not a big contractor. I am the shop fellow who also has a drill.

Old city. Narrow gali. Auntie on the first floor. She wanted four cameras and a doorbell camera. Her son in Pune said, take estimate first. Do not give cash to anyone.

Good son. I used to quote on a tea stall paper. 18000 all in. Then wire was short. Then DVR was different. Then she said you cheated. I had no breakup.

Estimate for a home repair job, what actually happened

Now I open estimate sheet on BillOnDesk. Labour plus material. That split is the whole trick.

Material. Camera qty 4. Rate I will actually buy. Wire roll. Adapter. DVR. HDMI. Screws. I write each. If I write "kit 15000" she cannot see that wire is extra. Later fight.

Labour. My climbing. Drill. Two hours extra if the wall is stone. Tonk old house walls laugh at cheap bits. I write labour as its own lines. Not hidden inside camera rate.

Estimate is not invoice. I say this to her. This is kacchi. If she says yes, I buy material. Then I may give a simple invoice for what I finally used. If I used less wire, I charge less. If the wall ate more, I show her the extra on a revised estimate before I drill more.

BillOnDesk marks DRAFT / ESTIMATE. I do not remove it and call it a GST tax invoice. I am doing a house job. Sometimes I am composition. I still do not print hologram on an auntie wall estimate.

Valid till. I put 7 days. Camera rates jump. If her son in Pune sleeps for a month, my 18000 is a dream. I write valid till date on the tool.

I type her name. Address gali and house colour. Phone. My shop name as estimator. So she knows who came.

I do not put her son's GSTIN from some Pune company. This is her house. Not a company purchase. If the son wants a business bill, that is a different talk and a different truth. I will not fake a company job for a house.

She asked for GST 18 percent on labour like a mall. I said I will write tax only if my CA says my scheme needs, and only as draft. I do not invent 18 percent to look big. Last year I showed tax I should not show. CA scolded.

For this job I kept estimate with rates and a note. Tax as applicable, confirm with your CA. I am not GSTN. Site is not GSTN.

I walked the house once before I typed. Free walk. Then PDF. Then tea. Then she forwarded PDF to Pune. He said camera count okay, labour high. I explained stone wall. He said okay.

Without PDF he would have heard 18000 only. With PDF he saw 4 cameras. He is an engineer. He likes lines.

I keep labour honest. If I write labour 500 and then ask 4000 cash, I am the cheat she feared. I write 3500 labour. She can say no. Better no now than fight on the ladder.

Material I buy from my own counter when I can. Cameras I ordered. I made a purchase order draft to the CCTV fellow in Jaipur. House estimate and purchase order are two papers. One for auntie. One for supplier. I do not send auntie the supplier PO. Rates would confuse her. Supplier rate is mine to manage.

When job finished, actual wire was 10 meter more. I showed her the extra roll. Small debit on a new estimate line. She paid. Because the first paper existed.

If I had only spoken, she would say you said all in.

All in is a trap in home repair. Always.

I also do TV wall mount. One hour. Estimate still. Mount + labour. People think shop will do free if they bought TV from me. I write free labour if I promised. I write paid labour if I did not. Paper remembers the promise. My mouth forgets after three customers.

How I split labour and material

A carpenter friend in the same gali asked me how I make the sheet. I showed the tool. He puts wood plus polish plus labour. Same idea. He is not a mobile shop. Tool does not mind.

English on the PDF. Auntie reads little English. I sit and explain each line in Hindi. PDF is for the son. Mouth is for her. Both needed.

I do not sign as a licensed contractor I am not. I sign my name. Shop stamp. Enough.

Payment. Advance 50 percent after she says yes. I write that on the estimate note. Balance after picture on WhatsApp to son. I also can give payment receipt for advance. Estimate is not receipt. I mixed them once. Advance had no proof. Her nephew said she already paid full. I had no receipt. Pain.

Now. Estimate. Then receipt of advance. Then final bill. Three steps. Looks too much for a small job. Saved me from a nephew.

I do not download blank PDF. I fill labour and material first. If I forget items, PDF looks empty. Then I think the site is broken. It is me.

Print from phone at the photo studio. I learned margins later. Another story. For estimate I keep font okay, not tiny. Auntie should see numbers.

I refuse to write a low estimate for the son and take cash extra from auntie. Two numbers. That is a cheat. One estimate. One truth.

I refuse to put a famous camera brand if I am fitting local. If son wants that brand, rate changes. I revise the estimate. I do not fit local and print Sony. Fraud. No.

DRAFT stays. If they need some official municipal paper, I am the wrong man. I drill holes. I do not issue government forms.

Tonk heat. I write on estimate, extra if we work after 2 pm on roof in May. Silly line. Then we did work at 3 pm. I did not charge extra because I felt bad. But the line was there if the job ran long.

Some jobs I lose because my estimate is higher than the boy who says 9999 all in. Later that boy disappears. Auntie called me to finish. I made a new estimate for leftover work. I did not say I told you. I said here is leftover price. She paid. Quiet.

Short lines on the sheet. Camera. Wire. DVR. Labour. Total. Valid till. Advance.

If the job includes a router from my shop, I make shop invoice separate and estimate only for labour. Shop stock and house labour mix in the drawer. CA also likes separate.

BillOnDesk estimate sheet is labour + material. I used to say package. Package is fog. Lines make tea.

When Pune son said okay on WhatsApp, I saved that chat with the PDF. Then I bought cameras. Not before. This order of things. Estimate yes. Then money out of my pocket.

I used to buy first, then ask. Then they say we will see. Cameras in my almirah. No.

Home repair for a shopkeeper is side work. Side work needs more paper, not less. Because it is not the usual counter sale.

Counter sale is 10 minutes. House job is two days. Two days need estimate.

I still sell earphones at the counter with a small bill. I do not make estimate for a 200 rupee piece. Use sense. Tool is for the ladder days.

Ladder day. Estimate sheet. Fill. Send. Wait. Then drill.

And I tell every auntie, this is draft estimate, not a GSTN invoice. BillOnDesk is not the tax department. If your son is a company, ask your CA what paper you need. I will not print a fake tax invoice for a house wall.