Demystifying “you get what you pay for!”

LOL

OK, so the thumbnails a bit tongue in cheek and many people are familiar with the phrase, “you get what you pay for,” but does that mean that there’s a sliding scale between poor jobs at the lower end of the cost spectrum and better jobs at the higher end?

I would suggest that the general trend would be yes, and of course this makes intuitive sense.

A top of the line Mercedes AMG is a better vehicle than an entry level Vauxhall hatchback when quantitative analysis is applied – comfort, speed, features etc.

(and luckily car manufacturers are quite good at highlighting features and benefits that show you that you are not actually buying the same ‘thing’ at all)

Unfortunately most bathroom installers do not have similar brochures to allow effective comparison.

Anyway, let’s draw a graph showing some imaginary bathroom installation quotes (blue dots) on a graph:

You can see that in general (although there is a large range of prices) as the price goes up the quality goes up too.

No big surprises there so far…

So you would think that it’s just a matter of picking your own level of quality vs cost that you’re comfortable with, right?

Kinda….

You see, the problem is that it can be very confusing because no-one gives you a graph like this to help you make your decision!

You only get the ‘cost’ part of the equasion and you have to guess the quality or experience you will have.

In other words…

The issue is an unequal distribution of information.

What I mean by this, is that if you KNEW where your quotes were located on a graph like this, then you could make an informed choice as to whether you were willing to pay a bit more for a better quality job.

The problem is that you don’t know.

For example if it was this obvious:

I would not be writing this article.

The problem lies in 4 areas:

1. As a homeowner, you don’t know WHAT a better job IS (beyond surface aesthetics)

In the car analogy from before you don’t know what good brakes are or what a Euro NCAP safety rating is…

2. You also don’t know WHY you should care

…..but when someone going through some traffic lights slams on their brakes &

you can’t stop in time, you suddenly become acutely aware of why you may have wanted to pay more attention to the safety features of the more ‘expensive’ car.

But now it’s a bit late…

Now, the difference in upfront ‘cost’ has taken on a whole new perspective, as you factor in the possibility of broken bones (and a large repair bill.)

The original cost of the Mercedes has not changed, but the relative value has now shot up as your true priorities (eg breathing!) are brought sharply into focus.

3. You can’t be sure it will BE a better job before the work begins, as everyone promises good results (but not everyone delivers them.)

4. You are a human being, and as such you (like me) have a tendency to believe comforting lies (hey, a bargain quote!) rather than uncomfortable truths (higher quotes generally lead to better quality jobs).

And even worse, when things go wrong, you (like me) are much more likely to blame a ‘rogue tradesman’ rather than take responsibility for your own role in hiring them or your own lack of due diligence towards the company.

But don’t shoot the messenger!

We’re all the same, and that’s just human nature, and if anyone’s interested there’s a great book on that here.

Anyway, we know that’s not you because you’re reading this right now in order to make a better purchasing decision!

So let’s break it down into a simple 2 step formula that you can use to ensure you get the best value for money bathroom installation.

So if you want this:

Rather than this:

Then let’s crack on.

Step 1: KNOW what a ‘better’ job is to you