Another price thread im afraid!

[Matt19rown]

Hi all,

I was on holiday yesterday and today when a mate of mine asked if i would nip to his mums to have a look at her bath taps, as they were letting in water under the tap base and water was running onto her floor.
i didn`t have any tools with me at the time so i had a look to see what the problem was, and went back to sort it today.
All in all it was 1hr yesterday messing around fault finding and 1.5 hrs today putting right.
Her husband had fitted them,not tightened them up properly,the washers hand kinked up into the tap holes, the overflow was loose and all in all a little nightmare really.
I charged £40.00 and i got the impression that they thought it was to expensive?!
WAS IT??

 

[Dotty]

You were too cheap.

 

[DustyM]

Matt, not in the least, given the amount of time spent on sorting out the damn mess hubby had made; I'd have easily been charging double that. He was probably p*&&ed because you'd challenged his masculinity in correcting his error in the forst place, making him look a bit of a prat in front of the missus!! You can't afford to be soft on customers, you have a living to make!

 

[Matt19rown]

Thanks for the replies gents,
DustyM: Thats exactly what the missis said, She`s always right!!!! Damn it..


Again thank you much appreciated i was doubting myself.

 

[Phil]

This is why I hate being asked by friends/relatives/neighbours/asociates as it always ends in tears.

 

[Matt19rown]

Your not wrong Phil, worst thing they both worked for Focus so when it went bang they bought the Bath,taps etc as ex-display and the quality was shocking to be honest, where the taps tightened under the bath the surface was like the surface of the moon and trying to tighten down onto that was a nightmare,plus the taps didn`t fit flush to the bath surface and the pre-drilled holes were to say the least a little big! You get what you pay for i guess.

 

[mike-c]

I never do work for neighbours. I live at the entrance to a small estate and everybody has to pass my sign written van when they are coming or going. I often see other plumbers on the estate but I am silently glad that I was not asked to do the job as sometimes you can find that neighbours tend to treat you as their own private property and expect you at their beck and call

 

[SimonG]

Too Cheap. 'Profit is Good'.

 

[AWheating]

£100 would have been a fair price really but its your choice to add a mates rate discount. 2-3 hours work, petrol, running costs,etc.....

next time you go into focus take a item to there till and tell them you want it at mates rates as your work was done at that and they are at work so its only fair! see what they think of that?

 

[hunterseye]

I'm still learning the whole pricing structure matt. but these guys are spot on. i now give the price for them to take or leave. and trying to move away from doing jobs for friends etc after heeding some good advice from a wise head.

 

[JCplumb]

Mates rates can be a proper nightmare. Especially when you get there after pricing and find out it will take twice as long as you thought.

 

[hammers4spanner]

Ask yourself this , if you suddenly develope a van issue or a drill packs up was that £40 enough ??? First hour imo is £40 after that and any running around crank it up !!

 

[scott2hot]

Similar tap story from yesterday, I was asked to change a set of basin taps, simple you might think, 20 minutes work in and out! 6 hours later I'd finished - Back nuts were seized, managed to undo the cold, attempted the hot and crack - basin was cracked in two!! I had to replace the basin, alter the supply pipes to suit and convert a 28mm copper waste to 32mm plastic - bit of a nightmare - I'm glad it wasn't a priced job!!

 

[Phil]

£100 would have been a fair price really but its your choice to add a mates rate discount. 2-3 hours work, petrol, running costs,etc.....

next time you go into focus take a item to there till and tell them you want it at mates rates as your work was done at that and they are at work so its only fair! see what they think of that?

Focus have gone bust and are no longer.

 

[acecharly]

Next time your van brakes or you drill stops working picture yourself popping round to one of these "mates" an sayin,"remember them taps i replaced and charged you half the labour well i just got a repair bill for me van for £250 can you help me out this time?" and see where you get.....

Charge everyone the same...business is business its nothing personal.

 

[petercj]

I think the price you charged was very fair - jobs for family and friends are no-win situations more often than not.