General Price Guideline Thread

[Guest123]

There are quite a few newbies on asking about pricing, how much they should charge etc.

Can we have a sticky thread with a GENERAL guide to pricing the most common jobs that plumbers do? Make it a closed thread so no spammers etc can post to it as well?

Would be a useful and very helpful guide to new starts and I reinforce that prices given are a general guideline only and not set in stone.

 

[Barry98]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm maybe in the arms not sure of open forum , otherwise people might see it then when a plumbers goes round they say well on the legendary best plumbing forum they say it will x,y,z also prices are different up and down the country.but thats just my opinion

 

[PlumbBobBob]

i agree, best kept in the arms out of the public's eyes

 

[mountainman]

Won't regional variations make general pricing difficult?

 

[SimonG]

It's a good idea but difficult to put into practice. An example would be a tap washer, first one is thre miles away, combi boiler, on the hot tap, iso valve under sink and your back in the van within 15 minutes. This would be my standard charge. Next tap washer, fifteen miles away, gravity hot water, on the hot tap, no iso valve, gate valve breaks whilst isolating the cold feed, new gate valve, airlock and before you know it you've lost the best part of half a day.

Unless we just generalised thinks by saying 1/2 a day at your standard rate, two hours etc etc etc

 

[dontknowitall]

A range of usual prices for say the top 10 common jobs? Eg fitting outside tap between £650 and £900?

Oops - just seen open forum ... make that £65 - £90.

 

[Masood]

I agree with both the above. I rarely give fixed prices for small repair work as complications can arise. I normally say £X for the first hour and £Y per 1/2 hour thereafter.

X and Y vary depending on time of day, whether it's a weekend, etc. I'm based in London and that also makes a big difference...

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

in the arms it could work the difficulty would be the varying prices between areas

 

[Guest123]

As I said, it's just a general guideline only and I totally agree that it should not be in the open forum. It's not intended as a co-incise guide with regional variations, but something basic to help Newbies. For example tap washers, siphon changes, ball valves, and general every day stuff. We all agree on a basic cost for these and this goes into the price guide?

 

[mountainman]

'We all agree'
I'd like to see that! lol

 

[peteheat]

I think a dedicated thread like that could be used as a whip to beat every plumber with, even those who don't post here.

Bad enough that the rates are in a race to the bottom how would it work when you have guys posting prices they charge for "Homers" others who may be on social welfare and working?

There is no level playing field in an open forum so many are anonymous and just passing through hoping to pick up work from people in their own areas, take a look at the recent threads on moving a rad and fitting an outside tap?

By all means have them in the Arms and the Gas Safe register sections, worst that can happen in those is plumbers who are undercharging get to see what they should be aspiring to and the older ones (like me) can view and be thankful we were around when a decent living could be made from the trade.