Priced out of work!!!

[villa_tom]

I went to have a look at a cooker install for a customer this afternoon. Priced up the job at £85.00. This would have included cooker hose, cooker chain, bayonette fitting and wall plate. Plus as the existing cooker point was only 150mm off the floor I would have bought the height up to the MI's and of course I would have commissioned the cooker aswell. I have fitted a few cookers and charged from between £70.00 and £100.00 depending on what needs doing. So you can imagine the look on my face when the bloke said thanks but no thanks and told me he had had a bloke round earlier in the day and he quoted him £35.00. Saw the blokes business card and he is GSR so its all above board. But I can't see how you can be making much money out of it. Its got to be about twenty quids worth of gear and anywhere from 1-2 hours work depending on how smoothly the job goes. Anyway I just thought I'd say this - I don't know why I just needed a rant really. Plus had a row with missus after work. So a great day all in all.

 

[CES]

That quote of £35 is ridiculous. The Engineer before you is either really struggling to get work or he's just started up and doesn't know how to price. £35 doesn't even cover my first hour. I must have a huge overhead in comparison!

 

[villa_tom]

35 quid is a joke. I'm sure we all did jobs for cheaper then we should of when we first started out, but £35 is taking the mick. To be honest, I'm sub contacting at the moment so I rarely take private work that comes so i'm not to bothered about losing the job as I'm busy enough really, I just went to have a look as it was in the next street from me. I just was a little suprised at the other blokes price. But if thats what he wants to earn and he can work at that price then fair play to him, but I think pricing in this way can ruin it for the rest of us really as people will think that a reasonably priced quote is a rip off

 

[stevetheplumber]

work for nothing and you can work 24/7 but who wants to

 

[metaldust9]

i had one with kitchen taps on gravity system with no iso,s ,said to the bloke would take ages to drain it down or if i was to freeze it it was £14 for the kit (dont like freezing) so said it would be £60 plus was a nightmare to get at ,so was going to fit flexi,s the bloke said your £25 out lad last bloke said £35 i said good luck to him see ye ,carnt do it for £35 probs take an hour to drain down then the usual air locks when filling up ,nightmare

 

[SafeGasInstall]

I ask from £60+materials ,same for hobs!in west London ,£20 for removing old one !!!

 

[REDSAW]

well i am thinking more on the expectations of the custards who expect to pay even less than the £35 quoted and waste our times getting to quote even less!, tight gits.imo.
do you think he was just going around to push the bayonet straight onto the existing install?

 

[tamz]

I was taking £35 in the 80's and nicking the stuff

 

[GQuigley67]

I wouldn't do anything for less than £40 pound in my pocket and that isnt including materials £35 is a joke

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

just leave your card and be truthful that you cant compete with those prices as you dont want to bodge the job

I've had it too and agree with Redsaw was he really expecting you to under cut the £35?

 

[GQuigley67]

I think some customers try and chance their luck also by saying they got a quote from another engineer at x amount so you will try and undercut them, a form of haggling I guess

 

[villa_tom]

well i am thinking more on the expectations of the custards who expect to pay even less than the £35 quoted and waste our times getting to quote even less!, tight gits.imo.
do you think he was just going around to push the bayonet straight onto the existing install?

Thats what I said to the customer. Anyone could price work at these prices if the regs where not adhered to. But like I said to the bloke, and I'm not 100% on this but I'm sure it would void any warranty he has on the new cooker if it was not installed correctly. As I know this is the case with boilers. But as with anything you get what you pay for and at £35 quid you ain't gonna get very much.

 

[villa_tom]

I was taking £35 in the 80's and nicking the stuff

I was charging £80 and I had also "aquired" the materials

 

[pauls]

im getting hacked off with this priceing lark now............ just put in quote for supply and fit 2 rads, and pipework they are being moved to different locations. all in i quoted £348 to high................ lost a back boiler ripout and install quoted £2800

 

[obseen16]

its insane how low some people will go with their prices, if my custards say mr blobby round the corner quoted me £X cheaper than you i just say if you have it in writing ill see if i can beat it, most of the time they dont have the quote to hand suprise suprise, and they dont seem to realise that alot of us know each other and all get talking when were in the merchants. so when custard tells me jerry and bob quoted X i ask jerry and bob if they really did quote Mrs C that amount. jerry replies ha no she told me fred quoted her X aswell, they try it on. lol

dont think i have ever charged less than £70 for a cooker or hob install.

 

[Pssst]

This is the kind of thing that happens when training centres advertise how much you can make as a GSR,then rubber stamp thousands of people through to make money,launch them all on the market to fight with eachother and then have them posting on forums for clues as to how to do or remedy the most elementary things.

Perhaps the time has come for the better skilled,experienced and well qualified engineers to protect their knowledge and skills ,keep their prices where they need to be and keep schtum?

 

[metaldust9]

ive had the same tom went in at £60, said to dear, can get it done for £30 my face must have looked a picture i was stunned i said they carnt be gas safe he reconed they was i said what if ye need a new hose he said wasnt his problem the bloke had quoted £30, had another today got a call from a woman panicking water coming through her new ceiling so dropped everything when round 8 miles away got there she said how much will it be i said £60 after seeing it she said to dear and was it ok to get other quotes and she wanted to pay tommorow dont no were they come from the ceiling was full of water from the leak it needed draining down fixing and refilling amazing

 

[nysk2008]

Live in south east london, went to quote for a system to combi swop and was told that a couple of supposingly GS reg eastern europeans had quoted 230 quid labour for the job, getting bored of it to fair - we work hard, and train hard, how the hell do these people live?

 

[mfgs]

£230? Suppose they will have it done in a day, £115 each. May aswell go and work for somebody if thats all you are earning, would earn more money get holiday pay and alot less hassle.

Where abouts in south east london are you based?

 

[nysk2008]

Hi mfgs, im nr Croydon but work around SE and SW London

 

[stevetheplumber]

thing is they dont get hassle as they never go back if somethings wrong how many times you been to put stuff righht cos the last bloke has buggered it up and wont come back and all they do is bend your ear about how they aint got no money now theve been ripped of by thieving plumbers

 

[unguided1]

just tell yer customer this, If you think its expensive to hire a professional to do the job, then wait until you hire an amateur, Qoute from Red Adair

 

[stevetheplumber]

we work hard, and train hard, how the hell do these people live?[/QUOTE]

12 sharing a house that theyve squatted in while the hardworking owner went away for a weekend break

 

[Pssst]

On the subject of being priced out of work...would anyone like to float some figures as to the minimum annual net pay that they think gas chaps should have to work for or that they would work for?

 

[GQuigley67]

we should be getting around 30k a year i'd say minimum