Pricing a boiler change advice please

[southcoastboile]

Just wondered if anyone runs a company what sort of mark up do they put on a boiler change.

I normally work out parts, overheads, engineers wages and add £300 plus vat profit.

unless the customer or the job is going to be a problem then I add more on.

I find I normally loose the job if I go for more than £300 profit unless it's a customer that We have done previous work for.

that profit can easily be wiped out in a day if you come across a problem. If you are up against a sole trader they have an advantage as they don't have the wages to pay so can obv do the job a lot cheaper.

does this mark up sound about right or does anyone work it out differently?

 

[jonnyswamp]

£300 doesn't give you much leeway if you have to send someone back to sort any "niggles"
I'm a sole trader and I charge UPWARDS of £1800 for an Vaillant 831 (or equivalent)
Every trade has its "bunce" jobs, boilers are ours, lets try and keep it that way

 

[IDCHAPPY]

I've said I'm never going to start putting boiler in for 1K, i fully intend to stick to that.
1.5K for a combi install is about the bare bones for me, i realize that makes me seem pricey but I'm not going to burst myself flinging in boilers for £300 profit

 

[A1P]

£300 doesn't give you much leeway if you have to send someone back to sort any "niggles"
I'm a sole trader and I charge UPWARDS of £1800 for an Vaillant 831 (or equivalent)
Every trade has its "bunce" jobs, boilers are ours, lets try and keep it that way

Bearing in mind the usual,it depends on what is involved,how easy a swap it is,I charge a decent mark up.However I do try to encourage a power flush where testing shows it is needed(alternative flushing if not)+a decent filter.I am usually selling a 5/7 year guarantee which gives me the annual services hopefully and keeps them out of robbing maintenance insurance.I also have the NO VAT advantage as a sole trader.Bearing all that in mind I can be a little bit flexible in pricing.It is very competitive and depending on your situation you sometimes have to buy business where it is all about price e.g. some landlords.OP your mark up might be tight but as you have noted competition is fierce and VAT is bad news.

 

[LPC]

Average price for a combi swap for me is £1800 - £2300, depending on a lot of things. On average it takes me 2 days and I only fit Worcesters or Vaillants. I include a powerflush every time I install a new boiler.

There is no way I would fit a boiler for £300 labour. And I get 9/10 boiler jobs I quote for and on average do 1 boiler install a week.

As jonnyswamp said, boiler jobs are where we make our real money to make up for all the times when we don't!

 

[hammers4spanner]

you would want 300 plus however around these parts where i live plumbs chuck them in 150 -200 quid fit n forget and builders chuck them in illegally all over .

domestics is pants long live commercial turn up pull a large figure out the air and get paid

cheers bey

 

[southcoastboile]

Think I'm about right then. The labour charge is more than £300. I take into account wages and overheads at £150 a day then £300 on top for profit so total labour is £600 if you work it that way.
combi for combi example I would work out:
Glowworm boiler flue/clock £550 plus vat
chemicals/fittings/materials £150
overheads/wages £300 (2days, 1 spent just flushing). £300
profit £300
total £1300 plus vat

magnaclean/timer etc all optional extras. Different boiler obv more.

seems like I am in the right ballpark?

 

[jonnyswamp]

Think I'm about right then. The labour charge is more than £300. I take into account wages and overheads at £150 a day then £300 on top for profit so total labour is £600 if you work it that way.
combi for combi example I would work out:
Glowworm boiler flue/clock £550 plus vat
chemicals/fittings/materials £150
overheads/wages £300 (2days, 1 spent just flushing). £300
profit £300
total £1300 plus vat

magnaclean/timer etc all optional extras. Different boiler obv more.

seems like I am in the right ballpark?

If your happy with your margins, that's all that matters
I don't know your area, or what others charge there
Who knows, we may all have to drop our prices to compete with the ever growing ammount of plumbers out there
But for now, thankfully, most customers appreciate that cheapest isn't always best and will pay accordingly
When quoting' if you can convince your customer of your knowledge, competence and confidence, then as long as your not BG prices your 90% there
Don't sell yourself short

 

[A1P]

If your happy with your margins, that's all that matters
I don't know your area, or what others charge there
Who knows, we may all have to drop our prices to compete with the ever growing ammount of plumbers out there
But for now, thankfully, most customers appreciate that cheapest isn't always best and will pay accordingly
When quoting' if you can convince your customer of your knowledge, competence and confidence, then as long as your not BG prices your 90% there
Don't sell yourself short

Always good news if they have got/getting BG quote.Often 60/100% more.£400/600 for a power flush,£200/300 for a filter,2 year boiler guarantee.You seem to have thought your pricing through and if this is competitive in your market price then you have a chance.Customers seem to like long guarantees and I do a lot of Baxi Duotec and Ideal logic+.

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Most BG boiler swaps seem to com in at 3K +, which is good news for us

 

[lame plumber]

Think I'm about right then. The labour charge is more than £300. I take into account wages and overheads at £150 a day then £300 on top for profit so total labour is £600 if you work it that way.
combi for combi example I would work out:
Glowworm boiler flue/clock £550 plus vat
chemicals/fittings/materials £150
overheads/wages £300 (2days, 1 spent just flushing). £300
profit £300
total £1300 plus vat

magnaclean/timer etc all optional extras. Different boiler obv more.

seems like I am in the right ballpark?

your on the south coast where the money is much better than down here in devon and the cheapest straight swap and manual flush I do is £1800 for a mate! your far to cheap, dont you put a markup on supplies of 20% and charge a decent labour rate? ok so youll lose a few but you wont survive long working for peanuts. You always know those charging to little, they work all hours and weekends, never have a coffee in the merchants and run around in rustbuckets, dont go down that route

 

[downthesouth]

That sounds like me at the moment, its all to easy to get into the busy fool trap but Im determined to change it thou. The OP lives in the same area as me. yes its very competitive but there are people rolling in it here so £1500 should be the very bare minimum.

 

[downthesouth]

Put more on labour to cover tax bill, Id charge at least 10% on materials if you have to get them yourself. Should be at least £1500 in this area, People are not hard up in Bournemouth just tight as crabs arseholes

 

[hammers4spanner]

your on the south coast where the money is much better than down here in devon and the cheapest straight swap and manual flush I do is £1800 for a mate! your far to cheap, dont you put a markup on supplies of 20% and charge a decent labour rate? ok so youll lose a few but you wont survive long working for peanuts. You always know those charging to little, they work all hours and weekends, never have a coffee in the merchants and run around in rustbuckets, dont go down that route

liking this business module in it for pounds nor pennies

 

[Mike Jackson]

your on the south coast where the money is much better than down here in devon and the cheapest straight swap and manual flush I do is £1800 for a mate! your far to cheap, dont you put a markup on supplies of 20% and charge a decent labour rate? ok so youll lose a few but you wont survive long working for peanuts. You always know those charging to little, they work all hours and weekends, never have a coffee in the merchants and run around in rustbuckets, dont go down that route

Depends where you live on the South Coast. Hastings is still suffering financially, I'm pricing at the top end of what we can get away with in the area at 10% on materials and £300 a day. Strict minimum for a boiler swap is £600 labour though.

 

[Mrs Tara Plumbi]

Just checking this is private - between us we don't do many straightforward boiler change jobs because we can't afford to live on the pitance that people will actually pay when they get an alternative quote.

As a direct answer to your question I would have thought a self employed qualified gas engineer working for the public would expect to charge at least £300 for labour per day.
For the resposibility of the whole job it should be more, I think £500 is reasonable, but you might not win the work against competitors.

The issue is more to do with what kind of customers you are going for:
are they the ones who want the very cheapest of everything - don't bother with them.
Many want to pay a bit more for quality items and professional service.

BTW, we would not be pricing any gas work with a mere mark up of £300 pd for labour, not even £500 unless we had no work! No that doesn't sound right, it could be about £500 but could be much more depending on the exact details.

 

[southcoastboile]

Okay that's good to know that people think I'm to cheap.

it actually works out at around £600 for the labour so I find if you are quoting against a sole trader I will loose the job as I don't think they normally would put more than a £600 labour and parts mark up on a job.

customers have access to the internet so they can easily see what you are paying on parts. The net is often cheaper than local suppliers anyway.

im going to try a bit more labour cost on the next 5 quotes and see what happens.

i find the money to be made is in breakdowns, servicing and llgs.

 

[A1P]

Okay that's good to know that people think I'm to cheap.

it actually works out at around £600 for the labour so I find if you are quoting against a sole trader I will loose the job as I don't think they normally would put more than a £600 labour and parts mark up on a job.

customers have access to the internet so they can easily see what you are paying on parts. The net is often cheaper than local suppliers anyway.

im going to try a bit more labour cost on the next 5 quotes and see what happens.

i find the money to be made is in breakdowns, servicing and llgs.

It will be interesting to see how it goes with your pricing.I think having 3 levels of boiler to offer helps.I don't usually get into the Level 3 top level!!! I am finding 5/7 year guarantees on some Baxi and Ideals goes well as you can justify a filter and some form of flush for the necessary clean system.I am finding like you that repairs / services are a good means of access to new customers.Seemingly quite a lot of engineers are not keen ,especially the repairs.

 

[IDCHAPPY]

The internet murders a lot of merchants prices because of the lack of overheads they have. There's always an element of risk buying online though. If the customer buy the boiler the warranty is all theirs though

 

[Ermintrude]

I wouldn't buy a boiler off net. Out of principle.

Wait in for del. bits missing or broken and there is 5 days gone.

 

[Deleted member 44451]

iv been in this business a long time and i am convinced good sales skills are more important than price . at the end of the day we are skilled tradesman but may not be the best at selling our business. and i include my self in this, iv been quoting private work for years but never put my self on a sales course . so for anyone starting out i would recommend doing at least a one day course

 

[A1P]

The internet murders a lot of merchants prices because of the lack of overheads they have. There's always an element of risk buying online though. If the customer buy the boiler the warranty is all theirs though

I remind customers of this and usually tell them I won't fit or buy from internet.With a merchant you can trust ,any problems straight back and delivery when you need it.I find mine will often do me a package price on full installs and little sweeteners like bargain filter/chemical packs.As long as the price doesn't cost me jobs I prefer one stop for all my stuff.I am well looked after.

 

[A1P]

iv been in this business a long time and i am convinced good sales skills are more important than price . at the end of the day we are skilled tradesman but may not be the best at selling our business. and i include my self in this, iv been quoting private work for years but never put my self on a sales course . so for anyone starting out i would recommend doing at least a one day course

I think this is worth considering.I haven't done one myself but took plenty of advice.You are in fact selling yourself as well as your expertise.There is a current thread on presentation and most feel it is important.Basically people have to like and trust you.Price isn't the be all and end all except for certain customers e.g .many landlords.I am finding with referrals my price is often accepted but £50 'wriggle room' covers any issues.

 

[JAH HEATING]

The prices are proper crap here, you have a big firm fitting Valliants for £1200 with a big guarantee.

they are never off the radio, an advertised all over the city.

 

[MK_Swans]

Based in the Swansea area things are a bit leaner with punters.

Advising them on TRV's, controls, and a days flushing etc. they think you're inflating the job (clenched teeth sucking noise!)

Another thing that does my head in is the I've seen a Ferroli boiler in Selco for £450 how much to fit it?


Prices vary massively but basic combi for combi swap starts from £1200 up to full works at £2200.

MK