Pricing, whats fair?

[9dog]

Evening Gents

Not really sure who to aim this question at (experienced vets or young upstarts like myself), having recently decided to leap headfirst into the shark infested water that is "one man band" plumbing (spent 10 years employed) Im finding myself continually coming unstuck with my pricing, For example Iv been asked to remove a gas fire, cap off gas etc and remove a rad then rehang once room is plastered, Iv asked guys who Iv worked with what sort of figure to quote and the range between prices baffles me, Im slowly getting to grips with heating install and boiler swaps and other "big" jobs as the internet seems to have a whole world of pricing structures for these, but its these smaller jobs, As in pump changes, outside taps etc I struggle with, any advice from You guys would be greatly appreciated, Im in the south east if that helps,

cheers in advance

 

[bert large]

bert the plumbfix/screwfix in huddersielfd and wakefield ask to see your card until they've all seen you a few times. i once phoned in for some stuff and my lackie only came back with half of it cos he isn't gsr yet.

Sounds good Bod. Lets hope more of the merchants follow that example.

 

[Barry98]

recon were in for a long wait on that score

 

[ecowarm]

Not being sketchy about pricing but pricing is like cloths you wear for what ever occasion and you have to make sure the cloths you wear are correct for the environment and what works you are doing

You change them all the time to meet the above,you have to be aware if it is raining or sunny and you have to have a wardrobe to take this into account

If you suspect a customer may want you to go swimming and you are happy to go swimming, ware your trucks ,you can take advantage of that ,if you ware suspenders and stockings on under his boiler suit,you my loss out while you adjust your wardrobe.If you have speedo's you have the job

Plenty of customers can see when a price is underdressed although you may have to point out a few missing buttons and many customers can see when a price includes all the clothing required although you may have to itemise the important garments thats missed from other quotes

If you have no dress sense you are in big do do



imho

Suspenders and stockings under your boiler suit! What sort of clients do you have Puddle?

 

[Toddyplumb]

Danny the £100 wk scheme has provision in it to pay extra hours . £6 hr seems high

 

[plumbster3456]

c

Do they enforce that principal by asking to see a GS card though ? Whats the betting they just say, "this needs to be fitted by a registered installer"

The only company I know of that rigidly enforces the "trade only" principal is Howdens, the kitchen supplier. Fair play to them, they will not sell or even give prices to non-account holders.

I think now they only sell this stuff in plumbfix? whicj is the trade only part at screwfix you do have to show gas safe card there when setting up your account

 

[Dannypipe]

Danny the £100 wk scheme has provision in it to pay extra hours . £6 hr seems high

Didn't realise it was a scheme? Who did you set this up with?

 

[jase158]

I would simply go by qualifications, level 2 basic, (just doing wet work) would be £30-£50p/h depending on area, Level 3 advanced wet work, Planning i.e. work that basically takes some thought and planning £60-£100 p/h depending on area, Gas work- £80- £120 again depending on area. My opinion is the more qualifications you have the more valuable you are to the customer, Also if you are cheap you will get loads of work, but everybody will recommend you because of your price, If you are expensive then people will recommend you due to your quality. The higher rate option will take longer to get busy 5 days a week, but once you are, you will be cruising on the river nile.

Also the biggest thing i find is that if the persons house is smelly and they start to say they know what they are talikng about, then chances are that you don't want the customer to recommend you to his friends/ family and to be honest, if you don't get the job, aint really a problem, so price higher. Nothing worse then somebody standing over you and watching your every move.

I have quoted one company £1200 for a toilet refurbishment and charged £1200 to another customer for 2 bathroom refurbishments, The difference is the amount of work involved, the toilet refurbishment has a cubical, urinal and some tiling, where as the bathroom is only the plumbing.

 

[Dannypipe]

Gas work £80 - £120 an hour.

Well I'm in posh Tunbridge Wells, and I don't charge anywhere close to that. Practically half your lower figure.

 

[jase158]

Gas work £80 - £120 an hour.

Well I'm in posh Tunbridge Wells, and I don't charge anywhere close to that. Practically half your lower figure.

What? £15- £25 per hour????

 

[Dannypipe]

No, £50 for gas, and £40 for wet plumbing.

 

[Dannypipe]

There I said it!

 

[jase158]

yeah that sounds about normal for most plumbers, however, the prices i quoted are the prices i believe that should be quoted, If you have 4/5 years training under your belt plus years of experience, then £80- £120 p/h should be the standard.

What other jobs do you need to train for 4/5 years before you can do your job.

Prime minister, doctors, surgeons.

The bankers have no training and millions of pounds in bonuses.

 

[Dannypipe]

Well mate, I've been doing this for well over ten years...have many qualifications, and run my own business...so from what you're saying - I'm too cheap. Perhaps time to adjust my rates???

 

[Dannypipe]

Oh and I think doctors train for about 7 years, but thats just splitting hairs. Course I'd like to earn more.

.....and I am booked up for a long time, so I don't want to rock the boat too much and lose my client base.

 

[SafeGasInstall]

got introduced to estate agency(Finchley LOndon) ,there were looking for some one to cover there reactive plumbing/gas during normal hours and off hours !
send them price list £50-normal hours
of hours and weekends £90 and then £80
they got back to me i was to expansive , as they were paying £55 flat rate !
i did not get back to them with any comment , but they can weak up 2am and go fix there leak them self,
What a jokers .....Finchley is proper rich area ,they will charge customers £120 and then £55 flat rate to us

 

[jase158]

thats the biggest problem, price vs qualifications. If i went to a job and said i was gas safe registered, would the customer check or even care or do they simply check the price. (I would never do it as I do not want somebodies life on my concience)

British gas are busy, simply by being one of the biggest names. I hear that their boiler service are somewhere in the region of £120- £200.
It doesn't matter that some of their engineers do not know very much. every engineer charges the same wether they have been doing it for 20 years or 2 months.

So yes, in my opinion if you charge £80-£120 p/h then you will start to get better clients. however you could be sat at home for 3-5 years waiting for the phone to ring. Its all about the circle of friends. each customer you go to has on average 10 friends, your job is to stick in their mind so that when one of those friends needs a plumber, you are the first person they think of.

now if you charge £10 p/h he will tell his friends that you charge £10 p/h, however if you charge £100 p/h he will tell all his friends you charge £100 P/H.

If david beckham or richard branson called you to do a boiler service, how much would you charge?

 

[SafeGasInstall]

£60-£80 standard ,but if big job to be done then different amount of 0,will apply to the quote !

 

[Dannypipe]

I charge everyone the same, rich or poor. I know some people won't believe this but I genuinely do.

Only people who would get a cheaper rate are those that I could see were in dire need and genuinely near the breadline, and elderly people, as they're often the most genuine people to work for, but in all honesty most of the time, they get charged my same hourly rate.

I wouldnt charge a struggling single mum the full wack, but Mr Branson would pay the same as Mr Average.

I find this makes life less complicated, and people know where they stand.

 

[jase158]

That's quite kind, and I do try, but the bigger jobs are harder as you can't really compare unless you charge day rate. Also people who are near the breadline are less likely to have had services, meaning you will be there longer, so it kinda works it self out? Just out of curiosity, how do you charge then? Per hour or per job? So for instance fitting an outside tap can take 15 minutes or 3 hours?

 

[Dannypipe]

I charge by the hour on small jobs...takes as long as it takes. (garden taps, leaks etc)

Bigger jobs, I price and aim to earn at least £200 a day...then add on what I think I can and still win the work. (Boilers, appliances etc)

Even bigger jobs, like the one I'm on at the mo, I work by the same priciple, but as I have to emply subbies, it takes more working out. I'll earn off the subbies, and materials etc. It takes a while to get good at pricing. I pride myself on doing a pretty good job. (Full installs).

Underpriced my first job in a long time - Rainwater harvesting - which isn't a familiar job for me. Got caught out. Client got a cheap job, but on small jobs like that, you lick your wounds and move on. All just my opinion.

Think I'll raise my rates to absorb apprenices wage.

 

[Bartdude]

yeah that sounds about normal for most plumbers, however, the prices i quoted are the prices i believe that should be quoted, If you have 4/5 years training under your belt plus years of experience, then £80- £120 p/h should be the standard.

What other jobs do you need to train for 4/5 years before you can do your job.

Prime minister, doctors, surgeons.

The bankers have no training and millions of pounds in bonuses.

If I charged that I simply wouldn't get any work,it's way too expensive for my area,doesn't matter how good you are.

To compare a plumber to a doctor or a surgeon is just not realistic.Those vocations require degree level education and the training cannot be compared to an NVQ.A surgeon literally has a persons life in their hands when they operate,of course unsafe gas work can be dangerous but it's not on the same level at all.

I agree that the trade is undervalued generally but I think a dose of realism is needed.

 

[david williams]

gas safe are only there to take money of the registered installer.its to much effort to chase the unregisterd,

 

[david williams]

you may be a great plumber honest and reliable,but how long will you be in buisiness if you do not charge properly.do you add up all you overheads.van,van insurence tax,cost of deisal,public liability insurence,fees to gas safe,ciphe,etc,work tools,cost of all this £ devided by hours you can expect to work in a week.and dont forget your pension fund you will not be young forever

 

[woodsy]

Agree with most of the comments about what we should charge but even charging £25 per hr + vat for gas work in Yorkshire is normally followed by the customer saying ' how much !!!!!!!. We have idiots up here who will work for £80 per day never mind an hour. Picked up the local paper at the weekend and not one but three people offering to supply and fit a new combi for less than £900.

 

[ecowarm]

you may be a great plumber honest and reliable,but how long will you be in buisiness if you do not charge properly.do you add up all you overheads.van,van insurence tax,cost of deisal,public liability insurence,fees to gas safe,ciphe,etc,work tools,cost of all this £ devided by hours you can expect to work in a week.and dont forget your pension fund you will not be young forever

Yes, I had this with an accountant and he worked out I need to charge £185p/h!!!!!!!!!!!!