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underpriced for bathroom job

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mark_mc

priced a job there for a bathroom swap with

shower tray, bath, basin, toilet and chrome towel rad and shower pump at hot water cylinder

quoted £780 including materials

the sanitaryware were in same position slight connection changes offcourse and towel rad moving about 2 feet. and shower door 900 quad
the shower pump had to have 2 feeds for cold water tanks as had to fit tmv valve and surrey flange to be fitted all the work was to be done right no corners took.

some guy then came in and quoted £600
i was doing this as a favour for a neighbour and thought i was doing dead cheap and then this, wot do you do>?>?<>?
 
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straight swop bath basin wc inc taps waste about £850 (suite cost £199 plus vat)

You are far to cheap as for the other one???????????
 
i wasnt supplying the suite just install and materials

all the traps and connections to sanitary ware and pipe very litte, classi seal around shower and shower pump install with surrey flange and salamander tmv valve they had a back boiler and 2 connections of cold water tank.

i know i was cheap was for a neighbour they thought i was expensive!!! and this other guy did it cheaper how!! diyer you think??
 
mark_mc said:
i wasnt supplying the suite just install and materials

all the traps and connections to sanitary ware and pipe very litte, classi seal around shower and shower pump install with surrey flange and salamander tmv valve they had a back boiler and 2 connections of cold water tank.

i know i was cheap was for a neighbour they thought i was expensive!!! and this other guy did it cheaper how!! diyer you think??
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botcher and potcher more likely
 
whenever things like this happen and the current work climate that we are in it seems people think you will do things for nothing, there was a job going back here in northern ireland for a gas safe man to work for £60 a day and not on the cards you would be better signed on.
 
trouble is people only see the price and think they have a bargin. the job wont be done correctly i would imagine and if things go wrong you will never see the bloke again.
 
dontknowitall said:
Last year I was told a £10 call out was expensive.
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Well to be fair,you were only picking your mum up from bingo !!


Just explain as you are a neighbor you have had to price the job to do correctly and cannot take any sort cuts,also the price is not based on hopeful extras that could easily be added to a job this size and many tradesmen rely on to get price to were it should have been in the first place

I personally do not do jobs for neighbors,you always end up doing extra work for nowt and they think it gives them a license to knock on your door when ever they want and when I an sat at home chilling,do not need people knocking on my door at 9.30 at night with a stupid question or about a dripping tap and if you charge £ 5 its to much and end up settling for some cheap,undrinkable wine they have had in their cupboard for 5 years
 
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With the amount of these fast track courses about now and the sheer number of people passing through them, and straight into self employment, you cant compete in the short term. No real idea of putting the things they learn(?) into practice on site and even less of a idea of what a job is really worth.
 
ratrace said:
With the amount of these fast track courses about now and the sheer number of people passing through them, and straight into self employment, you cant compete in the short term. No real idea of putting the things they learn(?) into practice on site and even less of a idea of what a job is really worth.
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I think you a bit harsh to say this to be honest!

This cheap bathroom has not been proven to be a fast track person atall!

It could be a number of things like a cash job,customer lying to show your price up or just a normal plumber wanting to work for a cheap hourly rate instead of staying at home doing nothing.

Even if it was a self employed fast track plumber they still have to pay all the overheads the same as us such as Tax, Van, Tools so on and so on
 
Get used to it. There is a lot of competition out there.
What you quoted was a fair price and if you are SE you have overheads.
Unfortunately as it is only 2 - 3 days work tops and if some plumber is sitting scratching his baws watching Jeremy Kyle, to him it is a good weeks wage. No one can say he will get a shyt job done for that. He may get a top job done by a well experienced guy who just needs the cash. There are a lot of good guys sitting doing nothing at the moment.

As puddle says .......Rule number 1. Don't do work for "friends" relations and NEIGHBOURS. It is more hastle than it is worth. Just tell them you are too busy even if they knock the door and you answer in your vest 😀
 
I agree that you are probably under priced, and as for £600 . . .

You should be charging a minimum of £150 a day (and that is cheap).

I think this is the result of hundreds of fast track trained plumbers, with little or no business acumen.

These guys have not researched the market before plunging in with rediculous prices, and in these financially challenging times people want the cheapest prices you can get.

It is a 'bodge job culture' that we are living in.

When I do I quote now, this is the first thing I explain to my customers. I give a good price for good work, and I tell them them can get a rubbish job for next to no money as well!
 
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Zammo1001 said:
I think you a bit harsh to say this to be honest!

This cheap bathroom has not been proven to be a fast track person atall!

It could be a number of things like a cash job,customer lying to show your price up or just a normal plumber wanting to work for a cheap hourly rate instead of staying at home doing nothing.

Even if it was a self employed fast track plumber they still have to pay all the overheads the same as us such as Tax, Van, Tools so on and so on
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I dont think it is harsh at all. Especially with regards to undervaluing work. If (a big if in some case's) they still have the same overheads then they are working for next to nothing. What is the point?
 
When I do I quote now, this is the first thing I explain to my customers. I give a good price for good work, and I tell them them can get a rubbish job for next to no money as well![/QUOTE]


this is a good way to go about business now, getting new customers is even hard now because when going to price a job for them, they dont know your work, and then someone underprices you by a few 100 they think you are overcharging as everyone says it harder than ever for good tradesmen providing a gd service
 
Can't see the problem for a stright swap and a little bit to do in hotpress for pump I think £600 is a fair price there should be no more that 31/2 days work there
 
the 600 does not include materials, you have all the wastes, pipework, tanks connectors, valves, copper fittings, surrey flange, salamander tmv valve as they have a back boiler, chrome rad valves, bottle of heating inhibator do you think 600 is ok??
 
mark_mc said:
the 600 does not include materials, you have all the wastes, pipework, tanks connectors, valves, copper fittings, surrey flange, salamander tmv valve as they have a back boiler, chrome rad valves, bottle of heating inhibator do you think 600 is ok??
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As a rule of thumb any jobs like this would be a quote for labour and an estimate on materials , I always work out how much money I want to make and that is usually based on how many days say 3 days I think £600 is fine , bear in mind working around tiler ? or are you going to be there at same time ? also bear in mind say maybe 8 customers you could potentially turn down whilst on the job that will now use another plumber and not you for the rest of their life.
 
Zammo1001 said:
I think you a bit harsh to say this to be honest!

This cheap bathroom has not been proven to be a fast track person atall!

It could be a number of things like a cash job,customer lying to show your price up or just a normal plumber wanting to work for a cheap hourly rate instead of staying at home doing nothing.

Even if it was a self employed fast track plumber they still have to pay all the overheads the same as us such as Tax, Van, Tools so on and so on
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Zammo, I agree with you on this one, OK I work in a College so you could say i was biased, but on the other hand you could say after having worked with these guys and girls for 6-8 months, that i'm in a position to comment on their commitment and work ethos, yes i have met some who are only in it for what they see as a quick buck ( if you are reading this then you know who you are!!!) but there are plenty who are going to make an honest attempt at doing a good quality job and are in it for the long haul, who are very aware of their technical short comings and are wiling to work away steadily to increase their skill/experience/earnings, i have met plenty of time served tradesmen with plenty of experience whos work standard and ethos is a scandal
 
sry made a mstake back there 600 quote did include all the materials. if it didnt include materials i wouldnt be a ????????
 
Kirkgas

I can agree with you thier. In some cases i have seen a fast track plumber take thier time worry about the job in hand a little bit more but in the end make a good job.

Thier are always the ones that do a course which do not register self employed , without insurance, and will bish bosh bash it in and not think of it again just for the fast wonga.

But on the other hand thier are the ones that want to make a better life for themselves and treat customers well even though they may be doing themselves abit price wise in the first couple of years but in the long run be a good plumber with
 
this is the problems with quoting for bathrooms at the moment - i have to judge the bathroom on what needs to be done - if its just straight swaps then i have to put a lower price in if i need the job, if its more complicated worktops, joins - hidden pipework, decent showers etc then i know i can up my price a bit as the cheap quoting general plumbers get worried about the worktop joins or dont have the tools, they also dont like wet rooms or complicated shower screens haha....

its on heating and gas jobs you can up the price to a decent level as you dont have as much competition but even thats getting saturated.
 
Hi Mark. In the words of the great Tom Jones "Is not unusual" A domestic punter employ a plumber once or twice in a life time. Having no idea of prices, only their lack of funds. With others quoting it becomes a dutch auction. Recession has a major impact on peoples financial decisions. But the fact this other guy will get a few quid, may save someone getting robed.
 
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