It does seem having to add on at least 100% over base line costs is a bit high.
In effect are they being as efficient as they might be in keeping these costs down?
Its only to expected I suppose, that if companies are making say 10% profit over base cost all the time, then they are not going to be too worried over running costs if all they have to do is pass any increases on to the customer.
It just means they still keep their 10%.
In my experience though you never find out how much a company makes or how they work out how much they make, they are usually very secretive about these things.
And lets be frank, you could charge the company a £1 million a year for your wages declaring them as running costs and not profit.
And a good accountant could get your tax bill down to virtually copper's.
Always surprises me, that it seems those that pay the least to the state taxes seem to moan the most about those who are supported by the state.
A boss I worked for was offered £60ph for insurance work. But what if the insurance company had stuck out for £30ph, still good money at the time?
The customer however, who paid £60ph out of his cover would not get much value for say £6,000 cover if it was taken out at £60ph. If they where charged at £30ph the same cover would give double the value.
Any right thinking person who worked out what they got for their money would go to the cheap insurance company right away.
The same applies to Plumbing companies.
The problem I think, is that perhaps many Plumbing companies are run by Plumbers, not business or marketing men, so its still very much a "What is the most I can get for this, industry!"
The customer is then left to accept or reject what is on offer.
Except for the likes of gas fitting where the market is biased toward the Gas Safe contractor.
The problem is controlling prices in a closed market is often a case of eventually the government stepping in to regulate it in some way or other. I suppose flooding the market with gas fitters is one way to bring prices down.
And lets be frank, isn't, according to the mails that happening now?
