Problem getting quotes for small amounts of gas work.

[mbuckhurst]

Does anyone have any tips on how you get actually get a Corgi registered person to turn up for smaller jobs.

I live near Manchester and need to cap off 2 old gas fires and move a cooker point around about 8m into the adjacent room, so far I've tried around 20 names from the Corgi site and so far the success rate has been:

1) turned up and quoted £175, but doesn't respond to phone calls - I gave up after 8 attempts.

2) one guy turned up, quoted £100, promised he's turn up the next week, never showed, doesn't respond to phone calls.

3) another turned up, said he wasn't Corgi registered but had been doing this work for years, quoted £400, so clearly plans to use gold plated copper pipes. Needless to say we're not getting him to do it. Does it really cost £60 to cap a pipe from a gas fire? And does it really cost £150 for the pipe involved, I think this guy is taking the pee.

4-20) Simply haven't responded to the phone calls I've made.

As we're getting close to Christmas it's now become urgent, otherwise I'm not going to be popular with the inlaws. Does anyone know how you can get someone reliable to turn up? Or if not anyone who you trust in Stockport/Manchester area who tackles these smaller jobs.

mike

 

[hi-spec plumbing heating]

Does it really cost £60 to cap a pipe from a gas fire? And does it really cost £150 for the pipe involved,



mike

how much do you think it should cost ?

 

[Steady]

Whereabouts in Manchester are you?

 

[gas4you]

£60 is my minimum attendance fee for up to 1 hour, so yes.

 

[ChrisR]

ANyone qualified to do the job is probably also qualified to , for example, install boilers.
BG may make a gross profit of £2000 for doing a boiler installation.
An independent might perhaps make a gross profit of £1000.

So he can spend half a day doing your work, for which he probably figures you wouldn't pay more than a couple of hundred, or stick to boilers, at this time of year.

Argue the numbers if you like, but you see the point?

 

[Agile]

those of us who do boiler repairs are VERY busy at the moment!

Wait two weeks and someone will do it for you but about £175 is probably about right.

Tony.

 

[Paul Barker]

As already stated it's now a problem that there are a large number of installs waiting for us, and those fools amongst us who run a loss leader part of the business to responf to manufacturers' plea's for help are also busy on those.

This is so bad that now when I get an answerphone message which says phone me when you get home I actually do at 11pm. Also the customer who says call round on your way home, has to come down in their dressing gown.

The only other alternative right now is to chuck away the answerphone, make sure the mobile doesn't revert to answerphone, leave it switched off in the van. This has had to be my approach.

You OP will of course be thinking that this translates as:

a/ these boys are making serious money

or b/ why don't these boys employ someone.

To which I can only offer my personal experience.

Whenever I have employed someone they have cost the business their wages plus some of mine, have resulted in me doing a lot more work for a lot less money, and have damaged my reputation.

Going it alone the vast overheads of working legitimately are crippling.

I still haven't made my 37.5 hr nurses wage 4 years later working 120 hrs a week.

 

[mbuckhurst]

Whereabouts in Manchester are you?

Stockport, not far from Manchester airport.

mike

 

[mbuckhurst]

£60 is my minimum attendance fee for up to 1 hour, so yes.

but if you do 2 in the same visit and move a cooker point at the same time, is this really going to cost £295 which is what the quote says.

I don't mind paying a call out fee, but the way I see it this is a blatant rip-off, especially considering none of the other quotes come even close (although I guess there's a premium for turning up ) .

Plus is a non-Corgi registered person even allowed to do this work?

mike

 

[Nige F]

£60 is my minimum attendance fee for up to 1 hour, so yes.

Plus is a non-Corgi registered person even allowed to do this work?

mike

No they`re not ....so there goes my C+G and 30 years of "old-school" plumbing .......not worth Jack **** Luckily I winged it for 30 years and I`m allright, Jack....phew that was close LOL....The Corgi is King now and for evermore .......and they £ove it

 

[ChrisR]

Only Corgi regd tradesmen can work on gas in your home, including capping off a pipe or putting in a new pipe.

We can't see the job, but it sounds like half a day or so. He might start at mid day and finish at 3pm, but then have no small paying job he can go to so has to charge half a day. He might be able to go and "look at" someone else's small job but people don't expect to pay at all for advice or quotes.

Repairers, who do hourly work., often won't move a pipe. Different tools so it's a bit of a pain. Negligible profit on parts so it isn't attractive. Installers will need bigger jobs.

I'm currently "sick" sitting at home recovering and earning nothing, but the phone keeps ringing and people still expect me to go and "have a look", and tell them what to do to fix their problem, free.

 

[Nige F]

tell them to look @ you on Diynot.com leave a message on your ansaphone to that effect

 

[namsag]

Paul you really need to take serious time off work sit down and realise you don`t have to kill yourself to work .

Life is about having a good time and enjoying yourself ,, you are never going to be a millionaire so DON`T kill yourself trying to be .

Turn your phone off only take work you want and ditch manufacturers work and get on with a half decent job and enjoy life.
I MEAN this in the nicest possible way

 

[gas4you]

£60 is my minimum attendance fee for up to 1 hour, so yes.

but if you do 2 in the same visit and move a cooker point at the same time, is this really going to cost £295 which is what the quote says.

Moving a cooker point on the same wall would probably add another £60-£80. We cannot see your job.

Plus is a non-Corgi registered person even allowed to do this work?

Not in a million years

This is the type of job I would do 'after leaving off and on my way home'

 

[Paul Barker]

Paul you really need to take serious time off work sit down and realise you don`t have to kill yourself to work .

Life is about having a good time and enjoying yourself ,, you are never going to be a millionaire so DON`T kill yourself trying to be .

Turn your phone off only take work you want and ditch manufacturers work and get on with a half decent job and enjoy life.
I MEAN this in the nicest possible way

Thanks mate. I know..