chippy and mate - how much are they worth?

[peter.sims]

Hello,
I have a quote from a chippy i trust for £200 a day for him and his mate to do the wood fixings on my extension. It involves the stud walling, insulation, flooring and roof to battens. Is this a fair price?
Any advice would be appreciated,
Peter

 

[Thermo]

more than fair for down here

 

[peter.sims]

thanks for that ... anyone else pay about this rate?

 

[splinter]

Hello,
I have a quote from a chippy i trust for £200 a day for him and his mate to do the wood fixings on my extension. It involves the stud walling, insulation, flooring and roof to battens. Is this a fair price?
Any advice would be appreciated,
P
eter

A chippy you trust ,then you ask is he is charging a fair rate ,mmmmmmmm very trusting .Any way Iwould say that is a more than reasonable day rate.If you unhappy with his rates ask him to price you're job

 

[peter.sims]

Hmmmmm ... a very sharp splinter i think... I said i trust him but i meant i trust him to do a decent job. And there's nothing wrong with asking for a second opinion about any work that you have to pay for .... or indeed about a doctors diagnosis?
Thanks anyway.
Peter

 

[markie]

If it had of been me, i would of got a price for the whole job instead of day rate, on day rate there is no hurry and they could make the job last for ever, have long breaks, mess around and pretend to be doing something constructive.

Thats just my view,

Regarding £200 per day thats a bit steep up this way, ( is it cash in hand )

 

[Thermo]

thats for him AND his mate isnt it?

 

[peter.sims]

The rate is for him and his mate .... I started by asking for a job rate but i can get decent trade deals on the materials, probably less that he can and when I said that i could get the stuff, he said that a day rate would suit me better .. I tend to agree ... we'll see .... thanks for the comments .. appreciated ..
Peter

 

[Deluks]

Well ask him how long he thinks the job will take, multiply days by £200 and there's your figure

Seems a fair price, although don't be suprised if his mate turns out to be his 15 year old son....or Polish.

Regarding rates, tradesman often charge what they think they're worth, which in itself has no relation to the quality of workmanship.

 

[Scrit]

The going day rate for a trained joiner is around £130 to £160 round here (NW England), so you're not paying much extra for the "mate". It shouldn't matter what the "mate" is, although you normally aren't allowed to take anyone under 16 on site and I certainly wouldn't want to take anyone younger than 18 out with me (for insurance reasons). I'd agree with the suggestion to get an estimate for the entire job, but I'd also request a price including materials.

Despite what they think I can generally buy much cheaper than my customers AND I know where to buy quality materials from (so not B&Q Banana Pine, crappy second rate doors, etc). If you supply the materials, e.g. doors, and they take an extra hour each to hang because they are rubbish, then who's the loser? As to discounts I won't pass on all my trade discounts to customers because I have to run accounts, give credit to customers, carry a percentage of bad materials, handle returns, handle and store stuff, etc - and all of that has to be paid for out of my income.

Scrit

 

[peter.sims]

Thanks again,
I agree with the comments and I wouldn't get the stuff if it wasn't good quality. It's a family connection...
The mate is his 12yr old daughter so £70 a day ain't bad for her .. - just kidding !!
I think the mate's like an apprentice but definitely over 16. Whether he'ds 18 or not i don't know ... they all look like they're just out of nappies to me! Everyone has to start somewhere....
Cheers,
Peter

 

[Scrit]

Had to say that about materials. Customers are generally somewhat less than impressed when they're charged a premium for hanging cheap, nasty B&Q (or other) banana doors - they save £10 or so on each door then the chippy spends an extra hour or so hanging each one as they need a lot of fiddling, so no-ones's really happy. Not sure Id be happy about having a minor there, though.

Scrit