Decorators and handyman rates

[cumbriahandyman]

I charge £12.00 an hour, and have a minimum charge of 3 hours.

I then have another minimum charge for emergency call-outs.

"quick, can you come round straight away?"

"what's the emergency?"

"I need a shelf putting up"



Andy

Yes to put up your shelf I will charge £36.00.

Call me out at 10pm because you put put the shelf up yourself (not wanting to pay me £36.00 tight git ) and have put a screw through a cable, leaving you with no lighting hot water and son can't play on his puter, I will charge you £118.00 to restore tricity and then quote to return the next day (if free) to do permanent repair.

Genuine story...

Lady phoned me asking to quote to replace light in kitchen. £36.00 I said.

Don't bother she replied, I will get my brother to do it.

Next day, Saturday. Phone call, same lady my brother took the light down but can't work out wher all the wires go. Can you come out now and will it still be £36.00.

No said I it's Saturday my day off. I charge treble on a Saturday or Sunday. I heard her talk to hubby or brother not sure which who told her to tell me to f off. She said can I get back to you.

A couple of hours later she phoned asking me to attend. I did and asked for payment up front. Stuck £118.00 in my pocket. Unpacked new light fitting which I then refused to fit.

Did fit the old plastic fitting brother took down and left.

No earth wire and new fitting was nice shiny metal.

 

[HERTS P&D]

I charge £12.00 an hour, and have a minimum charge of 3 hours.

I then have another minimum charge for emergency call-outs.

"quick, can you come round straight away?"

"what's the emergency?"

"I need a shelf putting up"




Andy

Genuine story...

Lady phoned me asking to quote to replace light in kitchen. £36.00 I said.

Next day, Saturday. Phone call, same lady my brother took the light down but can't work out where all the wires go. Can you come out now and will it still be £36.00.

No said I it's Saturday my day off. I charge treble on a Saturday or Sunday. I heard her talk to hubby or brother not sure which who told her to tell me to f off. She said can I get back to you.

A couple of hours later she phoned asking me to attend. I did and asked for payment up front. Stuck £118.00 in my pocket.
Did fit the old plastic fitting brother took down and left.

No earth wire and new fitting was nice shiny metal.

£118 for at most an hours work on a Saturday, it would of being cheaper to hire a FULLY QUALIFIED ELECTRICIAN and they say tradesmens are crooks.



Keep up the good work Handyman.

Andy

 

[cumbriahandyman]

One of the reasons I went self employed is I do not want to work weekends or be called out at night. For this reason I charge a real premium so that doing this work is financially rewarding.

If my charge puts the customer off, that is good news as My evenings and weekend does not get disturbed.

Have you ever tried to get an electrician out at night? Not easy around here...

 

[longdogs]

I had a phone call from someone who had seen my ad in the local paper.

''You coming quick, I have bad leak from bath''

I said I didn't do emergencies but could call in the next day which was a Monday. He agreed to this and I saw him tne next morning. I asked him how long the bath had been leaking?

''Last night'' he said (Most of the kitchen ceiling was on the floor so I guessed it had been a bit longer than one day.

I went upstairs and had a look at the bath and noticed that there was a gap of about an inch all the way round the top of the bath. I asked him why there was a gap?

''My brother-in-law, he moving bath down lower for my wife, so that it easy for her to get in''

I gave him several options for putting the problem right and said that the cheapest way would be £80.00 but he said ''no too much, you make cheaper''.

I said I couldn't do it any cheaper and left.

About a week later, I got another call from the same guy:

''You coming quick bath STILL leaking''.

 

[jondecs]

Pardon for asking but what do you class as an emergency call out as a handyman?

A recent event; Customer who I decorate for; Help! my bleed screw has come out of rad and plumber says he's only on 3rd tee off. Would'nt even advise to turn both valves off till the next day~~

 

[jondecs]

every decorator i know and have come into contact with over the last 3 years should be earning max 5.82 p/h.

the fookers don't seem to understand that they are there to give the likes of me an extra hand and to take there own mind off there single craftmenship skill.

"i will be charging 5.00 l/m to fill any gaps chippy has left behind"!

genuine fooking response from one of 'em!
anyone know where we can get rid of this ugly **** and replace him with someone with abit more smartz?

handyman as per above^

Every chippie I know has'nt got a fookin nail punch

 

[EngStudent]

And have just brought a web site(other than the one I have)
That has it's listing in google a lot higher than mine.

Missed this first time round.

Instead of buying websites that are higher up in Google than your own, employ the services of someone who deals with Search Engine Optimisation(SEO). They'll bump your site up the listings and depending on how much business you anticipate will come from online searches, it could be well worth the money.

 

[expertgasman]

Instead of buying websites that are higher up in Google than your own, employ the services of someone who deals with Search Engine Optimisation(SEO). They'll bump your site up the listings and depending on how much business you anticipate will come from online searches, it could be well worth the money.[/quote]

Are you a SEO'iser by any chance?

 

[EngStudent]

Are you a SEO'iser by any chance?

Nope. Plenty of free info on the web about it though.

 

[Leadman]

And have just brought a web site(other than the one I have)
That has it's listing in google a lot higher than mine.

Missed this first time round.

Instead of buying websites that are higher up in Google than your own, employ the services of someone who deals with Search Engine Optimisation(SEO). They'll bump your site up the listings and depending on how much business you anticipate will come from online searches, it could be well worth the money.

Hi i have tryed that route and now i have 2 sites on the first page, thanks for all the replys, i hav'nt been back to check after no replys after the first week of the post.
Things are going well and i now have a handyman and decorator, thanks to Cumbriahandyman for your rate guide, most helpful
Cheers
Dave

 

[opps]

Erm... since when was a chippie a joiner???

If I want something built I go to a joiner with a workshop. If I want some skirting glued on I use a chippie...

In all seriousness only a fool fails to recognise that any skilled tradesman has spent a long time honing his skills. Mind you, even brain surgery isn't rocket science (and vice versa)