electrical pricing

[JohnW2]

Is take home pay and overheads has nothing to do with me.Thats the joys of being self employed. I wish I could earn that, like every one else would like to as well £100.00ph

The point is that, whatever one might wish, very few people could 'earn' that sort of hourly rate, in terms of money into their pocket - let's face it, at 40 hours per week for 48 weeks/year, you'd be talking about £192,000 per year! However, many people's time gets charged at that sort of rate, even though they are lucky if they see as much as a third of it.

Try taking your car to a main dealer for some work, and then ask those who actually do the work what hourly rate they get paid (and compare it with the rate you get charged!)!

Kind Regards, John

 

[pompeygit]

For 5 hours work it seems to me that this is going to be the most basic installation. Personally too expensive in my opinion. Like previous posters I would select a couple of sparks from the electrical safety register and ask for detailed quotes (particularly what cable and accessories he is using). You will need to insist on certification as well. If you have a water tap in the garage there maybe further considerations for the install.
Get some quotes with a spec and then ask the guys on here for a more measured opinion

 

[flyingsparks]

I am self employed and wish I could charge £100/hr. I'm in The south west and can only charge £22+vat (£26.40/hr to the customer) I can understand that perhaps in London and Home Counties you could get away with this rate for a one man band, but in other areas?! Seriously what do others charge here, if you don't mind saying?

Rarely I earn good money, the best being a call out to loss of power to a customer of mine in the evening - however I was away on holiday at the time. I asked a mate (sparky too) to go have a look, was a blown cutout fuse. It took him 10mins and he charged me £25. I charged the customer £100. All I did was make one 2 min phone call...

 

[skenk]

I couldn't charge £100 an hour, but neither could I fully a wire an outbuilding, including new armoured cable from CU, testing, etc in 5 hours.

at £22/hr in London you mush have very low overheads? Are you a company with employees, or charging VAT out of choice? even at 40hrs per week 46 weeks per year (good luck getting 40 chargeable hours every week without actually working 12 hours per day...) your turnover is around £40k, which leaves another £40k annually for other expenses & materials you supply before you need to register.... that's quite a lot for CU's, cable etc.

I aim for at least £30 per chargeable hour (I don't generally charge for time not spent at the job) for skilled work, plus materials marked up to take account of their ACTUAL cost to buy, collect, deliver, guarantee etc. I usually give fixed price quotes though, so I don't always achieve £30/chargeable hr. Then there's the haggling customers and some (usually landlords) who are downright trying to rip you off. Earnings after all expenses but before tax last year was well under £20k

 

[JohnW2]

at £22/hr in London you mush have very low overheads?

Somewhat of a geographical misunderstanding, I think ...

I'm in The south west and can only charge £22+vat

... and don't forget that, as far as his domestic customers are concerned, "what he can charge" will be the VAT-inclusive price they are prepared to pay.

Kind Regards, John

 

[EFLImpudence]

I am self employed and wish I could charge £100/hr. I'm in The south west and can only charge £22+vat (£26.40/hr to the customer)

Should you be vat registered?

 

[flyingsparks]

Yes south west not south east!
I am by myself with just a van. No office or workshop at present just a spare bedroom at home.
I am vat registered because the majority of my work is for either farmers, industry or other vat registered businesses. Therefore it pays for me to fe registered. I have not (knowingly) lost work for being registered.
In fact on one occasion I won a b as the other person who quoted didn't put vat on his quote, and the lady thought it looked 'dodgy'!?

 

[EFLImpudence]

Fair enough if you have worked it out.

 

[JohnW2]

Fair enough if you have worked it out.

If nearly all of his customers are VAT-registered, then it clearly makes sense, not the least because it benefits the customers and therefore helps him to be competitive. They won't care about the VAT added to his labour charges (since they will reclaim it), but they'll also benefit from being able to also reclaim the 'passed-through' VAT element of the cost of parts. Flyinsparks himself will also be able to reclaim the VAT on any other business expenses.

Kind Regards, John