Licence to print money???

[sam8364]

I need the following jobs doing.....

1. install henley block and new 2-way fuse box
2. run a cable 6 metres and wire to an existing immersion heater
3. run second cable to back of house and drill hole through exterior wall
4. fix second cable to new swa cable which I will have already laid and buried in the garden to shed.
5. install 3 x sockets and 1 x light in shed.

I have had 4 electricians out - 3 have not bother submitting a quote. One has given a quote - £350 for parts (including 40m of swa cable) which I have priced up for £200 on the internet.

But wait for it!!!!! £350 for the 1 days labour to do the work. That is what I earn as a teacher in a week!!!

Total price £700 - is it me or is this daylight robbery! I am in the wrong job!

 

[JohnD]

They don't want to do it. Perhaps it is awkward, perhaps they don't like you.

Phone a few more, be pleasant, offer chocolate biscuits, keep your dog and children out of the way, clear your stacks of lawnmowers out of the space where the work is to be done, don't cook kippers or curry the night before.

If you can arrange for your nubile daughter to walk around in her bikini you will get a few more quotes.

P.S. £350 includes the cost of the van, tools, training, pension, holidays, sick-pay, employer's NI, public insurance, disability insurance, accountants fees; and the hours spent going round sizing up jobs and giving quotes to potention customers, 90% of whom will change their minds or go elsewhere.

 

[Har_vey]

If you think the price is too high the then best way to check is to get some more quotes. Unfortunate that some have decided not to come back to you but if you want to see if your first quote is reasonable, then the only way really is to get comparisons from people who have seen the work you need doing.

£350.00 pound does seem rather a lot of money when all you appear to do is sit around drinking coffee, and occasionally tapping into your new laptops. But I expect the job is a little more complex than I imagine it to be.

 

[JohnD]

and if you only earn £350 x 40 working weeks = £14,000 gross per year, then yes, you are in the wrong job, ask about retraining

 

[il78]

But wait for it!!!!! £350 for the 1 days labour to do the work. That is what I earn as a teacher in a week!!!quote]

Should of paid attention in school then....should'nt yer!

 

[kevplumb]

They don't want to do it. Perhaps it is awkward, perhaps they don't like you.

Phone a few more, be pleasant, offer chocolate biscuits, keep your dog and children out of the way, clear your stacks of lawnmowers out of the space where the work is to be done, don't cook kippers or curry the night before.

If you can arrange for your nubile daughter to walk around in her bikini you will get a few more quotes.

P.S. £350 includes the cost of the van, tools, training, pension, holidays, sick-pay, employer's NI, public insurance, disability insurance, accountants fees; and the hours spent going round sizing up jobs and giving quotes to potention customers, 90% of whom will change their minds or go elsewhere.

not just the plumbers that get it then ehh

 

[RF Lighting]

Maybe the price might be for two sparks coming, or a spark and apprentice. The price seems a little high from what you describe but without physically seeing the job this may be a perfectly reasonable quote. If you are not happy shop around for more quotes. But remember the cheapest quote is usually cheapest for a reason. You get what you pay for. Are you sure you priced everything that will be needed in your parts list, also which brands did you price for?

 

[sam8364]

Ok, good points - try and get more quotes. So far I have phoned six electricians, four have come to price up, only one has given a price - so I am trying.

People have focused on the £350 - remember this was only for the labour - he actually wanted £700 for the job including the materials, which I could buy over the web for £200.

On the point about getting £14,000 pa as a teacher. Well yes, a newly qualified teacher earns £19,500 pa which is £14,000 pa after tax!

As for spending most of out time on laptops. My day actually works something like this - get to school before 8am, prepare for thedays lessons, teach 6 x 1 hour lessons often to groups of badly behaved classes of 30+, supervise canteen \ playground at lunch time, after school - help at an after school club, have a meeting or take part in parents evening, get home about maybe speak to the family breifly before doing 2-3 hours marking and preparation. I then repeat this until friday when I then spend at least half the weekend doing further planning and prep. I also spend a good part of my holidays do planning, prep and marking. I work on average a 50 hours week, but often much more when reports need to be written.

Yes, and I do that for £350 a week after tax. I know that electricians work hard as well, they have a skill they have trained hard to acheive. Some of the work is dirty and uncomfortable. If self employed they get no sick leave or holiday pay and spend time in the evening pricing up jobs which they never get. I accept all of this - but I work damn hard to! I just think it is a little steep to ask a week of my wages just for labour on a 1 day job.

And I would get more quotes - but no one will give me one!

Yep, perhaps I should have paid more attention at school and got a trade at the end of it - instead of spending another 6 years as a student in order to be a teacher and teach ill mannered badly behaved youths for little money - only so they can become tradesmen and then screw me soundly on every job.

 

[calvert]

There are two 'o's in too.

 

[sam8364]

Well done boy sitting at the back.

I was wondering who would notice that first!!

Now everyone, write it out a hundred times in the back of your books!

 

[ACOperson]

Sam its never too late, I retrained to be a heating engineer after going to University (studied History) and working in insurance for a few years after that, now £350 per day is a bad day for me (only kidding mate!)

Ring some of the larger firms in your area, they should definitely at least quote you for the work.

 

[Pensdown]

Yep, perhaps I should have paid more attention at school and got a trade at the end of it - instead of spending another 6 years as a student in order to be a teacher and teach ill mannered badly behaved youths for little money - only so they can become tradesmen and then screw me soundly on every job.

I can tell by your comments that like a lot of other teachers I’ve met you don’t hold tradesmen in high esteem.

I would also guess that at school you may look down on the bloke/girlie in the boiler suit who pops in now and then to carry out repairs and I would also suggest you don’t offer him/her a cup of tea?

I would also suggest none of your friends are tradesmen?

And - I know it may have come as surprise to you but we don’t all earn the minimum wage and live in council houses.

 

[punchjoshua]

hey save the money do it yourself (what have you got to lose life house fire)

 

[farndon]

It depends where you are! In London the callout charges are anything from £65 - £100 for the first hours work, then after that the average is £40/hour.
Remember there are now THOUSANDS of eastern Europeans around who can always do you a cheap job, and when it all goes wrong ................????
Better to spend the little bit of extra money and KEEP it in this Country !!!!!

 

[fattony]

Sam, keep in mind that electricians wont use the internet to order materials, they will buy direct from a electrical wholesaler, try contacting CEF or TLC. This will give you a better idea of the material cost, fair enough it wont be £500 more then the internet but there will be a difference.

£350 does seem a lot but don't forget Part P, to do the work in your house the electrician needs to be Part P registered, this is expensive and the cost is passed onto the customer. As other people said its not just 1 days labour it covers running the office van etc.

Ps Night school, train to become a tradesmen