plumbing quotes (help) !!!

[Agile]

40 minutes on the job, plus 20 min to get there and 20 min to get back.

Surely thats 1 hour and 20 minutes ( NOT two hours ! ).

Or is that British Gas times to include a 40 minute tea break after every job?

Tony

 

[noonespecial]

If he is a 'friend' of the family why don't you trust that his prices are fair If you can't trust your friends suggest you get new ones that you can

On a serious note make sure he is a plumber and not just a friend who does plumbing - there is a great difference.

 

[Softus]

In the rare situation when I have not agreed a fixed price in advance then I always ask the client if they are happy with £xxx. They usually are.

I know we work in different ways wrt fixing a price first, which is fine is by me, but I didn't say that I don't ask my customers if they're happy - I always do.

Out of curiosity Agile, what happens in those situations where they're not happy with £xxx?

...Total time taken, 2 Hours.

40 minutes on the job, plus 20 min to get there and 20 min to get back.

Surely thats 1 hour and 20 minutes ( NOT two hours ! ).

Or is that British Gas times to include a 40 minute tea break after every job?

I'm sure this was tongue-in-cheek, but £45 is entirely reasonable. If I'm on a job that makes me unavailable for 100 minutes, than that's a two hour charge in my book. In any case, I don't do any job that's twenty minutes away for less than two hours labour. The car/van doesn't load/unload itself, or refill its fuel tank. Yet....

 

[bender]

samueljames wrote:
She seems to think £10 an hour is sufficient, in her words

She won't get a plumber of any quality for £10 per hour. If you hadn't posted in so much detail before this point I would have said that this is a wind-up.

samueljames wrote:
(i dont earn that much an hour and i work in a bank)

And I'm really struggling to believe this. Unless you're a cleaner in a bank...

I get the impression that you plumbers live in cloud cuckoo land !
I certainly believe that a bank worker (non-cleaner) could be on £10/hr.
I'm always amazed by the hourly rate that plumbers get.

As an electronic equipment design engineer, my job requires electronic/ mechanical design, programming & document preparation.
I've been doing the job for over 30 years and am on an hourly rate of £13.
There are other chief engineers in my lab who are responsible for the design of radar equipment using very advanced techniques, they are on about £16/hr.
It's no wonder that so many IT workers are becoming plumbers !

A friend of mine had a BG quote of £3500 to fit a new boiler into another room, he then got a quote from someone else for £2400. He settled on a quote of £1500 'cash in hand' from someone that was recommended.
The old boiler had already been removed so the plumber only had to fit the (system) boiler into the another room and pipe it up. The job took a day and a half which, when you take away the cost of the boiler and fittings, probably made him over £800 profit, ie £525/day.

I would be happy to get that in a week !.

I recently fitted a Vaillant combi with new rads and pipework into my own house when my backboiler died (also fitted by me 25 years ago) so I know that it's not a magic art, just hard work and experience, which is no different from other jobs on a fraction of plumbers wages.

 

[noonespecial]

"I recently fitted a Vaillant combi with new rads and pipework into my own house when my backboiler died (also fitted by me 25 years ago) so I know that it's not a magic art, just hard work and experience, which is no different from other jobs on a fraction of plumbers wages".

Hard work, experience, CORGI Fees, Insurance costs, call back costs, overheads and profit, preparing for the job, getting materials, the list goes on.


What is your company's charge out rate for you? It is not what you are paid.

 

[Softus]

I get the impression that you plumbers live in cloud cuckoo land !

OK. Come with me on a drain clearing job, where YOU get to be the lucky one pulling out sh*t and sanitary towels, and you can count the cuckoos that fly out of the sewers.

I'm always amazed by the hourly rate that plumbers get.

You might know how much a plumbing business charges, but you write as though you have not one inkling of the overheads involved, and what a plumber actually received in income.

As an electronic equipment design engineer, my job requires electronic/ mechanical design, programming & document preparation.
I've been doing the job for over 30 years and am on an hourly rate of £13.

Well then, you must an absolutely cr*p engineer, or else a fool.

There are other chief engineers in my lab who are responsible for the design of radar equipment using very advanced techniques, they are on about £16/hr.

Well, whoop-de-do.

It's no wonder that so many IT workers are becoming plumbers !

Really? Do you have any idea how much IT workers earn then?

...The job took a day and a half which, when you take away the cost of the boiler and fittings, probably made him over £800 profit, ie £525/day.

You've allowed £700 for boiler and fittings, but you have no idea whether or not that's accurage. And you've allotted no time for collecting and delivering the boiler, so I assume that someone else did that. And no time for paperwork, loading the car/van, planning the work, etc. And no overheads for CORGI registration, training, periodic inspections, installation paperwork, notification, etc. Are you actually a fool, or just mimicking one?

...I know that it's not a magic art, just hard work and experience, which is no different from other jobs on a fraction of plumbers wages.

So, this is just yer basic envy then.

 

[bender]

One of the points I was making was that the £10/hr bank workers rate didn't have to apply to a 'cleaner' and was quite representative of many other skilled people's rates, including my own.

If I was a 'cr*p' engineer I probably wouldn't have lasted 30 years in the same company - do cr*p plumbers charge less ?

My brother in law is Corgi registered so I do know what's involved in his overheads, maintaining his registration - time lost & fees for courses etc. It doesn't stop him making a very good living on less hours a week.

It's still a fact that a plumber can command far higher hourly rates than other more skilled professions.

 

[corgiman]

I wouldnt mind earning 16 ph, start at 8 finish at 1800 thats 160 notes clear per day, as long as you pay my derv, my insurance etc

just remeber plumbers DO NOT earn what ever they charge for 8hrs per day as they may have only one job in a day, conversely we may get through loads and loads, thats life its swings and roundabouts.

also we dont get paid holidays, if we damage ourselves no one else pays our mortgage and puts food on the table.

****** to the lot of you I reacon we deserve more money and less crap from people like bender.

good on you putting your own boiler in and your right it aint rocket science, but then you did have a client on your back, thier kids under you feet did you?

What about trying to get an old piece of shyte going at three in the morning, or covered in loft insulation trying to stop a leak???

accountants charge 38 per hour to do a CIS tax return, which anyone can do with a bit of training actually we can all do anything with a bit of training so why the hell does anyone charge anyone else for anything!!!!! that git of a surgeon must have charged BUPA loads to repair my tendon, should have ask softus, agile or chrishutt to do it, sure they could have done the job for a fiver????

We all get paid what we get paid to do the job, I do loads of stuff that i consider DIY (ballvalves tap washers etc) but the customer would rather pay me than do it themselves.

Its called capitalism live with it.

bender if your unhappy with your lot change it, become a bloody plumber if you want but dont begrudge us for earning a living and paying our taxes and raising our kids.

 

[Softus]

One of the points I was making was that the £10/hr bank workers rate didn't have to apply to a 'cleaner' and was quite representative of many other skilled people's rates, including my own.

But it isn't representative of your own. You've already said that your salary is 30% higher.

If I was a 'cr*p' engineer I probably wouldn't have lasted 30 years in the same company

What a load of tripe. The vast majority of [employed] good engineers don't stay for the long term.

do cr*p plumbers charge less ?

No; they have to charge more, because they don't get any repeat business and have to cover the cost of being sued.

My brother in law is Corgi registered so I do know what's involved in his overheads, maintaining his registration - time lost & fees for courses etc.

If you applied the knowledge that you claim to have then you wouldn't have written such garbage about what a plumber "gets" as an hourly rate. You're just having a whinge for no good reason.

It doesn't stop him making a very good living on less hours a week.

Really. So how many hours a week does he do then? Including all paperwork that is. And time spent collecting supplies. And collecting money. And visiting jobs that don't come to anything.

But you'll have worked all that out of course, so I'm sure you've calculated his net hourly income. Including unpaid leave of course, both sick and holiday. And training. And insurance. And National Insurance. And Tax. And his accountant. And tools. And lost/broken/stolen tools. And vehicle costs: fuel, maintenance, insurance, depreciation.

I'm sure I've left out loads of other overheads, but you'll have thought have all of them because you've worked out his hourly rate and know it to be so much more than yours.

What's that? You haven't worked it out? What with you being an engineer and everything?

It's still a fact that a plumber can command far higher hourly rates than other more skilled professions.

If it's a fact then you'll be able, instantly, to provide references to evidence in support of your claim.

 

[chrishutt]

surgeon must have charged BUPA loads to repair my tendon, should have ask softus, agile or chrishutt to do it

Not me mate, I'm not Part S (surgery) compliant.

 

[brumylad]

Can anyone tell me of a garage were I can get my car serviced for £10/hour please ?

 

[corgiman]

surgeon must have charged BUPA loads to repair my tendon, should have ask softus, agile or chrishutt to do it

Not me mate, I'm not Part S (surgery) compliant.

oh no that just leaves soft or agile, and tony would want to flush the arse out of me before whacking in a new Ravenheat tendon

 

[Softus]

Can anyone tell me of a garage were I can get my car serviced for £10/hour please ?

Sorry, no. But bender could probably (sic.) get you a radar system designed at a knockdown price.

 

[corgiman]

 

[bender]

As I said you're living in cloud cuckoo land, you have proved my point !

With your inflated wages, the only way you can come to terms with a typical skilled person's rate of £10 (or in my case £13) is by suggesting that the person is a cleaner or crap at the're job.

You're accusing me but you're certainly making many assumptions on my behalf.

The plumber that I mentioned who charged £1500 for a day and a half's work told my friend that he only needed to do one job like that a week to keep enough money coming in.

You plumbers should be glad that you can charge a week (at least) of someone else's wages for a days effort on your part.