Agile/Tony replied to one of my posts in regards to pricing of a job, and i felt it would be an interesting topic to discuss on its own.
Now £135 may seem high to some but you have to consider several points.
Firstly the job may be 10 mins, 20 mins etc but no plumber will charge by the minute. You charge an hours rate as the minimum. Secondly, you can;t really expect the customer to find the correct part so you have to go yourself to get this, your looking at around another hour of your time. Add to this the fuel of travelling around looking for the right part (if your main supplier doesnt have it).
Then, and this is a vital point, the work environment. A bath or basin is one thing, but a toilet, I would class that as dirty/unclean work location/equipment and hence charge accordingly. Whilst changing a kitchen tap I may charge £40, a kitchen sink is not (or shouldnt be) used to pass human waste etc, and therefore is not really an unclean work location. I will only work on a toilet if i can see the custoemrs have good hygience and clean the toilet.
So as a minumum, i'd be looking at making £100 profit if working on a toilet. Now thankfully i have only done a handful of these jobs, but have turned down several as the toilet rims, etc were very unclean and you could see bits of excrement around toilet seat hinges etc. There is no way I would work on these, even for several hundred pounds.
Depending on where abouts you are, we can replace them supply and fit for £135
I thought you were planning to rid Coventry of cowboys?
That price seems way too high!
Since its about 25 min work and the wage rate in Cov is about £8 an hour ( less in the shops, £5 to others and £3 for family ) then surely just £35 would be closer to reasonable?
Tony
Now £135 may seem high to some but you have to consider several points.
Firstly the job may be 10 mins, 20 mins etc but no plumber will charge by the minute. You charge an hours rate as the minimum. Secondly, you can;t really expect the customer to find the correct part so you have to go yourself to get this, your looking at around another hour of your time. Add to this the fuel of travelling around looking for the right part (if your main supplier doesnt have it).
Then, and this is a vital point, the work environment. A bath or basin is one thing, but a toilet, I would class that as dirty/unclean work location/equipment and hence charge accordingly. Whilst changing a kitchen tap I may charge £40, a kitchen sink is not (or shouldnt be) used to pass human waste etc, and therefore is not really an unclean work location. I will only work on a toilet if i can see the custoemrs have good hygience and clean the toilet.
So as a minumum, i'd be looking at making £100 profit if working on a toilet. Now thankfully i have only done a handful of these jobs, but have turned down several as the toilet rims, etc were very unclean and you could see bits of excrement around toilet seat hinges etc. There is no way I would work on these, even for several hundred pounds.