Reasonable material costs to charge

[subbysparks]

im a subby so dont really know the price of most materials as its sorted out by the office.

however i am signing on as nic dom installer as i've my part p ticket for some private work on the side and have some coming up. i know what i'll charge for my rates etc. but was wondering what sort of rates i should be charging for materials ie cable:
1.5mm £p/m
2.5mm £p/m
back boxes singles and doubles accessories. i did a quick google search to see if anythign like this was listed but i was probably too hasty and didn't look too deep so any advice would be great.

 

[Click-Sure]

I guess you're talking about more than cable prices but materials in general.

it would be unfair to charge list price for all items, you'll come to see how much that and the price you (should) pay deviate! Personally I stick an extra 20% on top of what I get things for and that covers trips to wholesalers, account paperwork and faulty goods related messing around.

 

[subbysparks]

i've got a collection of cable and some other materials in stock as it were in my shed and garage (left overs from previous jobs)
if i can sue those up on some of these smaller jobs it would be great to get them out of the way. so was wondering what sort of price to charge particularly on cable as i want to be fair and not take the ****.

 

[sparkwright]

You should just charge what you think is fair.

I've known people who have seriously over-charged. For instance, if he just fitted an extra socket in a house, he would charge for one 100 m roll of 2.5, one box of red plugs, one box of 1.5 " size 8 screws, one box of clips, etc.

 

[Taylortwocities]

i've got a collection of cable and some other materials in stock as it were in my shed and garage (left overs from previous jobs)
if i can sue those up on some of these smaller jobs it would be great to get them out of the way. so was wondering what sort of price to charge particularly on cable as i want to be fair and not take the p**s.

Just look up the price on somewhere like Screwfix and add 20%. Then you'll set a reasonable benchmark for when you start having to buy your own stuff rather than living off "winnings"

 

[subbysparks]

well im going to have a look at a job in a flat tomoro and no doubt he will ask me a rough price
ive had a look on screw fix for cable prices which was £38 100m 1.5mm and £54 100m 2.5mm. but neweys was £62 100m 1.5mm and £35 2.5mm 50m- altho that was not at trade price i guess as i wasnt logged in and dont have an account yet.

so going on screw fix price i'd be looking at with 20% mark up 1.5mm £0.46p/pm and 2.5mm @ £0.65p/pm
and using neweys which was plus vat also
£0.87p/pm for 1.5mm and assuming 100m 2.5 was double cost of 50m then
£0.99p/pm

is that rough estimate of sort of price u guys charge by the metre for just the cable?
i've no idea what this job entails in this flat it might be just adding a new light or socket or it could be a complete re-wire. but i want to price it fair but also not to make myself out of pocket but it could lead on to more work as he has other properties that he lets out.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

i've got a collection of cable and some other materials in stock as it were in my shed and garage (left overs from previous jobs)
if i can sue those up on some of these smaller jobs it would be great to get them out of the way. so was wondering what sort of price to charge particularly on cable as i want to be fair and not take the p**s.

Unlike the p**s you are taking by using the cable and other materials paid for by someone else?

Have you thought about the fact that if you're invoicing someone £5 for a socket but have no paperwork to show that you paid for it then the taxman will view it as £5 profit?

 

[plugwash]

Another thing to consider is that as well as the "work getting the materials" factor you add to everything you may want to add a wastage factor for things like cable, especially larger cables and more unusual types of cable (with socket and lighting cables wastage should be pretty low because the runs are mostly relatively short).

 

[vv2806]

Here is a customer point of view for you. If I pay somebody to do whatever work for me, I would like to know the price for the materials and where he is going to buy them from. If I can buy them cheaper, I would rather do it myself.

Most of the tradesmen don't mind discussing this. But there were some guys who gave me a quotation of £300 for the materials to change some gutters. All the materials needed for the job, including the screws, cost less than £100 at B&Q. And I told them in advance that I want it done in the cheapest possible way. Guess if they got the job.

In your case, I would quote the Screwfix price (not sure about the 20%) to the customer and would give him the option to buy the materials himself if he wishes.

 

[1john]

For larger jobs you need to get down to the council and request a copy of their prices for grant work, this will give you unit prices to work from, makes life easier, you will make more on some items and less on others, for example, wiring socket circuits, each socket has a unit price but the upstairs sockets will use less cable than the downstairs sockets, you win some and you loose some but on the whole it balances out. If you were to spend time measuring every inch of cable and how many cable clips you will need you wont have any time left to do the work!!!! although this can cause some greif with penny pinching customers who want to know how much each screw costs so they can check you arn't earning too much compared to them. Smaller jobs are easier to price, you get a feel for things after a while and can usually reel a figure off of your head unless specialist equipment is required.

 

[subbysparks]

Have you thought about the fact that if you're invoicing someone £5 for a socket but have no paperwork to show that you paid for it then the taxman will view it as £5 profit?[/quote]

extremely good point, no i hadn't thought of that sorry its late!

as the other guy calls them "winnings" note to self use winnings for getting out of tight binds when wholesalers shut and i know i have in van or in shed.

personally i would prefer the customer to buy materials as it would save me the hassle and paper work. so just give them the list of materials and order numbers from screw fix or where-ever.

 

[Taylortwocities]

personally i would prefer the customer to buy materials as it would save me the hassle and paper work. so just give them the list of materials and order numbers from screw fix or where-ever.

Well I wouldn't. Who will pay for the time you take to sort out all of the part numbers etc, will you toil for free at home one evening??
And you won't be able to get everything from one place - if you order online then you'll be hit with carriage charges if the order is small.

The 20% covers all that dead time.

Even when customers buy light fittings they rarely remember to get the lamps to go in them.

I have only done one job where the customer bought all the materials (and the agreement said ALL of the materials) - it was a disaster.
Don't forget that included in installing one socket are things like:

Mounting box
grommets
cable capping
cable clips
earth sleeving

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Here is a customer point of view for you. If I pay somebody to do whatever work for me, I would like to know the price for the materials and where he is going to buy them from. If I can buy them cheaper, I would rather do it myself.

Most of the tradesmen don't mind discussing this. But there were some guys who gave me a quotation of £300 for the materials to change some gutters. All the materials needed for the job, including the screws, cost less than £100 at B&Q. And I told them in advance that I want it done in the cheapest possible way. Guess if they got the job.

So, you're an electrician, and you've worked out that you need to make £200 from a job so that you can cover all your costs and have enough left over to pay the bills, feed your children etc.

You make some of that £200 from charging for your labour, and some from materials markup.

If your customer takes away the latter, what are you going to do?

Let's see.

Mr Sparky needs to make £200.

The retail price for the materials is £100. He gets a 25% discount at the wholesalers.

You do not.

PRICING MODEL A - WITH MARKUP.

Materials £75
Markup on materials £40 (thus making them appear more expensive than you can get them for)
Labour £160
Total £275

Your spend on materials £0

Overall price to you £275.


PRICING MODEL B - WITHOUT MARKUP.

Materials £0
Markup on materials £0
Labour £200
Total £200

Your spend on materials £100

Overall price to you £300.

Since Mr Sparky won't be able to get his mortgage company, the supermarket etc etc to take less money if he makes less, then if you take away his profit from materials then he will add that back in to his labour costs - the alternative is homelessness and hunger, and he isn't going to opt for that.

Unless you can buy materials for less than he can your model is always going to end up costing you more money.

 

[vv2806]

Unless you can buy materials for less than he can your model is always going to end up costing you more money.

BAS, that is exactly what I said - if I can buy the materials cheaper, I would do it myself. In the case with the gutter fitters that came to my house, the difference between £300 quoted and less than £100 I would spend WITHOUT any discount is not 25%. I personally think it was a con - perhaps they decided a woman would have no idea about building works

I am not saying I would always want to buy the materials but I would certainly discuss it with a tradeperson. Sometimes I prefer to let them take care of the materials, sometimes I can find a better deal.

 

[kevindgas]

i charge 15% on materials to cover collection costs on all jobs under £300 materials above that i just use a fair rate usually 5 - 12%