Builder's dailyhourly rate - does this sound right?

woodbutcher_2

Just had my bricky mate and his labourer build me a workshop and the daily rate was £200 for the both of them.He is an excellent tradesman too.As a joiner i charge from £15 to £20 pounds per hour depending on job and who i am working for so £350 a day plus the dreaded is on the steep side i would say.It may be a north/south thing.

On the other hand,i've just had some legal work done and the hourly rate was £90+ vat per hour.Is a solicitor any more skilled than a good joiner/builder?

latecomer

sparky883 wrote: »

Work is getting thin on the ground be smart about it.

What does that mean? Take advantage while tradesmen struggle??
And when work is not "thin on the ground" Can we do the same to you??
Or will you be moaning about our prices then??
See My Point??

Where I stay tradesmen have seriously cashed in on the recent boom in house developing and renovations as they have been innundated with work. Prices has gone silly to the point where ordinary folk cant afford them.

I have no problem paying someone for a good job done well, but when the plasterer tells me he only works when it suits him (doesn't even bother to answer his phone otherwise) and turns up for payment in his new convertible......

going2die_rich

Can you not wait to have your extension done? Builders are starting to be laid off so the supply will increase and many will be desperate for work so will try and undercut the other quotes.

going2die_rich

sparky883 wrote: »

Work is getting thin on the ground be smart about it.

What does that mean? Take advantage while tradesmen struggle??
And when work is not "thin on the ground" Can we do the same to you??
Or will you be moaning about our prices then??
See My Point??

I see nothing wrong in his price as long as he is doing enough work to cover it.

Do you really think builders haven't ramped up their prices when things were booming? If they were smart they'd have saved for the rainy day. Now today is the rainy day and it looks like it's going to last a few years. So obviously this is a good time for the customer to get a discounted rate. Why pay yesterdays prices for a trade that is collapsing? Only an idiot would pay over the odds for anything whether thats an object or a service.

My advice would be to wait till after xmas. By which time many will be truely desperate for work and will work for a much more reasonable rate than £300 plus a day.

Bishop_Basher

Li0nhead wrote: »

Sorry but remember the costs to the builder employing someone. Employer tax contributions, Public liability insurence, illness, employees transport costs, tools for employee to work, PPE equipment etc. Also the builder will be getting a bit of profit out of it too, like any business does.

If someone is getting paid £8 per hour a company cannot charge £8 per hour for them because they would be operating at a loss. Dont know exactly but i would guess it costs a company a 3rd to 1/2 on top of a persons wage to emply them.

I'm a self-employed joiner and know all about the different costs etc.
The guy is charging a premium, end of.
£800 a week for a labourer is bloody good wages, there is many a skilled tradesman would be blissfully happy with that kind of coin.

Li0nhead

Bishop_Basher wrote: »

I'm a self-employed joiner

Hence being self employed you earn your own wages. Dont work, dont earn, Go on holiday, don't earn. Rained off, don't earn.

Im a self employed bricky and the above is true, as i presume you.

Employ someone else as we have the they get paid when not working ie sick/holidays hence a much higher rate than their earnings
when they are working to cover when not working. Hence my above point. Agree?

Bishop_Basher

Li0nhead wrote: »

Hence being self employed you earn your own wages. Dont work, dont earn, Go on holiday, don't earn. Rained off, don't earn.

Im a self employed bricky and the above is true, as i presume you.

Employ someone else as we have the they get paid when not working ie sick/holidays hence a much higher rate than their earnings
when they are working to cover when not working. Hence my above point. Agree?

Sure fella, I'm not disagreeing with you, all I'm saying is £800 a week for a labourer is extortionate, agree?

Unless its a north/south thing, here in the 'frozen north' there are very very few (if any) labourers on that kind of coin.

brownbake

woodbutcher wrote: »

Just had my bricky mate and his labourer build me a workshop and the daily rate was £200 for the both of them.He is an excellent tradesman too.As a joiner i charge from £15 to £20 pounds per hour depending on job and who i am working for so £350 a day plus the dreaded is on the steep side i would say.It may be a north/south thing.

On the other hand,i've just had some legal work done and the hourly rate was £90+ vat per hour.Is a solicitor any more skilled than a good joiner/builder?

Solicitors have to train for a lot longer than a joiner / builder - up to 7 years of reading, reading and more reading of the most mind numbingly boring rubbish!! We are held to ransom with them "cos it's the law"!! and most politicans are or were legal professionals and they do a lot for their money don't they!!

My point is that if you were bright enough and had enough nous and practical ability if you left school at 16 got an apprenticeship with a decent tradesman you could learn enough in four years to set up on your own. By the time you were 20. You don't see many 20 year old solicitors with their own practice but it is perfectly feasable to own your own building, joining, plumbing business by that age. See my point?

My solicitor charges £20 for a phone conversation and £40 just to read a letter and another hour fee to put his name on a reply!! LOL.

But that's the law!!!

Li0nhead

Bishop_Basher wrote: »

Sure fella, I'm not disagreeing with you, all I'm saying is £800 a week for a labourer is extortionate, agree?

Unless its a north/south thing, here in the 'frozen north' there are very very few (if any) labourers on that kind of coin.

I agree. Lets say a decent Labourer on the books gets £400 PW (will only see little over £300 after tax etc). Then the company would prob have to charge a min of say £600 for them to cover their wages/costs/employer contributions. Ok you are right about the £800 seeming very high.

ben500

I would say it breaks down to two issues ie: Skilled rate and unskilled rate.

With regard to the skilled rate you have already stated his work comes very highly recommended and as such he is in a position to demand a higher rate than most I would say, it is for you to judge personally if that rate reflects the quality of workmanship.

However with regards to unskilled then this is a different matter and perhaps one you could use as a bargaining point, an unskilled worker obviously deserves reward for his time and effort and £8-£12 ph I would say could be reasonablly expected to pay, factor in employers costs could stretch it to say £15, in my opinion over that amount and you are looking at premium rate for less than premium productivity, this rate as others have said may be a result of boom time so the builder may well be able to be negotiated with on the unskilled rate and even see it as a way of offering some leeway without devaluing his own skill and not admit he's taking the proverbial .