Destruction of the Building Industry

[Deleted User]

thriftybabe wrote: »

Gosh I thought London was one of the worst for builders. Do you think they are maybe saying that so they dont have to do your work? My OH says that to get out of doing neighbours jobs!;)

I guess it depends on the area. I know these lads pretty well and no, they are not lying, they are building flats for a property developer a few miles from me and don't have time for smaller jobs like mine.

bo_drinker

Van1971 wrote: »

I guess it depends on the area. I know these lads pretty well and no, they are not lying, they are building flats for a property developer a few miles from me and don't have time for smaller jobs like mine.

The flats probably need to be finished so as they can rent them out, because they won't be selling like hot cakes.

[Deleted User]

bo_drinker wrote: »

The flats probably need to be finished so as they can rent them out, because they won't be selling like hot cakes.

Yeah, I agree.

thriftybabe

Van1971 wrote: »

I guess it depends on the area. I know these lads pretty well and no, they are not lying, they are building flats for a property developer a few miles from me and don't have time for smaller jobs like mine.

TBH my OH is the same and tends not to take on many smaller jobs.

Entertainer

As we established after Tesuhoha's last epic thread (the one where she called us toerags:beer:) the daily rates in the last decade for building workers have been very good. £200 a day plus is common in a variety of trades. Some of it cash in hand. Over the years, I have found it extremely difficult to find reasonable, reliable builders who don't talk in telephone numbers and as a result, it has hugely compromised my ability to get anything done.

What I find astonishing is that now, a few months into a downturn, many of these same people are up the creek. With the money that some of them have earned over many years and the free work they can do on their own houses, they should have paid off their mortgages by now. In this game, you have to put money aside during the good times and many of them haven't done that..

matbe

Entertainer wrote: »

As we established after Tesuhoha's last epic thread (the one where she called us toerags:beer:) the daily rates in the last decade for building workers have been very good. £200 a day plus is common in a variety of trades. Some of it cash in hand. Over the years, I have found it extremely difficult to find reasonable, reliable builders who don't talk in telephone numbers and as a result, it has hugely compromised my ability to get anything done.

What I find astonishing is that now, a few months into a downturn, many of these same people are up the creek. With the money that some of them have earned over many years and the free work they can do on their own houses, they should have paid off their mortgages by now. In this game, you have to put money aside during the good times and many of them haven't done that..

This figure of £200 per day is hogwash

A small minority may get this but after you take away all the overheads etc its nowhere near £200 per day.

£200 per day is £46,600 after taking out 28 days for hols and weekends.

I know loads of tradesmen and they dont earn £46,000 a year

Absolute hogwash posted by someone who knows nothing about the building industry.

bo_drinker

The rates are nosediving now and a lot who thought the good times were never ending are going to be in for a shock big time. I covered my back, many didn't.

Entertainer

matbe wrote: »

This figure of £200 per day is hogwash

A small minority may get this but after you take away all the overheads etc its nowhere near £200 per day.

£200 per day is £46,600 after taking out 28 days for hols and weekends.

I know loads of tradesmen and they dont earn £46,000 a year

Absolute hogwash posted by someone who knows nothing about the building industry.

So I know nothing about the building industry do I? All the tradesman I've employed for a multitude of projects, all the kitchen fitters, gas fitters, tilers, roofers, fencing contractors, electricians that I know personally. The people I know who own roofing firms and damp proofing companies and fencing suppliers they are all figments of my imagination?

As I said, we established all this before Christmas in this thread:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1359771&page=27


19-12-2008, 8:00 PM #533
Entertainer
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DirectDebacle View Post
Funny I couldn't find the £90k a year plumber on here. Maybe the O.N.S. have messed up again.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/best-paid-jobs

They are on around £25485 a year so those of you that have been paying plumbers £200-250 a day should perhaps thinking about joining a money saving site.You would probably receive good advice on how to get your jobs done at realistic prices.

I'm sorry but in recent years when you got a quote from a plumber, deducted the materials and vat and actually worked out the time it took for them to do the job, it would always come to more than £200 a day. Some quotes were even higher. There was no way you could find someone for £100 a day. This was across the whole of the South of England.

And it wasn't just plumbers, it was all the other tradesmen as well. Get a quote for a kitchen company and it was always £1000+ to fit- you could get ten different quotes and they would all be at least that. A modest sized kitchen only took a few days to fit, work it out.

I know there were CORGI fees and vans etc but even so, this was very good money.

I've just been faced with a gigantic maintenance bill and I don't see any £100 a day rates there, they are still talking in telephone numbers.





20-12-2008, 5:18 AM #570
Walter J
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I'm not quite sure how his thread got itself concerned with trademens' earnings, but here goes...

A good tradesman doesn't earn more than an engineer because he's got a higher intellect, or even because he works harder.

He gets paid more than an engineer because that's what he's able to charge!

In a free market economy everyone's financial worth is set by that market. It's simple supply and demand.

I'm a tradesman. I've also got a teaching degree. I chose to be a carpenter rather than a teacher because it allows me a far better quality of life and I am my own boss. I know many other university educated tradesmen who have taken the same decision.

And yes, we all charge in the region of £200 per day. And get it, even in a recession. I'm fully booked with work until September next year.

It is quite obviously what we are worth - otherwise people wouldn't pay it!

Edited to add: I'm posting this at 5.15 on a Satuday morning because I want to be at work by 6.30. A tradesman's day (and week) tends to be a bit longer than a pen-pusher's...





The rates I referred to apply to greater London, South East and the South, basically half the country. I don't know what they were like in the regions, probably less but then the cost of living is less so that's not surprising. I don't know what's happened to rates now because I'm out of the game, probably dropping and certainly alot of the builders I know are surprised to be not very busy right now (the same people/firms who were charging alot previously and sometimes giving terrible customer service, which is the point I was making.)

A quote to fit a kitchen was between £1000 to £1500. Did they take two weeks to fit it then? No. Done inside a week. Work it out, like I say.

matbe

As I said your post of 1000 to 1500 to fit a kitchen makes no mention of overheads etc.

Did the kitchen fitter carry out the gas work (if any) himself?

Did he get a subby in to do it?

same applies for electrical work.


allow £300 for gas work
allow £300 for electrical work

Both these figues are probably low

The kitchen has now been fitted for £400-£900

This took a week where is £200 a day ?

like I said you know nothing about the building industry.

Edit to add this is also skewed by south prices "half the country is London and the south"????

stupid southerners may have paid those prices but not in the rest of the country.

Entertainer

matbe wrote: »

As I said your post of 1000 to 1500 to fit a kitchen makes no mention of overheads etc.

Did the kitchen fitter carry out the gas work (if any) himself?

Did he get a subby in to do it?

same applies for electrical work.


allow £300 for gas work
allow £300 for electrical work

Both these figues are probably low

The kitchen has now been fitted for £400-£900

This took a week where is £200 a day ?

like I said you know nothing about the building industry.

Edit to add this is also skewed by south prices "half the country is London and the south"????

stupid southerners may have paid those prices but not in the rest of the country.

No, that was a dry fit for a kitchen without gas or electric; that was extra. And you could go to all the kitchen firms- Wickes, B&Q, MFI, independents and that was the amount you were looking at. "Stupid Southerners" eh? How dare you!! What choice would you have if you wanted a new kitchen and they all charged that?

Walter J confirmed what I said and I have all the quotes and bills from the variety of tradesmen to prove it.

So if we are all so wrong about this what were the daily rates then according to you?