A Tradesmans rant

jonnysparks

basically i feel that it boils down to this
different sizes of firms will have different overheads
large company 10 blokes vans seceratary etc £xxx per hour.
smaller company 2 blokes 1 lad 2 vans £xx per hour
1 man band 1 van £x per hour
it is up to the customer who they decide to employ and what they are willing/able to pay.
i myself am self employed spark and have overheads and need to make a certain ammount per year to cover these.
i get a call i turn up i tell them what i want for the work and then it is up to them.
yes i get a little upset when i get how much not a chance ( a simply no i cant/dont want to pay that would do ).
but it is upto the custom how they want to spend their money.
like i said i am self employed but when i need work done on my own house i am exactly the same best quote wins.
it's human nature

marleyboy

I am curious as to how a Tradesman can quote a set figure for a job, and then have the ability to increase it. Its not unknown for someone to dig up a driveway, then turn around and say it will cost an extra £1000, literally leaving the customer out to dry if they say "I'm not paying that much extra", by just walking off the job leaving a mess behind, meaning its going to cost the customer an even bigger cost in order for the job to be completed.

We all know this goes on, moreso with cowboys admittedly, but that is because for some reason a tradesman CAN do this.

I could not walk into a supermarket and have a member of staff say, "the price WAS £4.99, I know you have already paid the fee, but as a result of this unforeseen overhead, your gonna have to pay £8 for it, or leave it behind".

isplumm

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

However, the people I employed turned up and did their job and went home again, with their money in their pocket. Apart from spreading it more evenly to cover holidays, I just cannot agree that they had any more overheads than someone who's employed.

!

I am amazed at this statement - as someone who runs their own limited company, I have far greater expenses than someone who is employed!!

For example I have corporation tax, accountants fees, company returns fees, Employee NI & Tax, Employer NI & Tax, etc ....

If you are employed you get your salary, minus NI & Tax ... that's it.

Mark

isplumm

marleyboy wrote: »

I am curious as to how a Tradesman can quote a set figure for a job, and then have the ability to increase it. Its not unknown for someone to dig up a driveway, then turn around and say it will cost an extra £1000, literally leaving the customer out to dry if they say "I'm not paying that much extra", by just walking off the job leaving a mess behind, meaning its going to cost the customer an even bigger cost in order for the job to be completed.

.

Often the issue is that a quote is based on what is known at the time .... & with building work there are lots of unknowns .... especially in renovation work, so I can see why costs will increase.

Mark

marleyboy

Yet a Contractual Company cannot do this (at least they don't - AFAIK), your quoted a price, you agree to it, the job gets done.

Only in SE tradesman does this form of price increase exist, meaning you can quote me any old price and simply UP it later, I cant realistically compare it against another quote, as the price has not yet been agreed upon (due to some unknown issue's).

Why does that not sound as tempting to me?

isplumm

marleyboy wrote: »

Yet a Contractual Company cannot do this (at least they don't - AFAIK), your quoted a price, you agree to it, the job gets done.

Only in SE tradesman does this form of price increase exist, meaning you can quote me any old price and simply UP it later, I cant realistically compare it against another quote, as the price has not yet been agreed upon (due to some unknown issue's).

Why does that not sound as tempting to me?

Are you sure .... most contracts will have clauses in them, that allow the company to add costs in certain situations ....

Maybe if you agreed a fixed price contract ... but even then I am not sure ...

Mark

Oldernotwiser

isplumm wrote: »

I am amazed at this statement - as someone who runs their own limited company, I have far greater expenses than someone who is employed!!

For example I have corporation tax, accountants fees, company returns fees, Employee NI & Tax, Employer NI & Tax, etc ....

If you are employed you get your salary, minus NI & Tax ... that's it.

Mark

But I'm not talking about someone who runs their own limited company; I'm talking about a self employed sole trader!

Anyway, as an employee I have to pay to travel to work, buy professional journals, pay union and professional subs, pay for some additional training if it isn't provided by work and attend events outside work hours.

We don't all work in factories you know, where work finishes when you clock out!

Bishop_Basher

MrsE wrote: »

Ah, but he's not sitting at home doing his own thing.
He's parked up in London, sitting in his car (hour - hour & a half from home), his name on a waiting list at the cab office. Ready to go at a seconds notice.

You can disagree all you want, but you're not right.

I don't think he's the type to admit that though. An apt username.

Oldernotwiser

Bishop_Basher wrote: »

I don't think he's the type to admit that though. An apt username.

Gosh what a witty comment and what an inability to judge a person's gender!

isplumm

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

But I'm not talking about someone who runs their own limited company; I'm talking about a self employed sole trader!

Anyway, as an employee I have to pay to travel to work, buy professional journals, pay union and professional subs, pay for some additional training if it isn't provided by work and attend events outside work hours.

We don't all work in factories you know, where work finishes when you clock out!

Completely forgot that we were talking about self-employed people ... not limited companies, etc .... it was your statement that amazed me ....

Anyway, not being self-employed, I don't know the costs involved ...

But want I would say is that if you are employed you have a guaranteed income every month ..... whereas self employed don't have that .... also you get holiday pay.

Mark