How much would you expect to pay for labour?

John_V85

I'm starting the process of getting a number of jobs done as was curious as to what people think is a reasonable/fair per hour rate I should expect to pay. I guess it will be different between trades, but say, (1) plumber, (2) electrician (3) general trade/plasterer/fitter/etc. I'm in London also, so I guess that's going to crank it up!

My main reason for asking is that I feel like I'm perhaps expecting a lower rate than might transpire. I've seen a number of quotes and thought along the lines of how can that be justified for a days labour, etc.

Thanks

ormus

very few tradesmen work for a labour only hourly rate. most will price per job.
as a "general" rule of thumb, unskilled costs 100 a day and skilled 200 per day.

this is not a hard and fast rule though. esp in london.
a CH plumber can easy cost you 400 per day. labour only

zax47

My rates:

£25-30 per hour,
£35/h if you want to watch,
£50/h if you want to help,
£75/h if you tried to fix/install/repair it yourself, made a complete horlicks of it, then called me in!

:rotfl:

But seriously, £25-30/h capped at a day rate of £220. Electrician, West Yorkshire.

This site can help with typical hourly cost for electricians across the country;

http://www.whatprice.co.uk/prices/electrician/hourly-rate.html

Don't even begin to try to compare hourly trades rates with what you might earn per hour as an employed person on PAYE. From £25/h my nett (and pre-tax) gain is roughly £8-10/h tops. (or no more than £20K p.a. pre-tax).

There's thread somewhere from May last year about how us trades people are thieves for even beginning to try to make a living. :eek:

brightontraveller

Unless you are actually going to be employing them on a permanent contract basis supplying tools, transport, holiday pay, insurance, sick pay, paying for new courses, storage , cost of materials (training how to use equipment) uniform etc etc e.g. a plumber may charge £150/ 175 a day labour (Relevant test equipment may cost £500 -1000) you way of thinking is a boiler which should take say a 1+ ½ to remove and fit a new one would be done for £225 don’t think any plumber would do it for that….?

Or an electrician you have an electrical installation were an item does not work..? There could be a number of reason this is so but the test equipment for them to find out may cost £1000 + and may only meet regulations for 1 – 3 years… It will need checking calibrating etc the actual fault and locating it may take minutes with the correct equipment .

You wish a labourer to chase out a run in reinforced concrete 5 meters long 400mm deep correct type of breaker 2- 3 hours with a hammer and bolster 2 days..?

But who pays for these tools…? its more about what equipment and cost of it e.g. initial purchasing , servicing, wear and tear, replacing, storage, training, insurance, demand etc these are normally added to works as a % in proportion to the life span of the equipment.

The hourly rate is not really relevant the type of works is .... But

Tradesman £150- £250 standard working day...?
labour £60-£100 standard working day...?
Apprentice £60 - 100 standard working day...?

If you looking to just pay an hourly rate then try getting people from some of the very many agencies who will supply you just that ...

If it’s a big job get a qs etc to price works Best way is to break the works into stages get three quotes for each stage and don’t start any works until you have prices for all stages yes this may take longer but you will know at all times if your running over budget and to makes adjustments in the next stage...

gas4you

Average for a heating/gas engineer would be £300 + VAT a day

ormus

my sparky mate in london, was earning 65k pa.

10 yrs ago!