Fitting a boiler labour costs??

Wilts99

I've just had a new combi boiler installed in a house I'm doing up, I suppled the boiler (Ferroli 31he) and the copper etc, the old system was really old, had the copper cylinder upstairs and a water tank in the attic. The plumber came yesterday and spent about half a day removing the old system, today three plumbers came and fitted my new boiler. They're charging me £875 just for the labour, now that I've seen the work that was involved I'm starting to think I've been ripped off, the plumer told me for cash he normally charges £130 day, 2 x £130 and even if the other two guys were £200 a day thats £660, can anyone help and advise me?

phill99

Its a bit difficult to start complaining after the event. You obviously knew the cost prior to agreeing for them to come round and do the work.

You also need to remember that as it was a fixed price, if it had taken another day, that wouldn't have cost you any more.

How much his day rate is, is irrelevant. You asked him to quote, he gave you a price and you accepted it. Now you have to pay him.

You also need to remember that you are paying for experetise and not time. If you just paid for time, brain surgeons would be paid the same as Bar staff.

Wilts99

Originally when the guy came round we went round and he wrote a big list of things I wanted, including adjusting the pipework for the new radiators and fitting an outside tap, he text with a price of £875 which I thought would included all this stuff but from the sound of it's just the boiler which is now leaving me very annoyed.

Plumberman

His day rate is irrelevant, he quoted you for the job to be completed, you are not just paying for his time, but for a lifetimes worth of experience too. If he can complete the job in super quick time (providing his standard of work is good), it's in both your interests.
The outside tap needs clarifying, phone him and tell him you pressumed that this was included in his quote, if he's reasonable he will work something out. You should really have mentioned this while he was there though.
Did he use any materials at all? Don't forget he has expenses, he will have to dispose of any debris, pay for fuel, pay for consumables, pick up materials etc etc, it's not all about how much time he spent on site.
You should also have gotten more than one quote, if you had you would known before hand if he was ripping you off..

1984ReturnsForReal_2

Wilts99 wrote: »

now that I've seen the work that was involved I'm starting to think I've been ripped off

OK

Sounds reasonable to me.

Is VAT included or not?

By the way you should always ask the fitter if you can go halves on discount that way you might of saved yourself some money.

keystone

The plumber will have arrived at whatever balance of competitiveness and net income works for him in his business. If he's banking large amounts of excess money, no matter how charged for, he'll eventually run out of work because he will be too expensive. If he's not trousering enough to pay his bills. eventually he'll go bust.

So assuming he's reached equilibrium, his mix of earnings will be so-much from labour and so-much from markup, if you deny him the latter (by supplying the bits for him) he will simply increase the former - he will have no choice in the matter if he wants to stay in business.

So overall you will be paying more, as you'll have materials at a higher base price than he would have paid, plus his displaced markup anyway.

Simples.

keystone

Wilts99 wrote: »

which I thought would included all this stuff

Thats YOUR fault for making assumptions and not questioning and his fault for not being specific. So no written quote including Ts&Cs, no written acceptance - an accident waiting to happen.

but from the sound of it's just the boiler which is now leaving me very annoyed.

It probably shouldn't except perhaps at yourself.

Cheers

gas4you

Most heating engineers charge around £250-£300 a day per man, so I can't see how this price is unrealistic.

ukjoel

We had a combi swap - old 8 year old vailliant for a spanking new vailaant eco done for £1400.

That included the cost of boiler, free wireless timer, two blokes to fit it, powerwash, certifications and everything. Think there was another £50 for a extractor routing fitment.
They arrived at 8am and were done by 3.30pm. Working out similar quotes and boiler costs I estimated they were hitting me with a £150 daily rate each.