£400 a day?!

dotvicky

Hiya,

I've got a quote for a significant extension conversion on my house.

Materials all seem fair enough but he's quoting £400 a day for labour. That seems really rather high even with a cut for managing the inevitable subcontractors. This is for just shy of 90 days which sounds fair enough in terms of elapsed rather than man-days so I'm wondering if it's some strange all-inclusive however-many-people-are-there-on-the-day rate?!

Anyone have any thoughts?

Cheers
Vicky

bobula

assuming an 8 hour day - thats 50 quid an hour - out of that comes ALL his tools - ALL his fuel - and his costs .... is it a one man band or are you more than likely going to get the builder plus a labourer ....

fluffpot

why don't you ask him? Bit difficult for us to know!

dotvicky

Thanks for the replies.

@fluffpot - I will obviously ask him, just wanted to get an idea if this was a typical rate that other people had been quoted.

@bobula - the way his quote is broken up, it certainly seems like he's quoting me man days rather than elapsed days and I imagine he'll have to get a few people in such as electricians and plumbers - can't believe he'll be doing it all himself. This means that he's charging me £400 a day for each and every bit of work even the work he subcontracts - this makes £400 seem quite a lot (based on what I've seen on other websites - £150 to £250 a day seems to be fairly common for most trades) even if he's the one getting them in. Just thought I'd get people's views on here.

Cheers
Vicky

fluffpot

Well if he's got himself (as project manager/general builder) on site and 2 others say sparky and mate, or plumber and mate then £400 a day looks like a good deal! If he subcontracts the work, he still has to pay these people out of 'his' £400.

You don't say where you are but £150 a day for an electrician in say London isn't realistic

bobula

sorry 150 quid a day is not a relistic price for a sparky anywhere in the uk .... thats just shy of 19 quid an hour for an 8 hour day ....

15 years ago perhaps- not today.