Hourly rate for a Handyman in Reading?

soomagoo

Hi,

Just wondered if anyone could give me an idea of what a good rate is for a handyman in Reading? Have been quoted £20/hr to change a tap and have no idea if that's reasonable or not Also, if anyone knows anyone who might do it for less I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks!
Sue.

Nikkigb88

Hi Sue

I'm not in Reading, I'm in London, but I don't think £20 an hour is too expensive. I've had quotes of £200 a day which works out well above £20 p/h...Saying that I've also had a less experienced handyman work for us for ~£14 an hour. My recommendation would be not to get an hourly rate on a job like changing a tap though - it is a relatively easy job and they should be able to give you a job cost rather than an hourly cost. If you do end up going for the hourly basis then you should really make sure there's a cap on the cost eg. He can't charge more than £60 as really it shouldn't take longer than 3 hours unless something goes horribly wrong!
Sorry not to be of more help but in conclusion I'd say £20 an hour is a pretty average cost. You should also check whether he'll be charging you for materials too and if so how much.

Thanks
Nikki

john.h

I wouldn't pay a handy-man more than £10 an hour..

John...

baza52

i doubt he would be very "handy" then.

leveller2911

I need to give myself a pay-rise, qualified Carpenter & Joiner, 27yrs in the business,fully equipped workshop, every insurance under the sun and barely charge much more than £20hr.......

IMO self employed handymen are worth a bit more than Labourers so £110 a day...for 8 hrs work.

nickj_2

it depends on what the handyman is doing , if it's just a one off 1 hour job then £20 is acceptable, remember you have travelling times and costs to take into account which will be significantly more than if you were doing an all day job

john.h

baza52 wrote: »

i doubt he would be very "handy" then.

£10 an hour is more than enough for someone who can do diy.

John....

Russe11

john.h wrote: »

£10 an hour is more than enough for someone who can do diy.

John....

£10 hourly rate self employed
holiday entitlement 12.07% what you would get paye
20% tax 12% national insurance

thats already taking out 44% not even counting the cost of tools etc#

£9.96 per hour is the equiv of min wage, take out your costs and your earning less than the min wage. Unless you can get away with zero costs, but then I still can't see some one wanting to earn the min wage for what is a skilled job.

If you take all the rights you would get as an employee you would need to be charging £16 a hour plus to have the same income as an £10 paye employee, thats not even taking into account any sort of pension provision or sick pay etc etc

more realistically it would pan out at £21 a hour to be a viable rate to charge, so £20 is fair.

john.h

Russe11 wrote: »

£10 hourly rate self employed
holiday entitlement 12.07% what you would get paye
20% tax 12% national insurance

thats already taking out 44% not even counting the cost of tools etc#

£9.96 per hour is the equiv of min wage, take out your costs and your earning less than the min wage. Unless you can get away with zero costs, but then I still can't see some one wanting to earn the min wage for what is a skilled job.

If you take all the rights you would get as an employee you would need to be charging £16 a hour plus to have the same income as an £10 paye employee, thats not even taking into account any sort of pension provision or sick pay etc etc

more realistically it would pan out at £21 a hour to be a viable rate to charge, so £20 is fair.

A handyman on paye would only be on minimum wage or just above. Its not a skilled job.

Russe11

john.h wrote: »

A handyman on paye would only be on minimum wage or just above. Its not a skilled job.

but who is going to want to have all the risk and hassle of selfemployment for the min wage, might as well just for for someone else.

fairs fair if there are selfemployed people charging themselves out a £10 a hour, must be a cash in hand thing.

Rupert_Bear

soomagoo wrote: »

Hi,

Just wondered if anyone could give me an idea of what a good rate is for a handyman in Reading? Have been quoted £20/hr to change a tap and have no idea if that's reasonable or not Also, if anyone knows anyone who might do it for less I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks!
Sue.

Well when I lived in Reading about 11 years ago I used this guy for most things and he charged £100 a day. So I use to save up all the jobs i could not do and usually did them all in one day.

Where I live now I pay about £20 an hour.