Do tradesmen really deliberately quote inflated prices

noelphobic

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

It's not you chap,

I'm not a chap actually, although I don't suppose that's really relevant.

nickj_2

leveller2911 wrote: »

You'll find it hard to offend tradesmen........:D

i don't know , most people think if you charge £100 per day , that is what you are putting in your pocket , they seem to think that your van ,tools ,tax insurance and other overheads magically come out of nowhere .

also it is a case of supply and demand , i live in a small village where most people either work in london or local science parks or in general have well paid to reasonably well paid jobs , they are cash rich , time poor and don't want the hassle of paining the outside of their house when they come home from work or at the weekend ,
i'm only one of 2 painters who live in the village , most ofmy work is within a 3 mile radius , if they are earning decent money , why shouldn't i charge a reasonable rate

noelphobic

nickj wrote: »

,
i'm only one of 2 painters who live in the village , most ofmy work is within a 3 mile radius , if they are earning decent money , why shouldn't i charge a reasonable rate

I'm more than happy to pay a reasonable rate for any work I get done if the work is of a good standard and the person is reliable. However, not sure I would agree that someone on higher earnings should pay more, although I may be misunderstanding what you say, in which case I apologise. Obviously if they are happy to pay your charges that's all well and good but I don't suppose they all disclose their incomes to you to help you decide what to charge them.

I'm not particularly well paid myself and there are very few tradesmen who would only charge me an hourly rate that is similar to what I get paid, but then I don't expect them to.

leveller2911

[QUOTE=noelphobic;54349761 However, not sure I would agree that someone on higher earnings should pay more,


The same could be said for many purchases we make whether its fuel or tomatoes.Why should someone in the SE pay £1-50 per litre for diesel from the local Shell garage when a Shell garage in Burnley is charging £1-34 a litre. That seems generally accepted that companies will charge as much as they can get away with.

Supply and demand I guess.

noelphobic

leveller2911 wrote: »

[
The same could be said for many purchases we make whether its fuel or tomatoes.Why should someone in the SE pay £1-50 per litre for diesel from the local Shell garage when a Shell garage in Burnley is charging £1-34 a litre. That seems generally accepted that companies will charge as much as they can get away with.

Supply and demand I guess.

But everyone who goes into those garages will pay the same price for their diesel, it's not means tested. Also, some people in the SE will have very low incomes and some people in Burnley have very high incomes.

leveller2911

noelphobic wrote: »

But everyone who goes into those garages will pay the same price for their diesel, it's not means tested. Also, some people in the SE will have very low incomes and some people in Burnley have very high incomes.

If I make some Joinery for a millionaire and he asks me to ease some doors I will charge him but if I'm fitting a window for a little old lady/Gentleman living in a small house and they ask me to ease a door I wouldn't charge them ........

I don't feel guilty in charging the millionaire;) having said that I use to work for an old chap whos clothes were threadbare , always charged low rates for him and when he passed away his estate was worth over £7 million so you never can tell...

callmechar

gas4you wrote: »

I too am very picky about which customers I do work for.

I agree it is a sixth sense.

I would usually avoid any that use a forum such as this.

Oops! Hmmm....lol!

baldelectrician

I think the OP is getting a bit over sensetive

I had a missed call today that didn't leave a message- my voicemail out of hours says that all out of hour call outs will be charged in advance by debit / credit card before the electrician is despatched.
This is due to the fact that 70% of out of hours calls cancel within 30 minutes of the call being made

This lady arrived at my door and asked me to attend her house, so I arrived at 14.50 and left at 17.22 and charged her £70 for 2.5 hours work on a Sunday
She moaned about the price and I told her if she heard the out of hours message on my voicemail she replied yes.

If it was standard prices then it would have been
£70 for out of hours call out
£70 x 2.5 hours = £145

Total £245, but I felt sorry for her and attended and only charged £70 for 2.5 hours work

I told her I have 4 kids and value my weekends so charge accordingly (effectively pricing myself out of weekend work)

I don't get a second chance to see my kids grow up- it's not all about the money

The fault turned out to be 2 faults- dodgy kitchen wiring for cooker hood and dodgy wiring in the kitchen lights

Mr_Ted

:A

:rotfl:Hello this is the hard done by tradesmens flying pig service, overcharge, inflate quotes, cheap jobs, NEVER :rotfl:

:A

Farzackerly

I don't give a high quote or estimate. If I don't like the look of a customer or something rings an alarm bell, I'll wait until I get back and call them with a story about much more urgent and major work coming up and I'll be occupied for the foreseeable future, so it would be better for them to get someone else to do it.
A simple lie, but better than telling them they're potential robbers or live in a pigsty.