Gas fitter's rate of pay

bundly

I'm just asking for a range of opinions on this one, as I really don't know what to think, what's right, what's acceptable, etc.

My CH boiler and HW system packed up and I got three quotes for the work, all said it would be 4 hours work, all quoted £250 including materials costing £100.

One of them did the job today. The job took 90 minutes but the charge was still £250. Therefore, I just paid him £100 an hour.

If workmen charge a job rate and not an hourly rate, why when they come to give a quote do they say how many hours it will take them, then multiply that by their hourly rate?

Have I just been "done over" or is this just the usual practice?

Bundly

cyclonebri1

Time to get there, time to get back, time collecting materials??


That will be the reason, or excuse depending on your point of view:A:A

I had a new boiler fitted for not much more than that, only £300 recently, I had supplied all the parts and it took him around 5 hrs.
I was happy with that, in your case I wouldn't have been

bundly

"Time to get there, time to get back, time collecting materials?"

Oh it never occurred to me that they included travelling time. He lives 10 mins drive away from me. And the plumbing shop is in between his and mine. So I guess you could say 30 minutes for travel and shopping.

But you make a good point. NEXT time I will ask specifically if their time/quote allows for travelling, and ALSO what will I be charged if it turns out that the job only takes an hour.

I often employ a decorator and he charges me £10 an hour. That starts when he arrives and ends when he leaves my house. He buys paint in his own time, but usually for several clients at once, so perhaps it's too complicated to charge each pro rata, I suppose. But surely that is the same for plumbers etc ~ they must be in the supplier's shop several times a week.

B.

cyclonebri1

bundly wrote: »

"Time to get there, time to get back, time collecting materials?"

Oh it never occurred to me that they included travelling time. He lives 10 mins drive away from me. And the plumbing shop is in between his and mine. So I guess you could say 30 minutes for travel and shopping.

But you make a good point. NEXT time I will ask specifically if their time/quote allows for travelling, and ALSO what will I be charged if it turns out that the job only takes an hour.

I often employ a decorator and he charges me £10 an hour. That starts when he arrives and ends when he leaves my house. He buys paint in his own time, but usually for several clients at once, so perhaps it's too complicated to charge each pro rata, I suppose. But surely that is the same for plumbers etc ~ they must be in the supplier's shop several times a week.

B.

Ahhh, but painting isn't a black art,........:o:o;);)

phill99

The reality is that you were given a fixed price. He charged you £250 for doing a job. If that job had taken 6 hours, you would still only pay £250. He effectively has taken the business risk, not you. He could have said £100 an hour and strung it out very easily to 4 hours, which would have cost you a lot more.

Why are customers so obsessed with hourly rates?

bundly

phill99 wrote: »

Why are customers so obsessed with hourly rates?

Because when a tradesman gives a quote, he always chooses to talk in terms of his hourly rate. If he didn't, we wouldn't.


B.

phill99

bundly wrote: »

Because when a tradesman gives a quote, he always chooses to talk in terms of his hourly rate. If he didn't, we wouldn't.


B.

No they don't. I never give hourly rates. I give a fixed price. If i do the job quicker than I thought, I have a result. If it takes longer, the customer has a result.

In fact none of the tradesmen I work with give hourly rates.

cyclonebri1

phill99 wrote: »

The reality is that you were given a fixed price. He charged you £250 for doing a job. If that job had taken 6 hours, you would still only pay £250. He effectively has taken the business risk, not you. He could have said £100 an hour and strung it out very easily to 4 hours, which would have cost you a lot more.

Why are customers so obsessed with hourly rates?

because this guy would not have accepted £100 per hour, it is that simple Phill

Doozergirl

phill99 wrote: »

No they don't. I never give hourly rates. I give a fixed price. If i do the job quicker than I thought, I have a result. If it takes longer, the customer has a result.

In fact none of the tradesmen I work with give hourly rates.

I don't work with anyone that works on an hourly rate either. Four quotes all the same indicates a fair price to the customer. I hate the fact that because a guy might be a bit dusty and gets sweaty, that he somehow has a limit on his earnings anyway.

If the customer asks how long it will take, you have to give some kind of answer. In my naive state, I would presume the customer is asking so that they can plan time, not so they can calculate my hourly rate.

Apart from getting there, back and going to the supplier, there is the small matter of what one does for the rest of the day. Aside from that there is also a matter of insurance, registering with trade bodies, keeping qualified, running a van, quoting the customer in the first place, bank fees, VAT, advertising costs, accountancy, admin support, phone line, website... I get charged by the bank for getting paid by a customer!

It's not an hourly rate for one person, it's the cost of running a business and the infrastructure. If a decorator charges £10 an hour, he's not running those costs, legitimately or not.

If British Gas do it, you appreciate you're not just paying the guy that turns up, you're paying for the massive infrastructure behind it. Small guys have it on a smaller level and are cheaper as a result - people might think he's somehow rolling on a personal hourly rate of £100 an hour, but it doesn't work like that. Each job has other timed work or dead time around it. I run a Limited company and the direct debits going out to run it legitimately are astounding, but people just see my dirty, sweaty husband most of the time

bundly

Doozergilr makes some excellent points. If I may just respond to one of them:

Doozergirl wrote: »

If the customer asks how long it will take, you have to give some kind of answer. In my naive state, I would presume the customer is asking so that they can plan time, not so they can calculate my hourly rate.

In my case, I didn't ask how long. The gas fitter stated his hourly rate to me, then told me how long it would take, and multiplied the one by the other to get £150.

The replacement of a pump must be a frequent job for him, so I think he must have known it would only take him 90 minutes.

But of course, if he'd said, "My hourly rate is £50 and this will take me 90 minutes", he could only have charged me £75.

I'd never employ him again. I'd recommend him, but warn the person that they'll be paying him £100 an hour. It's more about honesty and openness than the amount paid, I think.

B.

stebiz

I feel your pain bundly.

Personally I've always taken British Gas Cover. A few hundred pounds a year to check my fire and boiler. Even called out on Christmas Eve one year. Full safety check and maintenance. Includes labour and parts.

Never let me down.

Try calling a gas fitter over Christmas.