Gas fitter's rate of pay

bundly

Hi Stebiz

Yes this was suggested to me some years ago. My friend tells me it's £250 a year. As I have been here 15 years now, and this is the first time the boiler has gone wrong, I would have paid something like £3,750 to BG!

But I'd have been covered for this £250 bill!

(It's a bit like pet insurance. Had my cat 15 years, too, and he's only been to the vet once. Imagine how much I'd have paid in pet insurance!)

B.

stebiz

bundly wrote: »

Hi Stebiz

Yes this was suggested to me some years ago. My friend tells me it's £250 a year. As I have been here 15 years now, and this is the first time the boiler has gone wrong, I would have paid something like £3,750 to BG!

But I'd have been covered for this £250 bill!

(It's a bit like pet insurance. Had my cat 15 years, too, and he's only been to the vet once. Imagine how much I'd have paid in pet insurance!)

B.

So you didn't get it serviced in 15 years? :eek:

bundly

stebiz wrote: »

So you didn't get it serviced in 15 years? :eek:

Only twice. Once when the boiler was moved to another part of the house, and once I got a gas safety certificate for the hell of it. There was nothing wrong with it either time.

Is this bad?

B.

stebiz

bundly wrote: »

Only twice. Once when the boiler was moved to another part of the house, and once I got a gas safety certificate for the hell of it. There was nothing wrong with it either time.

Is this bad?

B.

Depends if you value yours and your families life.:( The reason Landlords need a gas safety check each year is because of thereal risk of carbon monoxide poisoning when boilers get blocked him and aren't cleaned or maintained. It is a real threat mate I assure you.

missprice

bundly wrote: »

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



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.

So when he came to give you a quote for this work, did he charge you for his time?
Just because A plumb center is between your home and his, does not mean he used that one. Maybe he gets a better deal at a different one. Maybe he picked up your part on the way to your home but more likely he picked it up a day or so previously.
Did he charge you time for looking up the part needed, calling the supplier, making sure it was the correct part as boilers are not all the same, getting an invoice and paying it, and his time for about a hundred other things that you simply have not thought of. Do you even have a clue how much it costs to keep trained and gas safe registered?
Van insurance, tool insurance, replacement tools, diesel, road tax, accountant fees, income tax, nic's, late nights, call outs, etc etc

He didn't string you along, he said what it would cost and that was the price you paid, I don't see the problem.

ceredigion

To rub some salt into the wound buldly. What do you think the
central heating pump cost?
You were given a rate for the job , you said yes ,that's that.
When you employ a tradesmen , your not paying for his hands , you are paying for whats in his head . Sure if you thought that you could do it yourself , you would have done. Personally never work on an hourly rate , its either day rate or piece work. Customers choice , but if its day rate im only there a couple of hours , you still pay for the day.

C_Mababejive

When you go to the dentist or lawyer,do you go into so much detail and interrogation as to what and what isnt being charged?

bundly

ceredigion wrote: »

To rub some salt into the wound buldly. What do you think the
central heating pump cost?
You were given a rate for the job , you said yes ,that's that.
When you employ a tradesmen , your not paying for his hands , you are paying for whats in his head . Sure if you thought that you could do it yourself , you would have done. Personally never work on an hourly rate , its either day rate or piece work. Customers choice , but if its day rate im only there a couple of hours , you still pay for the day.

The pump cost £88. He told me that.

I see your point, Ceredigion but may I ask you a question please?

If you asked a masseur what s/he charges, and s/he said £25 an hour, or alternatively if you said, how much for an all over massage and s/he said, that will take me an hour, so it's £25, and you booked him/her, and the whole thing was over in 20 minutes, would you feel happy that you hadn't been cheated in any way, provided the masseur did in fact go over your whole body?

Just askin'.

Bundly.

cyclonebri1

Bundly, I'm different to most folks that will answer your questions, I'm not in the trade. I am however an ex engineering manager whose hobby was and still is construction. I know a little about most thing but am master of none. But I do no what things cost and how the trades work.
However the other guys think they do tend to close ranks when trade jobs costs are questioned. I try to answer as I would had I been in your place and it can annoy some.

You have to accept that he can give you a 1 1/2 hr slot then book a 1 hr job next then a 2 hr......you get my drift, there will be gaps and he has to ensure he earns a days pay, whatever his rates are.
Would I have been pis%ed?, yes like you I would.

You mentioned the boiler you had not being serviced regularly. The 1 I mentioned was 17 years old, I installed it. It was never serviced in those years, it never broke down completely but did develop an intermediate fault. I traced that to several dry joints on the mother board and soldered them at zero cost. It never had a service contract.
I was asked in another thread why I changed it. Well largely because it had earned it's keep and I didn't think my look could hold much longer. 17 years for one of the earliest electronic combis seemed pretty good to me.

The guy who changed it was legit, I just picked him off the list as being just about the nearest. His price was the only 1 I got from 3 tenders. I chap never turned up, the other 2 days late. This is a real issue to me but that's for a different thread.
What I'm saying is I chose carefully and he was very transparent in his price, he said a day or just over, as I said it took about 5 hrs, but for the price I paid had he done it in 2 hours I would have been happy.
This is down to the fact that I knew what was involved and that was your issue.

As you say, don't use him again if you feel that way, there are plenty to chose from, get a recommendation.

In praise of the trade guys here it is pretty obvious they are the genuine side of the business, the unfortunate thing is there are plumbers/gas fitters/sparkies etc etc out there that let them down as well as you and me.

Move on chap, learn from it and next time maybe ask before the event and not after?

MonsieurFrugal

What about his time in the office filling out paperwork ? I'm an electrician and spend lots of time in the office filling out certificates etc we certainly charge customers for it!