Gas fitter's rate of pay

bundly

Doozergirl wrote: »

Similar, your time is worth money, your printer cost money, the stamps cost money. Of course you are charging for those - you have to pay for it whether it's cold cash or the physical limit on the hours you can bill out on the fun stuff because of the admin time you have to take around it. You work 40 hours but bill 20 hours to the customer because they don't account for your admin time! They think your hourly rate is twice what it actually is...

It's not like that. The publishers set the rate. There is no negotiating, you either accept the job or you don't. There are many literate graduates across the country who accept this rate because they are disabled, or stay at home mums or carers, isolated without transport, past retirement age, unable to work full time or go out to an employer. But yes, you have to pay all your own expenses because you are working from home.

When I've been asked by a private client to edit or proof read a book for them and I've asked for £20 an hour, I've been told this is far too much and sure enough they disappear and doubtless find someone cheaper. On Fiverr.com there are dozens of people offering these kinds of services for $5 an hour, which is about £3.50. This is who we are competing with, so it pushes fees down. So you can see why it stings when, having committed considerable brain-power to working for £10ph one is forced to pay a plumber £100 an hour.

B.

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?

That's so wrong phill I have to comment.

He knows how long that job will take, he has added the screw up factor in, he does every time, but you know what, 99 x out of 100 murphy doesn't show up so who's the winner?

cyclonebri1

C_Mababejive wrote: »

Very few things are black arts. I have litigated on behalf of myself and others and never lost a case but im not a "solicitor".

I may give myself a scale and polish at the weekend when i have a spare five minutes.

That was actually my point, but given the frighteners that are thrown at Joe Public if he doesn't get that signature, :eek::eek::eek: voodoo

bundly

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

That's so wrong phill I have to comment.

He knows how long that job will take, he has added the screw up factor in, he does every time, but you know what, 99 x out of 100 murphy doesn't show up so who's the winner?

I am relieved to read your post Cyclone.

And I must add... he told me that if there was extra work involved (i.e. discovered after he started) that this would cost me more @£50 an hour). So the "risk" was not his at all.

And yes, he must have known exactly how long the job would take him, as changing a pump must be something he's done a hundred times.

B.

cyclonebri1

bundly wrote: »

It's not like that. The publishers set the rate. There is no negotiating, you either accept the job or you don't. There are many literate graduates across the country who accept this rate because they are disabled, or stay at home mums or carers, isolated without transport, past retirement age, unable to work full time or go out to an employer. But yes, you have to pay all your own expenses because you are working from home.

When I've been asked by a private client to edit or proof read a book for them and I've asked for £20 an hour, I've been told this is far too much and sure enough they disappear and doubtless find someone cheaper. On Fiverr.com there are dozens of people offering these kinds of services for $5 an hour, which is about £3.50. This is who we are competing with, so it pushes fees down. So you can see why it stings when, having committed considerable brain-power to working for £10ph one is forced to pay a plumber £100 an hour.

B.

Bundly, ranks have been closed on you, it's a problem that has grown on here over the last 5 years or so. Before then there were people like me just trying to offer alternatives to paying through the nose. Unfortunately for all to see, the majority are now traders justifying their way.

I think I said earlier, give up on this 1 and just learn for next time.

Well, I don't come on here to make friends, but I feel I may have just made a whole new load of enemies. :silenced: next time

Doozergirl

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Bundly, ranks have been closed on you, it's a problem that has grown on here over the last 5 years or so. Before then there were people like me just trying to offer alternatives to paying through the nose. Unfortunately for all to see, the majority are now traders justifying their way.

I think I said earlier, give up on this 1 and just learn for next time.

Well, I don't come on here to make friends, but I feel I may have just made a whole new load of enemies. :silenced: next time

I don't come here to make enemies. Nor do I need to justify my way.

There are people out there who will undercut in every industry/service. If that is what you want as a customer, you go and find. Otherwise, as a trader of anything, stick to your gun, set a sensible price that allows you to make a living, angle your marketing accordingly and choose customers that don't begrudge paying for a good service.

I wonder if the others that priced the work also charged by the hour - or just by the job. I don't deal with gas repairs of any type so I'm as in the dark as anyone - I just wouldn't feel ripped off if three people had quoted me the same price, regardless of how long it took. The objective was not to watch a bloke fiddle around for three hours, it was to get something fixed.

cyclonebri1

I do understand but the issue will remain, half the time "punters" ask a question on this section of the forum it's after the event and almost always it's because they feel they have been ripped of or short changed in some way, I sure you understand that.
Yes, as I advocate many times and have done here, if the question was asked before, ie, when needing the service, then I'm sure the tones of the answers would be different.

There is always the other point, this is MSE not the tilers forum or DIYnot etc. People come here because they don't want to spend more than they have.
That doesn't mean they automatically want to buy the cheapest or get the fix done in an illegal or bodged manner, it simply means they want value for money hence my take on the subject.

The OP isn't exactly innocent here either. The title, although I'm sure not intentionally, is somewhat provocative, it's always going to polarise opinion and responses to the topic.

ollski

bundly wrote: »

No, HE would have charged me more.

He told me that he didn't expect to find [something or other jargon thing which I have now forgotten] but if he did, then it would cost me another £50 as it would take an hour to put that right. As it was, he said he didn't find that this thing [whatever it was] had happened.

But it would have been bloody interesting if he had. Because having told me the job would take 3 hours @ £50 if simply a pump change, and an extra one hour @ £50 if this extra thing needed doing, how could he stand there and ask me for the extra £50 for going over the 3 hours, if he'd done the whole job in less than 2 hrs?

I don't know if everyone on here is on a fat salary (in which case why are you on MoneySavingExpert?) but when you only earn £7 an hour stacking shelves or £10 an hour editing books it's hard to find this money to pay all these people, so you don't want to feel ripped off by them.

Doozer: You are buying a 60 minute massage.

Indeed. I was also told that I was buying 3 hours of a plumber's time @£50 an hour.

B.

I expect he told you if the cold feed was blocked it would have cost extra, this is fair enough as it would be a totally seperate fault which would have come to light when he did the pump job.
What I'm suggesting is that any work directly related to changing the pump and valves which took longer would have been incorperated into the job cost.

Doozergirl

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

I do understand but the issue will remain, half the time "punters" ask a question on this section of the forum it's after the event and almost always it's because they feel they have been ripped of or short changed in some way, I sure you understand that.
Yes, as I advocate many times and have done here, if the question was asked before, ie, when needing the service, then I'm sure the tones of the answers would be different.

There is always the other point, this is MSE not the tilers forum or DIYnot etc. People come here because they don't want to spend more than they have.
That doesn't mean they automatically want to buy the cheapest or get the fix done in an illegal or bodged manner, it simply means they want value for money hence my take on the subject.

The OP isn't exactly innocent here either. The title, although I'm sure not intentionally, is somewhat provocative, it's always going to polarise opinion and responses to the topic.

I think you're missing the point. The professionals here are just as quick to jump on a high price as they are a low one. I know for a fact that that I've saved one MSE'r £2500 in the last few months by persuading them that they didn't need something.

Call me big headed but I know I add value when the subject is mine. I don't come here to take. The suggestion that the trades close ranks on people is distasteful. We're perfectly fine with disagreeing with each other as well sometimes.

cyclonebri1

Doozergirl wrote: »

I think you're missing the point. The professionals here are just as quick to jump on a high price as they are a low one. I know for a fact that that I've saved one MSE'r £2500 in the last few months by persuading them that they didn't need something.

Call me big headed but I know I add value when the subject is mine. I don't come here to take. The suggestion that the trades close ranks on people is distasteful. We're perfectly fine with disagreeing with each other as well sometimes.

I'm fine with the fact that you don't like that, but it happens if their particular profession is put under scrutiny, whether you like it or not.

Throughout this thread I've almost played devils advocate, I've offered every possible view on the topic I have, both from the trade user and I think I've been very fair.

You cannot alter the fact that we only hear about problems on here, and yes part of that is the punters fault, I accept that, but there then does come a flurry of posts in defense of the trade. I find that distasteful.

We all have out opinions luckily, they will never all agree, but as long as it's polite and independant I have no issues and I no doubt your intentions are honourable, as I hope you understand are mine but you (that's a general you) are seen to be in defense of the trade when really none of us know the exact circumstances.
We all need to be very careful, (I've said this of the OP already) when setting the tone of a thread, it can often escalate into full blown argument

Anyway end of as far as I'm concerned