Plasterer's working hours

Lychee

thank you to everyone for responding.

We did get a quote for the job beforehand, which was broken down to material cost and labour cost. He said it will take him x days to complete and his daily rate is £y. I just didn't realise he'd only be around about 5 hours a day, so could he have done it in less days after all. The plasterer mentioned things like smiffy 1989 and drusilla posted above. He got to stage that was suitable to leave, and plastering is hard work so his arms need a good rest.

cyclonebri1

phill99 wrote: »

So why have you employing tradesmen on a day rate? Thats just an invitation to tradesmen to drag z job out. You should employ them on a fixed price. Then they have an incentive to get the job done quicker.

Would they do that??:A:A

Sorry Phill, couldn't resist, but I wanted to reply similarly, yet again we have a situation where time isn't the critical issue, it's the total cost whether it be by quotation or estimate. Don't get fixed on hours, some will work 5 as in your case, many 12 or even more, and it's dam hard work.

ceredigion

Im a spread for my sins and a working day is based around 8 to 5pm.
Though sometimes alittle earlier and often a lot later. The issue with plastering that doesn't really apply to other trades is as soon as I drop some dust into a bucket of water its 3 hours to a finish of that set. So once it gets to 3 in the afternoon , you can get a set in and finish at 6pm , but after that you really will be working late. Which may be feasible or maybe not be. So in a good day , reckon to start at 8am , straight on the tools and get 3 big sets in before we go home. However, if theres any messing around in the morning , meet and greet and then sheet up , tools out of the van . You may not get going until midmorning, which means that you are down to 2 sets and when you're done you're done, as you are never going to throw a third on.
In relation to the plasterer the OP employed , maybe it was always going to be a 2 day job , in as much as you're never going to do it in one day , so you may as well take two days and have comfortable days.


Reference to day rate or price work , I can honestly say there is absolutely no difference in production rate which ever way I'm being employed. If I'm working on a price , maybe more inclined to work more hours within the day beyond what normally would be considered reasonable , in order to get it done and get out of there. But would also add a lump on to my price as I'm carrying the risk. Furthermore when a client asks me to do something that isn't in my contract, its more money . Whereas if I'm on day rate , client pays the bill. They're carrying the risk , they don't pay the premium. and that little bit of patching that you want done in the other room , will effectively cost them nothing. So in my opinion , if you want the most cost effective way of getting the job done , find a tradesman you can trust and put them day rate .

monty-doggy

I've just had 3 amazing guys do my loft conversion. They arrived at 7.30 am and left at 6.45pm. They had half hour lunch break.

Furts

ceredigion wrote: »

Im a spread for my sins

Reference to day rate or price work , I can honestly say there is absolutely no difference in production rate which ever way I'm being employed. If I'm working on a price , maybe more inclined to work more hours within the day beyond what normally would be considered reasonable , in order to get it done and get out of there. But would also add a lump on to my price as I'm carrying the risk. Furthermore when a client asks me to do something that isn't in my contract, its more money . Whereas if I'm on day rate , client pays the bill. They're carrying the risk , they don't pay the premium. and that little bit of patching that you want done in the other room , will effectively cost them nothing. So in my opinion , if you want the most cost effective way of getting the job done , find a tradesman you can trust and put them day rate .

I second this and it is music to my ears. Well done ceredigion for explaining that it is not "a must do" to always seek prices, or quotes, from tradesmen and tradeswomen. There are genuine trades out there who are not in the mindset on ripping off customers if they are employed on daywork.

Indeed, many times I have put to trusted people "Do you really want to take me on a price?" I then have to explain the implications of this - many people are incredibily naive.