Electrical quote - £80 for a USB double socket!! Fair?

cem

This is in Hull

Been quoted the below and it seems excessive but thought I would ask ..

Wire + Supply and Install double socket £60
Wire + Supply and Install USB double socket £80
Supply and Install TV point + coaxial £70

I have put the full quote on here which amounts to more then £3k + vat! :
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0cQ8feVjWZyVFU3cWRVRWdHME0/view?usp=sharing

I would really appreciate any thoughts, tips or suggestions on the quote.

Thanks in advance.

baldelectrician

My rate is £35.00 per hour or £35.00 per item, so it seems about reasonable IMO

brightontraveller

Get fixed price quote don’t employ anyone doing installation works or an hourly rate you’ll end up being shafted 99% of the time... £80 for USB socket rip off USB sockets are from £8 and take no longer to fit than standard socket minutes to instal ( This may be different if it’s a call out to install a single item were call out time collecting parts etc would factor but not on a job that’s likely days weeks etc)
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I’d get other quotes from small or one man firms not really sure what they mean by “Wire + Supply and Install USB double socket £80” as the quote doesn’t read like a rewire more like adding lots to an existing installation? bodge, gold plating…
[/FONT] Looking at it there's a lot of info missing/wrong [FONT=&quot]ambiguously defined [/FONT]with there quote I’d avoid them screams cowboy/rip off merchant to me...

sujman

I would ask the guy how many days work does he think this job is.

Then what I would do is try and work out the cost of the materials only.

Then deduct that from the £3,125 quote to see the labour costs.

Then divide that by £25, to see how many hours worth of work is being estimated.

Once you have that number, you can make an assessment of if you think the overall charge is fair.

For example:

Total cost £3,195 (ex VAT)
Materials £1,000 (make sure you get ex VAT prices)
Balance = £2,195
Hours worked = 2195/25 = 88hrs
Or 11 days work at 8 hours per day.

See if that matches to what you were told about the length of the work and if it 'feels' right.

Also, ask here for further advise.

cem

Thanks all very much. I have had another quote from someone who has quoted £40 labour to fit and £15-£20 material cost for the USB double wall socket. Obviously I can supply my own too so the one I have is definitely a rip off!

andyhop

Seems more than fair. Id like to see someone fit in a hour. All USBsockets need a 35mm back box and given the usual backboxes are 25mm its not just a case of unscrewing and refitting, that is unless you want a nasty plastic spacer trim

brightontraveller

andyhop wrote: »

Seems more than fair. Id like to see someone fit in a hour. All USBsockets need a 35mm back box and given the usual backboxes are 25mm its not just a case of unscrewing and refitting, that is unless you want a nasty plastic spacer trim

The quote doesn’t mention replacing boxes? Assuming there not in dry lining boxes or box is only 25mm? You can get 25 mm specific ones anyhow so why buy ones you need 35mm for? There is no legal requirement of 35 mm boxes just some are easy to fit in a bigger box for less experienced. (Ditto flat plate sockets),

As a one off it may take longer, getting tools out clearing up etc even so box sinker max 10 minutes, electric drill etc 15, hammer and bolster 20 minutes, Still well short of an hour… Some try double cherry bite setting both price / hourly rate per job but that’s just ripping client off…? Either on a price or hourly rate not both?

DavidF

In context of the whole quote I think it looks reasonable. for instance I may have charged you £50 for the supply and fit of usb double - but then again I would have charged £400 for the board. If you start splitting the job up then you will find that the individual cost of each item will go up.
To say this is a rip off is a bit ott.
Also i do laugh at the people who want to supply their own materials....there goes the warranty as the contractor will not give a warranty for stuff supplied by A N other. If for example the usb socket developed a fault and the op supplied it - then they would be liable @£25 per hour for the part to be swapped, but if the contractor supplies it then the contactor will normally have at least a 12month warranty against his work if not much longer...and he would come back and change over free of charge.
#Final point IF you got contractor A to do most of the work but then paid contractor B to do "some" parts then it may be that you would need to pay both for a full test/inspection as part of the price...which im sure would quickly cancel out any potential savings made.

NICHOLAS_2

brightontraveller wrote: »

The quote doesn’t mention replacing boxes? Assuming there not in dry lining boxes or box is only 25mm? You can get 25 mm specific ones anyhow so why buy ones you need 35mm for? There is no legal requirement of 35 mm boxes just some are easy to fit in a bigger box for less experienced. (Ditto flat plate sockets),

As a one off it may take longer, getting tools out clearing up etc even so box sinker max 10 minutes, electric drill etc 15, hammer and bolster 20 minutes, Still well short of an hour… Some try double cherry bite setting both price / hourly rate per job but that’s just ripping client off…? Either on a price or hourly rate not both?

We had a customer supply all her own stuff (we actually ended up making more profit than usual out of that job) and the usb sockets provided were too deep for the boxes, the plastic trim had to go on to space it off, it didn't look too bad. One of them couldn't be fitted because someone else doing work there brought the cable into the box in a way that ate up space and it wasn't our job to put the boxes in because they were trying to save money (that saved us time and made us more money too).

You have to look at the overalls as mentioned.

Compared to us they are cheap. We usually rewire a place in 50 hours and our labour rate equates to £50 an hour.

Obviously there are business costs to pay for so it's not as good as it looks.

NICHOLAS_2

Op could save money if they wanted, using someone who isn't VAT registered for a start.