Fixed-price job with unexpected issues

trailingspouse

Pay the man!!

He's sorted (or is sorting) some issues that neither of you knew about previously. It's not like you're not getting anything for the extra you're paying out. His daily rate is reasonable, and he's not standing around twiddling his thumbs.

If you would be happy to recommend him, then be happy to pay him the rate for the job. A good electrician is worth his weight in gold. And a customer who pays up in full and on time is likely to go to the top of the list if they need another job doing in a hurry.

Doozergirl

lstar337 wrote: »

I thought that if you quoted a fixed price then you added a little on to cover unexpected issues?

That way if the job is straight forward then you gain a little, if it is a pain then you lose a little. Over a few jobs it balances out.

Don't see the point of a fixed price otherwise.

On an £80 job?

The remit is to fit a light fitting. If a circuit needs replacing for some reason it doesn't fit in the remit of 'fit a light fitting'. He might put in a contingency for small things, but he can hardly be expected to fund a partial rewire because part of the electrics are unsafe.

One small job turning into a whole other job is not something to be covered by a contingency. This is one guy, not a company with a huge turnover. He can't be taken advantage of.

kat74

To be clear, I am absolutely not wanting to take advantage of the guy.
I'm happy to pay a fair price; I've just not come across this situation before so I don't know how a how a fair price is usually decided!

Thanks for the different perspectives

Doozergirl

kat74 wrote: »

To be clear, I am absolutely not wanting to take advantage of the guy.
I'm happy to pay a fair price; I've just not come across this situation before so I don't know how a how a fair price is usually decided!

Thanks for the different perspectives

I didn't think you were

baldelectrician

Just a side note


Went to do a consumer unit change and test job on Tuesday


I have been there 2 nights this week as there is a fault on the sockets (a boom type fault), see photo


This took 3 hours to find and it was below the hall floor which had carpet, laminate below, underlay below that and then hard board below that


I told the client I would give her an hour included in the initial job and then it would be my usual rate afterwards.
She was happy.


This fault below is just a part - there is another fault on the ring (the meter shows it). It sometimes gets to a stage where rewiring part of it is cheaper


The photo shows what happens if a fuse blows and it keeps getting replaced - the fault has blown the cables apart and some sockets don't work (and are unsafe)

lstar337

Doozergirl wrote: »

On an £80 job?

The remit is to fit a light fitting. If a circuit needs replacing for some reason it doesn't fit in the remit of 'fit a light fitting'. He might put in a contingency for small things, but he can hardly be expected to fund a partial rewire because part of the electrics are unsafe.

One small job turning into a whole other job is not something to be covered by a contingency. This is one guy, not a company with a huge turnover. He can't be taken advantage of.

Oh yeah, obviously. I'm not saying the guy is in the wrong or anything.

I just wanted to explain what I thought a 'Fixed price job' was, a kind of lay persons perspective. And I only did that because some posts seemed to suggest that there is no such thing as 'fixed price'. IMHO, if there is no such thing as 'fixed price' then stop using the term. It is misleading.

Still, If an electrician offered me a fixed price then I would have expected him to have fully investigated before hand. That way he could avoid these types of situations.

It is understandably difficult on an £80 job though!

ComicGeek

lstar337 wrote: »

Oh yeah, obviously. I'm not saying the guy is in the wrong or anything.

I just wanted to explain what I thought a 'Fixed price job' was, a kind of lay persons perspective. And I only did that because some posts seemed to suggest that there is no such thing as 'fixed price'. IMHO, if there is no such thing as 'fixed price' then stop using the term. It is misleading.

Still, If an electrician offered me a fixed price then I would have expected him to have fully investigated before hand. That way he could avoid these types of situations.

It is understandably difficult on an £80 job though!

It's not clear whether the term 'fixed price' was even mentioned by the electrician, the 1st line of the OP is that the 'quote' was £80. I would be very, very surprised if anyone in the building trade would say fixed price, as you really don't know what you're going to find until you start. No way that you can fully investigate the work beforehand, that's time unpaid if the customer doesn't accept the quote/price.

When I'm asked to provide fixed fees I still attach a list of exclusions and caveats - if I had to include for all possible circumstances my base fees would be double and I wouldn't get any work.

But it's fair to say that there has been a miscommunication on this, otherwise the OP wouldn't be asking here.