Salary

[tommytoker]

jeeez, 25k in the 80's must be equiv of 50k nowadays, £200 a day doing lead work..!! were lucky to get that now doing gas work
how come you still working clanger.? i would be sitting in the sun if i were you
i have been self-emp for over 10 years if i had been a plumber/gasman from leaving school (the 80's) i'd be retired by now...

 

[Britlee]

When the site trade was good ( before the recession hit ) i was getting payed £10 an hour on price work, For instances The company would pay me 6hrs to fit a bathroom suite, i could do one in 1hr 30mins so i got £60 for an 1hr 30mins work. Some weeks i was taking home £1300.

 

[core heating]

i charge £28 an hour plus 50p per mile ( if its a non quoted job) although it never works out 8hours a day... average out at 200 a day if quoting i work it out to £260 per man/day

. not gas safe as i told them to stick it.

my main company is mcs and i only install ASHP and underfloor heating. get specialised . you can charge more this way.
if you offer..... taps. bathroom, cooker. fires. radiators, servicing. etc etc it looks jack of all..

underfloor and ashp. simple. . its worked for me this way.

 

[ComfortHeating]

I have my ccn1 and appliances and live in SE16.

 

[tamz]

I have my ccn1 and appliances and live in SE16.

So what are your expectations of a decent wage?

 

[ComfortHeating]

I'd hope to take home atleast 35k a year after Overheads for an honest 40hr week. I have seven years experience working mostly on large luxury plumbing and heating jobs and don't know where to look now that I live in London for a decent paid job.

 

[tamz]

Take home 35K is around 50K at the top. On a 40 hr week you better be good or you have no chance.

 

[ComfortHeating]

I realize that, I just know that I've made more then 30k in sales with no overheads. I just think its crazy that a salesman with no experience and training can out earn a trained skilled professional.

 

[tamz]

Such is the way of the world. I was told many years ago that as soon as you dirty your hands you will never make real money. This is true.
Think of any person who has made it big. They are not manual workers. Even Charlie Mullins never made it big until he threw his tools away.+

50 k is a big expectation that only the very best will achieve.

 

[Deleted member 25704]

jeeez, 25k in the 80's must be equiv of 50k nowadays, £200 a day doing lead work..!! were lucky to get that now doing gas work
how come you still working clanger.? i would be sitting in the sun if i were you
i have been self-emp for over 10 years if i had been a plumber/gasman from leaving school (the 80's) i'd be retired by now...

Its funny how gas work has become the gold standard. During my career, it was just another aspect of being a plumber, along with electrical, oil, lead-work and sanitary pipework. The gas guys and fitters were always paid less than plumbers, which was the same for teaching the subjects in in FE.

It would take me around 2 years to train someone at work, to do lead-work to a 'competent' standard that a decent architect would accept - it would take me a matter of weeks to train someone to get through an ACS practical gas assessment. For central heating contracts, six weeks to train someone to do rads and pipework. The general plumber, takes ten years to achieve master status in England, in Germany its only five.

However, gas fitters would argue that many plumbers who do gas, are not competent, and I think they have a good argument. The same could be said for plumbers that do electrical.

When I think of the amount of work, which was required to make 50K doing plumbing, its collosal, if you are working on the tools. I really enjoyed the job so I was never destined to make loads of money; I don't think you do if you really enjoy what you are doing. But, I think I have been priveleged in being able to land steady work for decades - not so much through my own skill, but because there was hardly anyone doing the job - no competition.

This is no longer the case, because of the economic situation and the influx of people into the trade. I have work diaries covering decades of jobs that came in over the phone, ten or more calls a day. Now I am lucky to get two or three calls a week. Even to make 25K clear, you will have to land stacks of business, see loads of people and write lots of estimates, make calls, order, organise, do, get money in etc.

If I were asked a few years ago what I earned, I would probably have said more than 25K, because generally I think we do - so as not to look like a failure to others. The reality is different, and I wonder how many are actually being accurate with their estimates of what they earn.

 

[ComfortHeating]

I appreciate your advice, sounds like its still a tough market out there. At the moment I still have work coming my way, I currently work in London installing plumbing heating and gas in luxury houses which often require 150-250 days labor. My boss for obvious reasons would like me to give him a price on the next one. How much more would you charge to do it on price?(Labor only) And does anyone know if hbxl is powerful enough to estimate work that big?

 

[AWheating]

When i was directly employed i could earn 40k a year before the credit crunch or whatever you want to call this bleak time. Now i am self employed i have got diddy squat chance of earning anything close to that.

direct plumber is would say £7 to £10 an hour, self employed £80 to £140 a day if you mainly sub to contracted work.

over the years there have been stories of plumbers earning averages of 80k plus in national newspapers, based on what i have no idea. Include the over hyped expected wages advertised by dodgy training centers offering fast track training and many fokes still believe the stories. The truth is as with every other construction trade is that work is hard to find, and wages are low and getting lower. with many experienced tradesmen out of work and on the dole or trying different jobs.

 

[AWheating]

I appreciate your advice, sounds like its still a tough market out there. At the moment I still have work coming my way, I currently work in London installing plumbing heating and gas in luxury houses which often require 150-250 days labor. My boss for obvious reasons would like me to give him a price on the next one. How much more would you charge to do it on price?(Labor only) And does anyone know if hbxl is powerful enough to estimate work that big?

hbxl can be downloaded on a trial i think, give it a try and let us know how it goes.

it sounds to me that the sort of work you are doing would be extreemly hard to price the labour for to work on a price as you have to rely on the whole job running to programe and no major problems.

 

[Deleted member 25704]

I have had jobs where customers have asked for a price, then decided to let me do day-work. The problem is that the price only benefits the manager or who you are working for. There is nothing to be gained for the plumber, by pricing a job, that the customer wants done 'labour only'.

When the job finishes, they may hold back wages if the price you quoted it could be done for, is less than what is expected to be paid for day-work.

If someone is employing you for 'labour only' it usually means the job is being managed, and hence its their problem to cost labour, not yours.

From experience, those that want you to do work 'labour only' don't want the plumber or any worker making a profit - heaven forbid...a profit.

 

[ComfortHeating]

Essentially I am a plumber and heating engineer who works as a subcontractor for a larger plumbing company and for that reason I do not buy the material.(hence labor only) My boss would like me to remove a little bit of his risk on the job and give him a fixed price. Would you say an extra 10 percent over run plus an extra 10 percent margin on top of what I charge for my day rate would be fair?