mark up

[Leo21]

Ok let's agree rates

40kw combi swap £35000

24kw system swap with of £6500

210 megaflow swap £4300

Magnaclean £ 750

??????

Sounds good to me.

 

[Dotty]

Ok let's agree rates

40kw combi swap £35000

24kw system swap with of £6500

210 megaflow swap £4300

Magnaclean £ 750

??????

Ok let's agree rates

40kw combi swap £35000

24kw system swap with of £6500

210 megaflow swap £4300

Magnaclean £ 750

??????

Ok let's agree rates

40kw combi swap £35000

24kw system swap with of £6500

210 megaflow swap £4300

Magnaclean £ 750

??????

Just the one job a year? Or do you sometimes squeeze in two?

 

[Ray Stafford]

You'll need that £35,000 when you see what the new merchants cartel is going to charge you for the materials...

 

[Leo21]

You'll need that £35,000 when you see what the new merchants cartel is going to charge you for the materials...

Thought that was already in place with the boiler prices these days!

 

[R1CKY]

I tend to just price things from the public Screwfix catalogue, then order it at my merchants. Most things I get considerably cheaper. The things I don't, I have a word with the manager and he sets up discount for me.

 

[Leo21]

My local Indy suppliers are great, good service, prices and I can get them to drop a single compression tee with half hours notice.
Only bug bear is no trade and retail. So no mark up, but if the customers that way inclined I normally don't get the job anyway.

 

[Ermintrude]

You'll need that £35,000 when you see what the new merchants cartel is going to charge you for the materials...

U getting in on our price fixing?

 

[Ray Stafford]

U getting in on our price fixing?

Well, you can't beat a good idea whose time has come. 🙂

 

[lame plumber]

I tend to just price things from the public Screwfix catalogue, then order it at my merchants. Most things I get considerably cheaper. The things I don't, I have a word with the manager and he sets up discount for me.

use the wickes catalogue, they charge more 🙂

 

[cr0ft]

I do.

I made the decision to start charging more this year. Every bathroom project I have put another 25% on to my labour for each one. I have got less jobs but am making more profit than if I had won every job at my old prices. Seems like a result to me.

 

[Linkyplumb]

20% on all materials for me.

 

[cr0ft]

Knock it up to 33% like I do. I have and it's not hurt my business. If you carry a comprehensive stock in your van you are basically a mini-merchant. You can easily build up 2-3k worth of stock in your van to cover all eventualities. That is money that should be making a substantial profit to cover the amount of money tied up.

If the customer doesn't want to pay that, I have no issue with them going to Screwfix and using their time and fuel to buy what is needed. So please don't just sell at Screwfix prices, you need to cover your diesel and time to go there too. The difference between Plumbfix and Screwfix prices is so small.

 

[cr0ft]

U getting in on our price fixing?

Someone mentioned on another thread once about supporting small business. I do sometimes laugh at our industry, loads of one man bands (myself included) all working seperately. We could all make so much more profit for the same price working together under one company. Bigger discounts from suppliers being the main one, but also larger advertising budgets etc.

In the current climate with the likes of British Gas and Tesco etc all competing for our business, I think there's strength in numbers!

 

[kirkgas]

With the Internet there's no place to hide mark up. I charge for all my time, collection phone alls etc.

You are wrong in the phrase"hide" mark up, you are a legitimate business and have real honest running costs, ok I see a pcb on the internet for £100 and expect to pay just £100 to you, plus your labour, you need to order it, pay for it then guarantee it for a year, yes it's guaranteed by the supplier but if you fit it for me I'm phoning you to come back when it's not working,
If I fit only because you bought the part for £100, I make it clear I will fit it no prob but I'm only responsible for the labour, if it fails and you phone me back I will call back but I will be paid unless it's a labour issue, pcb isn't even a good example say its a shower, pr of taps cistern, anything, if it fails I will return and if it failed because of the way I fitted it I will fit your new one free, but if you supply the part I can't guarantee it or be responsible so therefore if I supply I have mark up, 20% is a bare minimum! any less and it isn't actually worth working out,

 

[Ray Stafford]

I agree. Its not a question of hiding your markup - better to be open about it, and to sell the benefits and added value that your services bring.

 

[cr0ft]

Lead by example then Ray 🙂

 

[Ray Stafford]

Lead by example then Ray 🙂

Its no secret.

You can see our average mark up by downloading our accounts from Company's house, as with any other business over the threshold for filing full accounts. IIRC in 2012, our gross margin was just over 26%, which implies an average mark-up of just over 35%.

Net margins (after paying overheads) would be well down in single figures, and after-tax "bottom line" profit was 3.7% of sales. Believe it or not, thats quite a healthy situation for a merchant, and left enough cash to pay decent bonuses to the lads (and ourselves) and open 3 or 4 more branches.

 

[cr0ft]

You're a good sport. I expected you to tell me to **** off!

 

[Ray Stafford]

You're a good sport. I expected you to tell me to **** off!

Its there in black and white at companies house for anyone with an internet connection and a calculator! No point in hiding it, and I don't think there is any reason to be ashamed of running a profitable business.

But if you ask me the mark-up of an individual product, I might be tempted to use some old fashioned anglo-saxon. 🙂

 

[Leo21]

All fair comments, taken on board.