Luckily we don't get too many of these but I just had a call from someone who wants me to attend their property to replace 2 taps. Great, £72 for the first hour I say. Ooh, that's a bit pricey she says. So here's the deal I say. You want a reputable tradesman to turn up, i.e. a company who pays taxes and operates legally etc? Yes she says. Great I say, that's £12 in VAT gone straight away. £60 left. Now I'm assuming you want us to collect your taps for you? Yes she says. Great - so now we have an hour of time to order your taps, travel to suppliers and getting to your job then. So that's 2 hours of labour for your 1 hour job. That'll be £26 in staff wages and on costs then. £34 remaining. Now, how much does your car cost to run a year? Ooh I don't know I'm afraid.. Well, each van we run costs about £10k a year to run when we factor in insurance, depreciation, diesel, staff clothing, replacement tools, sundries and everything else. Dividing that £10k per year by 1,840 working hours (we give our staff 6 weeks of annual leave a year including bank holidays as it's a physically exhausting job). That's around £5.50 of fixed costs per hour. So that leaves £23 left. But now the government takes 20% of that in tax, so that leaves £18.40p profit for the job. Now does £72 seem unfair to you? No laddy, let's get you booked in. Me - thanks very much.
I just don't get it at all. This is pretty straightforward maths to me. After 6 years of dealing with the public I genuinely believe that a large proportion of people believe we are out to rip them off and are pocketing all the money we take.
Joe public never ceases to amaze me.
I just don't get it at all. This is pretty straightforward maths to me. After 6 years of dealing with the public I genuinely believe that a large proportion of people believe we are out to rip them off and are pocketing all the money we take.
Joe public never ceases to amaze me.
