J
John_
This £30 service, shouldn't their be a radius for this price (say within 5 miles), then another price, say £40, radius for say 6 to 10 miles etc. Isn't this much fairer?
Welcome to the forum. Although you can post in any forum, the USA forum is here in case of local regs or laws
any boiler serviced for £29.99
- Thread starter johnnyplumb
- Start date
-
- Tags
- boiler
View the thread, titled "any boiler serviced for £29.99" which is posted in Boiler Advice Forum on UK Plumbers Forums.
J
jase158
Was sat in my van, cleaning it out and a chap comes up and says "are you a plumber" i said yes, turned out he wanted bath tap changing to mixer style, done it for £30 as he was in my street and wasn't really doing much anyway.
Last week I tiled the whole bethroom and he is going to get me to do his bathroom in his own house too, so a lot of work coming my way for that initial first £30.
Why do so many think it is a con because you are getting a foot in the door, services are a simple way of getting a build up of customers.
Last week I tiled the whole bethroom and he is going to get me to do his bathroom in his own house too, so a lot of work coming my way for that initial first £30.
Why do so many think it is a con because you are getting a foot in the door, services are a simple way of getting a build up of customers.
It does not matter if you charge £10 £20 £30 £100 £200 as long as the job is done correctly and that is how most people get repeat business. The company I work for is mainly repeat business they are not the cheapest around by far but they still get the work. Nobody complains about the price most people pay there and then.
Nowadays a lot of the larger companies are spewing out people who go out and do 10 services in a day and if you charge £30 a time then you will make a healthy living but are the people getting what they pay for? I would say 9 times out of 10 NO. I have to follow these people round and flag up faults that have been missed for the passed 5 years because not enough time was spent properley inspecting the appliances.
In an average working day it is 8-8.5 hours with getting to a job and carrying out a job I reckon 7-8 services max unless you are on a street for a whole day then yes 10 but then no travelling involved.
Nowadays a lot of the larger companies are spewing out people who go out and do 10 services in a day and if you charge £30 a time then you will make a healthy living but are the people getting what they pay for? I would say 9 times out of 10 NO. I have to follow these people round and flag up faults that have been missed for the passed 5 years because not enough time was spent properley inspecting the appliances.
In an average working day it is 8-8.5 hours with getting to a job and carrying out a job I reckon 7-8 services max unless you are on a street for a whole day then yes 10 but then no travelling involved.
J
jase158
really, takes me 40 minutes just to drain down, get my tools out the van and get ready to work. suppose you dont need to completely drain, but i hate airlocks. still couple hours usually.
T
tamz
Get yourself a set of bungs and live in the fast lane
Toolstation > Hand Tools > Plumbers Tools > Radiator Valve Change Kit
I done one other day and took me about 45 mins i reckon . Depends tho how easy it is to access in cupboars and how much space you have at times
J
julesverne
just because i charge what i charge doesnt mean i'm a rip off. it means i charge what i am worth and what i want to earn. and i dont see what your problem is anyway, you'll be smoking 50 quid notes soon with all your 29.99 services that your doing. but remember you'll have to do 2 of them before you can do that :bucktooth:
Last edited by a moderator:
So fellers, to change a motorized valve just put a bung in the cold feed and cap the vent and not drain down then? And for a sealed system?
T
tamz
Shut any auto air vents and let the pressure out. Sometimes you can get away with just dropping the pressure.
I dont trust bungs and never used them. What I do is shut mains water off, open tap, start draining, Rewire new valve whilst its draining, You will hear when the water level drops below the 3 port so as soon as it drains enough swap it, shut off DOC start filling whilst I tidy up turn it on leave for 20 mins whilst drinking your tea then away you go. I very rarely get airlocks either doing it this way.
J
jase158
hmm, you will be there for a few days if you open tap to drain central heating, lol
J
jase158
not having a go, but i have a back boiler and the landlords gas man came round, took fire off, serviced boiler, checked gas meter and taught his apprentice what he was doing, all done in 1 hour.
Halesowen1
Gas Engineer
I dont do services for £29 never said I did. Only said its better to have a full diary than working half the week. Thats down to a good job at a good price, not ripping off customers.
Halesowen1
Gas Engineer
Just change the head on the diverter valve, takes all of 5 mins to do.
Its never the body thats gone.
Its never the body thats gone.
wrong!!
O
Orry Clayton
If you see there review on Yell, probably explains why they are so cheap. Not found any other, probably not advertise where they can be "reviewed"
J
julesverne
I never said i did services for £80.00 but you still seem to thinks it's a crime to charge what you want.
i'd rather charge my price and be comfortable and not work myslef into the ground rather than charge peanuts be busy and work myself into the ground.
stop taking it personally i aint commenting on you i'm commenting on tit heads who charge 29.99 for a service.
L
LPC
I'm so busy doing £30 services it's stupid. And so many people have said the only reason they're getting it serviced is because i'm charging £30. I do a full and proper service, takes me anywhere from 30 mins to 1hr generally. If it's more than 5-10 miles out from me it goes up based on travel etc.
I don't rip people off, I don't tell them their boilers are ****ed, I don't chase installs. I just service the boiler in about an hour for £30. I see the logic in charging £80 or whatever, I just don't think it's the best way personally. I'd rather do more, get more customers, more word of mouth spread = faster, larger growth than do less, earn more.
I don't rip people off, I don't tell them their boilers are ****ed, I don't chase installs. I just service the boiler in about an hour for £30. I see the logic in charging £80 or whatever, I just don't think it's the best way personally. I'd rather do more, get more customers, more word of mouth spread = faster, larger growth than do less, earn more.
how will you get larger growth charging 30 a service
L
LPC
Because you've got 10 people in a room. There is me stood there, I charge £30 to service a boiler. Next to me, we have Jim. Jim charges £80 to service a boiler.
You might get 1 or 2 choose Jim, because they think the higher price mean that they're getting something better for their extra £50.
The rest will choose me, because i'm £50 cheaper.
Now I have 9 new customers, Jim has 1 new customer.
This room is the market, and I'm £50 cheaper.
You might get 1 or 2 choose Jim, because they think the higher price mean that they're getting something better for their extra £50.
The rest will choose me, because i'm £50 cheaper.
Now I have 9 new customers, Jim has 1 new customer.
This room is the market, and I'm £50 cheaper.
P
phpaul
i see merit in both the only question is how u gonna tell the punter ur only charging 30 dabs local rag ? no bugger reads that anymore
L
LPC
Cards in shop windows (I paid £1.25 to put a card in a local newsagents window for 2 months!), go to burger vans and ask if you can blutack a card up (most let you if you're fairly regular, just change up where you get your bacon sarnies every few days), print out some leaflets and go drop them through doors in the evenings (not so much any more).
Put cards in sandwich bars, coffee shops, anything with a big footfall where people are stood waiting for something (more likely to look around, and at my card), advert on your van (magnetic signs from vistaprint cost next to nothing).
And of course, nothing compares to getting a couple of churchgoers on the books. You get one, you get the congregation 🙂
Put cards in sandwich bars, coffee shops, anything with a big footfall where people are stood waiting for something (more likely to look around, and at my card), advert on your van (magnetic signs from vistaprint cost next to nothing).
And of course, nothing compares to getting a couple of churchgoers on the books. You get one, you get the congregation 🙂
P
phpaul
yep have 2 churches a rabbi a 1 freemasion 3 coppers 2 firemen 5 greenwashers 3 nurses 16 teachers 1 prison officer 7 so called property devlopers in last years diary and yes i did keep score in the back last year . me and my spark mate had a points system he won on points and i paid for a case of ale at xmass lol
A
ally
Back to the £30 service, maybe the guy has a few employees and trying to keep everyone in work.
It's never just an hour to do a proper service though is it. By the time you've jotted up travelling time it can be anything up to another hour on top of the time it's taken to complete the service. Then you've got all your overheads on top of that. Say your lucky and it's 15mins there and 15mins back, overall it's taken you an hour and a half. That gives you £20 quid an hour without even taking into account your overheads and the fact your self employed so need to factor in lack of holiday/sick pay e.t.c.
Each to their own, but this should be a skilled trade and i don't want to work for peanuts. Not only that i'd rather work for customers that want me to do the job because i do a good job, not because i'm the cheapest.
Each to their own, but this should be a skilled trade and i don't want to work for peanuts. Not only that i'd rather work for customers that want me to do the job because i do a good job, not because i'm the cheapest.
I won't even start the van for less than £40, with all the costs involved in running a business it's just not worth it. Doing services for £30 just about sums up the state the industry is in right now. You can talk about the need to survive, mouths to feed etc etc, but at the end of the day I'd rather work in Tesco than service a boiler for £30.00. At least there is no possibility of life in prison if you stack the shelves wrong.
Common sense tells you that if you charge £29.99 for a service, then eventually someone is going to charge £25.99, then someone else £19.99 etc etc etc until maybe in a few years time we will be paying the customer to service there boiler. Eventually people will realise that training costs, business running costs far outweigh the salary that can actually be made. Then less people will apply to be gas engineers and some other fad will come along full of promise and pots of gold.
Suddenly there will be a shortage of engineers, so prices will rise and the whole game will start over again and I will no doubt be typing the same nonsense about the same subject in ten years time.
Common sense tells you that if you charge £29.99 for a service, then eventually someone is going to charge £25.99, then someone else £19.99 etc etc etc until maybe in a few years time we will be paying the customer to service there boiler. Eventually people will realise that training costs, business running costs far outweigh the salary that can actually be made. Then less people will apply to be gas engineers and some other fad will come along full of promise and pots of gold.
Suddenly there will be a shortage of engineers, so prices will rise and the whole game will start over again and I will no doubt be typing the same nonsense about the same subject in ten years time.
Official Sponsors of Plumbers Talk
Reply to the thread, titled "any boiler serviced for £29.99" which is posted in Boiler Advice Forum on Plumbers Forums.
Similar plumbing topics
We recommend City Plumbing Supplies, BES, and Plumbing Superstore for all plumbing supplies.
