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any boiler serviced for £29.99

View the thread, titled "any boiler serviced for £29.99" which is posted in Boiler Advice Forum on UK Plumbers Forums.

Orry Clayton said:
Sadly there are law's against price fixing.
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i have said this before.. there is no law about charging the going rate.....
unless you have a business the size of barclays bank.!!!!
i find it hard to believe you and the other 100,000 plumbers taken to court over it!!!!!!!

show me a solicitor doing £30 an hour and i will show you 100 doing £90-120 an hour, its the going rate and every trade should stick to the 'value' or if not, promote a special offer to gain custom only to pick it up on extended services rendered.

i like people working for nothing as eventually they will get out of the business due to going bust or 'theres no money in it' ethos. when there gone, leaves more for the rest charging the appropriate rates.
 
That was in response to: "there should be a standard price".

Also, I couldn't agree with you more; I'd also like to see a solicitor doing £30 per hour.
 
johnnyplumb said:
For most self employed people, being work shy is not an issue, it's a fair price for the job most tradesmen want,
this forum is full of people moaning that there's no work and that prices of jobs are falling.
it's the people who do servicing for £30, that are causing prices to fall, if everyone charged say £80 for a service, then thats what the customer would have to pay.

cost cutting only benefits the customers
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I am not in the game for ripping my customers off, never have been and never will be. If you think £80 is a fair price for something that can more than likely be done in 30 mins then you go ahead and charge it, £160 per hour. All I am saying is that I am more than happy earning less that and be full week in week out. The only people who want to see a standard price of £80 per service are the ones who aint doing much and need to charge double just to get a decent wage, I much prefer to earn my money fairly and dont have to drag the job out for an hour or longer just to justify the high price.
Cost cutting doesnt only benefit the customer, if that guy is doing 40 services a week now at least £29 a go and all the extra work on top, I would say he is benefiting a great deal, £1200 plus per week, every week.
You say the forum is full of moaners going on about no work and low prices, well I have a plan for you lot, lower your prices, get an advert showing in your local rag your NEW low prices and you WILL get work. But be carefull not to show these on here as they will rip the **** out of you for doing it, doing what?? using initiative and getting work.
 
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Halesowen1 said:
if that guy is doing 40 services a week now at least £29 a go and all the extra work on top, I would say he is benefiting a great deal, £1200 plus per week, every week.
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playing the devils advocate please consider this:
40 services x 29.99 = 1199.60
15 services x 80.00 = 1200.00

who do you think will retire sooner and live longer just a thought :yesnod:
customers perceive cost and value for money on the service they receive and this doesnt relate just to your plumbing skills but also tidyess, presentation, customer service, puncuality etc. all these skills (and they are skills) are just as important in a business so why shouldnt a plumber charge a premium if they possess these skills. although at £80.00 for a service i would expect my car washing aswell ;0)
 
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Halesowen1 said:
I am not in the game for ripping my customers off, never have been and never will be. If you think £80 is a fair price for something that can more than likely be done in 30 mins then you go ahead and charge it, £160 per hour. All I am saying is that I am more than happy earning less that and be full week in week out. The only people who want to see a standard price of £80 per service are the ones who aint doing much and need to charge double just to get a decent wage, I much prefer to earn my money fairly and dont have to drag the job out for an hour or longer just to justify the high price.
Cost cutting doesnt only benefit the customer, if that guy is doing 40 services a week now at least £29 a go and all the extra work on top, I would say he is benefiting a great deal, £1200 plus per week, every week.
You say the forum is full of moaners going on about no work and low prices, well I have a plan for you lot, lower your prices, get an advert showing in your local rag your NEW low prices and you WILL get work. But be carefull not to show these on here as they will rip the **** out of you for doing it, doing what?? using initiative and getting work.
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Theres no way you can do a thorugh boiler service in 30 mins
 
julesverne said:
playing the devils advocate please consider this:
40 services x 29.99 = 1199.60
15 services x 80.00 = 1200.00

who do you think will retire sooner and live longer just a thought :yesnod:
customers perceive cost and value for money on the service they receive and this doesnt relate just to your plumbing skills but also tidyess, presentation, customer service, puncuality etc. all these skills (and they are skills) are just as important in a business so why shouldnt a plumber charge a premium if they possess these skills. although at £80.00 for a service i would expect my car washing aswell ;0)
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But if one of these £30 a service guy lands on your plot, you suddenly look very overpriced and lose work, then he is still doing 40 and you do 5 at £80. Plus servicing is hardly going to tire anybody out is it??
 
agreed but then I normaly check all the rads work, tanks in loft etc if applicable, gives the customer the impression they are getting something for thier money. Every boilers different but I normaly take around 40 mins on a new condencing unless its a floorstanding greenstar.
Cant believe someone thought it would be a good idea to invent a modern highflow, hate those things.
 
Theres no way anyone would do 40 real boiler services in a normal week. 5 day week, 8 hour day, 25-30% of boilers are BBU & fire fronts, trouble getting covers on or off, getting tools to & from the van, Driving across town between jobs, parking difficulties, tenants or householders not in at the appointed time, the inevitable, "oh, while your here could you........"
You'd be lucky to do 4 or 5 in a normal day if done properly without any difficulties !
I think what we a talking about here is a swift FGA & gone again, or more likely just a foot in the door & oh er missus your boiler is knackered.
 
Halesowen1 said:
But if one of these £30 a service guy lands on your plot, you suddenly look very overpriced and lose work, then he is still doing 40 and you do 5 at £80. Plus servicing is hardly going to tire anybody out is it??
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theres plenty of these guys on my plot servicing £30.00 landlord certs £25.00. i just leave em to it they've got no business sense. i'm doing ok for business not rushed off my feet but then i dont have to be. 2 boiler swaps booked in next week and if thats all i did in july it would still cover all my bills mortgage etc for the month.
 
anz said:
Who's going to do the rest?

Gas Rate
Gas Pressures
Cleaning Condensate Trap
Checking for leaks (yes, taking off cover and having a look)
etc....
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Come on.
Take off cover 1 minute, gas rate 3 minutes, working pressure 2 minutes, analyser while doing working pressure, check for leaks 30 seconds, clean trap 3 minutes. Thats being generous too. No excuse to take longer than 20-30 minutes.
As for BBU, then you are charging extra as its 2 appliances obviously, so even if it takes 45 for them you have charged the extra.
 
julesverne said:
theres plenty of these guys on my plot servicing £30.00 landlord certs £25.00. i just leave em to it they've got no business sense. i'm doing ok for business not rushed off my feet but then i dont have to be. 2 boiler swaps booked in next week and if thats all i did in july it would still cover all my bills mortgage etc for the month.
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No business sense just because they are not ripping off folk??
They need work and more than likely will get more if they lower price, seems like good business to me. Nothing wrong with a full diary.
 
What happens when people start doing them for £19.99 after they've been earning minimum wage in a shop and doing their ACS that will suit them fine.

Be all the same people on here defending doing cheap work moaning about crazy prices.
 
Look Gas men dont have a right to charge stupid money, those days are quickly leaving us. Our game is flooded at the moment and also less demand due to homes having less to spend, the prices were always going to drop, thousands of gas men have been laid off in the last 5 years and many have started up on their own, prices will continue to drop so get used to it.
I have also changed my route a little, as I am now doing commercial and taking LPG soon too, a company I do work for have offered me loads of LPG and Com.
 
I am a quick worker I can fit a 3 port in 45mins all tested rads nice and hot before I leave (dont include microbore systems as they can be anything upto 4 hours getting rid of airlocks) and pumps in about 15-20 mins. But I cannot service a boiler properley in 20-30 mins takes usually 40 mins minimum FGA takes 10 mins as you have to check them high, low, high, then with casing off plus you should get them upto temperature before hand. Then checking safety devices on them some boilers will go through their cycle 5 times and can take 4-5 mins to lock out. Then checking the flues discharge pipe controls etc all takes time.

BBU and fire front takes me around an hour for a clean 1 takes me 20 mins to get to the BBU after cleaning the fire then removing the burner cleaning it then cleaning the heat exchanger is another 20 mins then carrying out all the checks on it and putting it back together as I go.

I personally do have doubts about people who get through jobs too quick as they are probably missing things. Their was a lad who worked for our company that did 1 area since he has left I am the 1 going around after him there are many jobs that I am finding quite a few faults on that have not been picked up (pretty basic faults flues not clipped etc.) all because he wanted to be in and out as quick as possible.
 
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?
 
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.
 
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.
 
Millsy 82 said:
I am a quick worker I can fit a 3 port in 45mins all tested rads nice and hot before I leave
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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.
 

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