I give up...

[davidsr2]

Well people, it's been a difficult 12 months for me and today was the day that has made me think.... is it really worth all the hard work and dedication i have put in.

Had 2 small jobs booked in today, first one, replacing a fill valve, ok only took me 10 minutes, great! Spent twenty minutes having to justify why i wanted £50 for doing so!

Second job quoted £120 for replacing a thermo mixer shower, custard said will have to think about it, will call back if they want doing. i said extra £20 if i have to come back, why custard asks? explained costs for traveling etc, custard tells me its too much!

Both of these custards had prices explained to them on phone prior to me arriving :willy_nilly: can any of you people afford to work for nothing and are you more and more finding yourselves having to explain your prices?

P.S i dont give up, i love my job too much:drunk:

 

[barny]

Is there a thread on here which shows just what or how much the costing for each job ON AVERAGE should work out at.
Not counting traveling or location, just an average costing price for a particular job?

 

[WaterTight]

Well people, it's been a difficult 12 months for me and today was the day that has made me think.... is it really worth all the hard work and dedication i have put in.

Had 2 small jobs booked in today, first one, replacing a fill valve, ok only took me 10 minutes, great! Spent twenty minutes having to justify why i wanted £50 for doing so!

Second job quoted £120 for replacing a thermo mixer shower, custard said will have to think about it, will call back if they want doing. i said extra £20 if i have to come back, why custard asks? explained costs for traveling etc, custard tells me its too much!

Both of these custards had prices explained to them on phone prior to me arriving :willy_nilly: can any of you people afford to work for nothing and are you more and more finding yourselves having to explain your prices?

P.S i dont give up, i love my job too much:drunk:

From amounts being charged and time being taken I'd say the fault doesn't lie with you. Sounds like you could tweak what you say on phone a bit i.e in the first instance, having explained it'd be £50 (less than I'd charge incidentally), you could also mention that it's a minimum cost whether it takes 5 minutes or 60 minutes.

But I rarely bother. What I find is every now and then a customer (or in your case two) comes along and makes you think you need to instigate a policy of explaining every pitfall and justifying every potential charge on the phone before turning up. Don't. You'll scare more decent paying types off then you'll ward off chancers. Just got to take them as they come.

Don't really understand your second occurance. You make it sounds as if they accepted the price on the phone and then turned you down when you arrived? I'd want paying something for that.

 

[WaterTight]

Is there a thread on here which shows just what or how much the costing for each job ON AVERAGE should work out at.
Not counting traveling or location, just an average costing price for a particular job?

It'd be perfectly easy to create a thread with an average price per job for trades in various areas. But you wouldn't find enough people willing to provide detailed lists of charges. Hang around and you'll pick up all the info you need bit by bit anyway.

 

[Roger Welton]

Whilst annoying when you come across customers like that I'm quite happy to not do any work for them, I may be cutting my nose of to spite my face but just know that it will be the same every time I go there. I like to think my charges are reasonable, an possibly one of the cheapest locally so know they will call back but when they do I'm always booked up for a couple of weeks.

 

[Guest123]

I'd be only too pleased to put a list of basic prices on here for newbies to the industry, but we're not allowed to discuss prices on the main forum as it's forum rules. This is to prevent price wars and spamming. Perhaps the moderators can go into this in more detail? The other problem we'd get with this, is if Joe Public came on here, looked at the list and used it to argue a price with a local plumber. Imagine the scenario, "You want to charge me £xxxx, but on the UK Plumbers Forums I have seen the same job listed for less at £***".

Average prices are subject to a number of variables, with the most important being location. What I charge in my region can be vastly different from what another company charges in theirs. I do agree to providing a list of basic pricing if asked to do so, but privately and not on here. The list can be viewed as a GENERAL STARTING POINT ONLY! What you charge will come with experience.