Outside tap

[Guest123]

Nagh, the bloke's got x ray vision and a laser blaster.

 

[tamz]

I have been fitting outside taps for years, but have never, ever fitted one 1/2 hour. I suppose you could do it that quickly with a cheap B&Q self cutting crappo fitting.

Thats because you are a handyman and we are pros.
5 minutes to get the gear out the van, another 5 to drill a hole, 10 minutes to fit the pipe and tap and 10 minutes to drink your luke warm tea and get weighed in.

Years ago a mate of mine working on the sites used to card every new owner £40 a tap. He fitted one in just about every house. It even got to the stage he was sticking a bit overflow sleeve through when he roughed them out.

 

[mcniven]

Thats because you are a handyman and we are pros.
5 minutes to get the gear out the van, another 5 to drill a hole, 10 minutes to fit the pipe and tap and 10 minutes to drink your luke warm tea and get weighed in.

Years ago a mate of mine working on the sites used to card every new owner £40 a tap. He fitted one in just about every house. It even got to the stage he was sticking a bit overflow sleeve through when he roughed them out.

Noo that's class!

 

[ronfox]

That's what I thought at an absolute push!

Yeah, very sensible, & doesn't it depend on the drill, also how hard you push, my Bosch will punch a chunk out like a dum dum bullet but I've got a weaker hammer drill that just gently taps it way through.

 

[ronfox]

Of course I don't! Unless it's a stone wall Devon cottage & 600mm won't go all the way through & now I'm not joking. Did one last week to feed a washing machine in a porch, admittedly I took a whole stone out one side.

 

[peteheat]

We used to leave the tails ready under the floor boards in new houses and the waste pipe in the wall plastered over for the washing machines, that was back in the 70's when we could get £70.00 for plumbing in a washing machine and £30 for the outside tap which was fitted behind the washing machine.

Today my minimum charge is €120.00 that's just for turning up, wasn't I the lucky one who was in the business back when people recognised a trade and paid the proper rate, no bad habits here :smug2:

 

[ronfox]

When I went self-employed a plastic 10 gallon tank was about 4 quid, no idea what they are now, years since I fitted one.

 

[ronfox]

Nagh, the bloke's got x ray vision and a laser blaster.

Glad somebody knew I was joking!

 

[tamz]

We used to leave the tails ready under the floor boards in new houses and the waste pipe in the wall plastered over for the washing machines, that was back in the 70's when we could get £70.00 for plumbing in a washing machine and £30 for the outside tap which was fitted behind the washing machine.

Today my minimum charge is €120.00 that's just for turning up, wasn't I the lucky one who was in the business back when people recognised a trade and paid the proper rate, no bad habits here :smug2:

You were lucky with the prices for the automatics. The most i could get was £50 but everyone was getting one so i was doing one every night. Outside taps kicked in in the 80's up here and filled the washers gap.
Ha they were the days. More money than a horse could shyte :lol:

 

[mikeb]

As for those self-cutting valves for the B&Q DIY kits. I've started to worry where the little disc of copper goes!!?

Plus you won't get a good flow rate through such a tiny aperture.

the plate just folds back in the pipe you cut into, so it slows the flow!. wras regs are at the bottom, stop valve or full ball fix ,double check valve drain valve, so a couple of quid in bits with the tap back plate etc customers down here in south wales want it done for £50 ish

 

[mikeb]

Realistic. But more expencive than some of these

Plumbing prices for fit outside tap

some of those prices are just way to cheap for the length of time to do the job, mad eh!

 

[peteheat]

some of those prices are just way to cheap for the length of time to do the job, mad eh!

To be honest I don't get it, take materials, transport and cost of a phone out and what have they left?

Seriously they would do better flipping burgers in Burger King, no responsibility and all you can eat plus minimum pay which in Ireland is almost €9.00 an hour.

Holiday pay, tax's looked after by employer, guaranteed working hours, starting to sound attractive to me against running a van, clearing out under the sink, hoping the stopcock is there and working, buying & using all the tools required for the job as well as the materials.

The only way I can see anyone posting prices like that is to get their foot in the door and start piling on the "Extras"

Cowboy Heaven or Fools Paradise.

 

[mikeb]

im with peteheat, i quoted fora rad change this week, 1200 x 400 double with trv lockshield , drain down crawl through the attic coz its a bungaslow to get to the rad brackets etc etc, total cost of bits was 90.00 i asked for 150.00 the bloke said thats way to expensive?????? its a2 min drive for me to the property, i give up
where will it all end, im hell bent on getting a company job for me..:juggle2:

 

[Cumbria Handyma]

You can only charge what the market is willing to pay. Here in ***bria a rival of mine charges £40 including materials.

I guess for that the customer gets a B&Q special with no drain off inside.

And I still don't believe anyone can fit an outside tap in 1/2 hour. I trained as a plumber and have been doing it for 40 years, so please don't post bother telling me that you can do it. Total carp.

 

[anz]

Whether it takes you two minutes or five days, who cares as long as it is done right, to a high standard.

All jobs are different, sometimes you'll get one that dosn't take long and then one that takes more time.

 

[WaterTight]

You can only charge what the market is willing to pay. Here in ***bria a rival of mine charges £40 including materials.

I guess for that the customer gets a B&Q special with no drain off inside.

And I still don't believe anyone can fit an outside tap in 1/2 hour. I trained as a plumber and have been doing it for 40 years, so please don't post bother telling me that you can do it. Total carp.

It's why us plumbers have to find other means of income these days. Incidentally, there's a Total Carp Magazine. I noticed in the Post Office the other day. Made me giggle while pulling on my balaclava.

 

[tamz]

And I still don't believe anyone can fit an outside tap in 1/2 hour. I trained as a plumber and have been doing it for 40 years, so please don't post bother telling me that you can do it. Total carp.

Believe me it is very easily do able and to as high a standard as you will get.
The same as a 10 rad heating system in one day on your own is too, with nothing to snag when its done. Some guys can some can't,

 

[moony]

Next time you think about doing an outside tap....

My apprentice drilled from inside out, popped the brick with a 10mm pilot, fair enough, the customer doesn't want it patched with sand and cement and wouldnt accept a matched brick and also wouldn't accept, me to come and do the brickwork wants a Bricky to replace a brick. The brick can only be ordered in pallets worth 400 quid, but luckily I phoned the brick manufacturer and asked them to send a sample pack out of the brick, I'm still awaiting the pack.

In the mean time I've got the customer unhappy - the apprentice paranoid of drilling and me waiting by the door every morning for a brick.

So next time you wanna charge peanuts for a job, I just hope you think about what can go wrong

 

[peteheat]

im with peteheat, i quoted fora rad change this week, 1200 x 400 double with trv lockshield , drain down crawl through the attic coz its a bungaslow to get to the rad brackets etc etc, total cost of bits was 90.00 i asked for 150.00 the bloke said thats way to expensive?????? its a2 min drive for me to the property, i give up
where will it all end, im hell bent on getting a company job for me..:juggle2:

Sometimes it can be worth spending an extra five minutes with the potential customer to get some feed back especially if they appear to hold good paying jobs.

Point out your material costs plus traveling in your van to collect the material and all the tools which are also at their disposal for the duration of the job, don't go into public liability or other overheads that can't be seen by the customer.

Then ask straight up, What did you expect to pay?

Be nice about it, the customer could be broke, reading too many posts on the internet, thinks it was a five minute job etc etc

If we don't ask we are only left wondering why we didn't get the job, worst case both the customer and ourselves learn something.

 

[GQuigley67]

You can only charge what the market is willing to pay. Here in ***bria a rival of mine charges £40 including materials.

I guess for that the customer gets a B&Q special with no drain off inside.

And I still don't believe anyone can fit an outside tap in 1/2 hour. I trained as a plumber and have been doing it for 40 years, so please don't post bother telling me that you can do it. Total carp.

my reply was a bit tongue and cheek but i did genuinely do it in around 1/2 hour give or take, its not hard, with a stopcock inside then drain cock, check valve and outside tap.

 

[Cumbria Handyma]

Believe me it is very easily do able and to as high a standard as you will get.
The same as a 10 rad heating system in one day on your own is too, with nothing to snag when its done. Some guys can some can't,

Outside tap 1/2 hour, Absolute, total, complete, utter, irrefutable, genuine, honest, reality, cobblers. Dream on people.

 

[GQuigley67]

suit yourself, that's your opinion

 

[Rickster123]

I do mine in 35 mins but then again I charge by the half hour!

 

[Destroyer2813]

Well how long does it take you then seen as we all talk complete utter irrefutable carp

 

[Cumbria Handyma]

Only in your wildest dreams.

 

[Rickster123]

Handy Andy do you work on an hourly rate by any chance?!

 

[Destroyer2813]

Thats what i was thinking APP, handyman jack of all master off none

 

[GQuigley67]

I appreciate not all would be able to be done in 30 mins but a straightforward one should take no longer

 

[Cumbria Handyma]

I do mine in 35 mins but then again I charge by the half hour!

Arrive at job. Meet customer and ask where they want the tap located. Look inside to see if there is a possible connection. Ask where the stopcock is located. Wait while they remove everything under the sink. Turns out after searching it's not there. Finally locate stopcock behinde washing machine.

Go fetch tools. Now you have 20 minutes left. Come on people, get real.

 

[GQuigley67]

so here's my scenario

fitting an outside tap in a house which no one stays in because they haven't moved in there, have been working in it for the past few weeks so know where i'm fitting it and where the pipes are, turn up with tools bish bash bosh done in no time

plus i think people are talking about the actual time spent working on it, not from the time you have arrived at the customers and had some tea and a biscuit and a conversation before you began

 

[Cumbria Handyma]

so here's my scenario

fitting an outside tap in a house which no one stays in because they haven't moved in there, have been working in it for the past few weeks so know where i'm fitting it and where the pipes are, turn up with tools bish bash bosh done in no time

plus i think people are talking about the actual time spent working on it, not from the time you have arrived at the customers and had some tea and a biscuit and a conversation before you began

So goalposts have been moved. Even so, thirty minutes is total carp. But if you want to believe it...

 

[GQuigley67]

i dont need to believe it, i work at a high pace every day on 1 a day heating contracts, believe what you wish

 

[tamz]

Outside tap 1/2 hour, Absolute, total, complete, utter, irrefutable, genuine, honest, reality, cobblers. Dream on people.

Next you will be saying you don't believe cats taste like chicken :lol:

Obviously you like to pace yourself so your customers feel they are getting their 40 quids worth.

 

[Rickster123]

But handyman do you charge by the hour???!

 

[mcniven]

I'm going to fit an outside tap tomorrow, I will record and post here how the pros do it. ***