Yet Another Pricing Post

[jaydebruyne]

I've been reading some posts on pricing and now I'm just a tad lost as a lot of the posts are a couple years old, so I just wanted to fresh bit of advice.

Some of you are, and others are not aware of my endeavours but in a nutshell I'm still pretty wet behind the ears in terms on experience. I'm currently working with an engineer/firm on an unofficial apprenticeship-kind-of-thing - basically I go out on my own once or twice a week and do simple maintenance jobs, the rest of the time I'm helping out other engineers.

I also want to go out on my own at weekends to earn my own money and to get some experience for myself but I've no idea what to charge. I'm obviously not going to charge the going rate since I'm still a newbie, but I also don't want to lose money.

I was thinking £30 callout & first hour, £20 per hour after that. Is that too much/little? Or should I just price work individually and forget the hourly rate?

Any advice would be grand as I'm going to get some business cards/leaflets printed up with the price on it.

 

[GasmanxxxR1]

Charge what you think is right for the job, Your idea of £30 etc is a good starting point if your still learning.

You will get the hang of it, I was always not sure what to charge, now i just bang my price in. You will soon learn from your mistakes, everyone goes through it.

As long as your not loosing out and the customer is happy then fair enough. Your building confidence, experience and a future customer base

 

[tamz]

Just price it as you see fit. Rates have stayed about the same for the past few years.

Most people wouldn't know a plumber from a kick in the rse and going by a lot of the work i've seen in the past few years where they have paid top dollar, a lot of so called plumbers need a kick in the rse.

Btw i still do the odd job here and there for a packet of ****!

 

[jaydebruyne]

cheers fellas - I think I'll leave the price off the advertising and just put that my prices are competitive and price it per job... Seems a lot easier I think and at least that way I can also tailor prices based on customer type, distance to travel, job type, length of job etc.

 

[Kev the gas]

Just be aware that the larger plumbers merchants close on Saturdays @ 1pm.

Working weekends is nice if you have a well stocked van, without can cause you headaches for the following week.

 

[jaydebruyne]

Just be aware that the larger plumbers merchants close on Saturdays @ 1pm.

Working weekends is nice if you have a well stocked van, without can cause you headaches for the following week.

Very true indeed.. Something I'll need to consider - cheers Kev

 

[tamz]

BandQ and toolstation will have most jobbing stuff if you're caught short

 

[jaydebruyne]

BandQ and toolstation will have most jobbing stuff if you're caught short

Yeah there is a toolstation and screwfix near me, as well as a pretty decent merchants at the end of my road which is open til 6pm on saturdays.. It'll only be locals that will call initially as I'll be leaflet dropping around here

 

[tamz]

You'll learn what you need to stock but it can end up a very big list. Depends if you want to spend your time running for stuff or back in the house.

 

[Ray Stafford]

Hi Jay

Have a look at post #30 on this thread, and download the PDF attachment. After my tedious and wordy analysis, you get to the core data of hourly rates, based on several hundred responding businesses.

Ray

 

[helpsy]

Good luck mate. Are you going to have pli in place?

 

[jaydebruyne]

Good luck mate. Are you going to have pli in place?

I've had pli for about 4 months now - i did a job for a friend of the mrs and got it before I went to their house - I wasn't taking any chances haha

 

[jaydebruyne]

You'll learn what you need to stock but it can end up a very big list. Depends if you want to spend your time running for stuff or back in the house.

Yeah - I have very basic stock of things at the mo - flush valves, fill valves, rad valves, ball-o-fixes, washers etc etc - but like you said, I'll pick it up as I go

Cheers tamz