Pricing Jobs

[T & H Plumbing]

Hello fellow drunks

As most of you know im just starting up on my adventure in the big world of running a business, the skills side to completing the job aint a problem, but the business side is all new and im picking it up with alot of help

Question is, on pricing a job up what should i take into account so i give a fair price to the customer and im getting a good return for my business, growing up when learning the trade id work for free coz im a good lad but the plumbers i laboured for gave me cash anyways were talking the £30-£50 a day to me this was beer tokens and i was happy with it, now i have bills like you all and i want to make a good life for myself

So any help n advice on how to go about pricing a job would be great

 

[Killy Bing]

Give it a search, plenty of threads

wages + materials + mark up+ running costs + profit

Wages are just that, say charge £40 an hour but say cap that at £300 for a single day.
dont sell yourself short, you might have been on for £19 an hour for a company but they would have been charging you out at a higher rate!

Materials for your jobs, if you keep stock remember how much things are!
don't forget your consumables like mapp gas, flux, solder, screws, plugs, denso tape and so on as it all adds up and can quickly eat into your profit.

Mark up
if a boiler costs you £500 are you going to sell it to a customer for £500?
certainly not you add your markup if this is 5%, 10% or 20%.
this covers any call backs but if you dont have them then its money in your pocket.

running costs
van wear and tear,tools, registration fees, re assessment costs, fuel costs, various insurances, accountant fees ect and so on.
work it out and make this as a rule of thumb per day that you work.
I would say this only applies to all day jobsor longer projects, you cant exactly charge £22 quid extra to change a tap washer because its the only job you're doing that day

profit!!
you're not running a business for the fun of it.
installing a boiler? You wont do that just for your wages, you want profit too.

thats the general idea and way i was taught to think about it.

hope that helps abit

 

[kris]

Hi T H.

Billys hit it pretty good . But the daily charge will obviously depend what your comfortable and your area charges. Im £30ph. And as far as materials go same as billy said although when buying boilers , rads etc i sort everything out but get most of my custards to phone builders merchants to pay materials and this alone keeps me just under tha VAT registered bracket. It will come where i have to do it but for the mean time im happy where i am.
If your unsure about time taken to do the job then guess a rough idea then add a day or so depending on job size. You have to take into account , van , insurances, gasafe costs, registration and courses, all your calibrations . It all mounts up so dont be afraid to charge what you think is fair. Its all the hidden costs you must always remember about. Dont forget about the smaller jobs as they can be your bread n butter . Sit down and right out what youl charge for a service , removing rad , landlord cp12 etc. If you work the main ones out then when a prospective custard calls and asks for one your ready with an answer.

 

[SimonG]

Materials plus 30%

 

[rocketmanbkk]

Don't lose your bottle if you think the price sounds expensive. I did that and ended up doing jobs too cheap. Can't make any money, ok to do a few cheapies to get going.

Gotta quote enough or you'll end up skint BUT don't get too greedy or you'll end up with nothing & then be skint.

 

[Millsy 82]

I'm in the same position at the moment. Big quotes I'm not to worried about as generally you can justify the costs, its the small ones get me. Do you charge x amount for the 1st hour then your normal hourly rate like some of the companies I've worked for or just a flat rate?

 

[T & H Plumbing]

To be honest ive only just got my NVQ having laboured for a plumber for years, so at the moment im trying to spread the word im out there so keeping prices down and enough to keep me going so this is where its tricky, i cant afford to be turning work down but at the same time i cant be giving Quotes what might seem over the top, i visited a site called Building sherriff and it gives average prices for certain jobs in certain areas and for the work that she needs doing it says an average of £150 so ive told the customer ill do it for £120, the job in question is to change a trap on a basin and to fit a basin in a on suite (existing pipes are there)

some plumbers might think too cheap or whatever, i know for a fact she wants a full on suite fitting in another property so im not sure if £120 will scare her off its a fine line is this pricing mark lol

opinions?

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Is she supplying the trap? remember they are £15, may not seem much but you take the fitting you need out that £120 and your left with about £80

 

[cr0ft]

Too cheap once you are established but to start with you need to be a bit cheaper as you can't provide lots of feedback/a good trading history to potential customers.

I would price that at 4 hours to swap the basin over and up to 2 hours to change the trap, depending on whether the basin needed to come off the wall to do it.

Most likely I would do both quicker but that's what I would quote for that job. I win around 50% of my small job quotes at that price but I am not that fussed about small jobs to be honest.

Everyone has a different way of doing things, it's what works best for your business. You can grow a plumbing business by just doing small jobs or just doing large jobs. Whatever takes your fancy to be honest!

 

[T & H Plumbing]

i knew trap would cost around that, £120 is labour parts will be on top

this small job will lead to a big job with the on suite she wants fitting, also tiling needs doing so im hoping to get that
My brain has been working overtime last week or so lol

 

[Destroyer2813]

i knew trap would cost around that, £120 is labour parts will be on top

this small job will lead to a big job with the on suite she wants fitting, also tiling needs doing so im hoping to get that
My brain has been working overtime last week or so lol

First mistake don't believe customers who dangle that carrot

 

[Ermintrude]

I've got lots of properties but can u fix my heatline boiler in my 22nd floor flat? Don't want a new one just yet.......

 

[SimonG]

I've got lots of properties but can u fix my heatline boiler in my 22nd floor flat? Don't want a new one just yet.......

That's the one without the lift?

 

[T & H Plumbing]

I've got lots of properties but can u fix my heatline boiler in my 22nd floor flat? Don't want a new one just yet.......

not gas safe Guy touching Boilers would render me liable for prosecution

be round 10 am in morning yeah?

 

[T & H Plumbing]

First mistake don't believe customers who dangle that carrot

i here ya, just saw a message she left her neice (my friend) on face book had me all wet

 

[cr0ft]

I used to believe that when I started out. I very politely state in a roundabout way that if it's not part of the current quote I'm not really that interested about it!

 

[Ermintrude]

Normally people with two homes and claim to be big time landlords / property moguls , I love it as it makes my day . Yeh we want this xxxxxxx but usually we go for the best it's just this time....... Also when do you want to be paid, you did say 100% upfront, can we pay you half now and half when your done? NO BYE

 

[T & H Plumbing]

my rule and ive discussed this alot with a friend when it comes to collecting money

i will always try and get the cash upfront if its a small job, when it comes to big jobs i will demand all money that i pay for materials (bathroom suite etc) ill ask for that up front the rest on completion, i know its a risk but id rather have my overhead taken care of, if it ever came to it where i lose money this way trust me ill be banging heads and if there bigger than me, then ill send the missus round

anyone every had dealings with none payers? i know it happens

 

[missplumb]

try and suss out customers, if they genuinly can offer more work then maybe offer a cheaper rate, if they seem like they just want it cheap then bang in a higher price.

 

[T & H Plumbing]

Well what started out as a quote for a Basin fitting ans a leak on another basin has turned into

Shower tray and enclosure, Tiling the enclosure
basin fitting
toilet fitting

Bath panel fitting and tiling 3 high around
basin fitting
Toilet re piping

HAPPY DAYS:53:

 

[Ermintrude]

It's when the job looks difficult they look twisty so you double price and still get the job , custard turns into dream tea and biccies custard and your done in 30seconds flat. You're asked to look at drip on rad tail you snap it off by accident and make a right mess.