WORK LIFE BALANCE???

[plumb_know]

Hi Everyone,

Just wondering what sort of hours people are working as i seem to be working all the time, thinking it may be time to take on another engineer.

i leave the house at 7ish and get home about 7-8pm then do paperwork till 11-12.

 

[Best]

Are you earning serious money doing those hours?
(I bet not.)
Did it when I was younger for 6, sometimes 7 days a week to some extent.
Wouldn’t do it now if I could turn the clock back.

 

[Millsy 82]

I've not long gone back self employed after having a year off so I'm still not too bad but I aim to be home for 6:30 every night latest my plan is to stick to this as I worked all through my son's childhood I'm not doing it with my daughter.

Weekends are a big no no maybe a little bit of paperwork when my daughter is asleep but that's it.

Work to live not live to work.

 

[Millsy 82]

Also what paperwork you doing that's taking 3-4 hours?

 

[Best]

Also what paperwork you doing that's taking 3-4 hours?

Counting all his bank statements probably

 

[plumb_know]

invoicing, quotes, replying to emails etc. i dont start as soon as i get in, i have dinner/bath so start paperwork around 9. i am not very quick at it

 

[ShaunCorbs]

finish at 5 then or if you have a job go well at 3 finish then

i see most take a fri off / afternoon

 

[Millsy 82]

How do you do your invoicing quotes etc? Do you use any software?

I try to do invoicing as I go just click sync when I get home all gets emailed to everyone. Quotes I have loads of prices so tonight I did a quote for a system boiler out and combi in took about 6-7 minutes max and emails I try to do them as I go along otherwise I will forget them.

 

[plumb_know]

I use quickbooks for invoicing, but dont get signal a lot of the time so cant send them until i get home. Quotes seem to take me ages, especially bathroom refurbs as they are all different cant seem to find a formula for accurately quoting them??

I do get distracted doing paper work which doesn't help. But at the moment i am booked up during the days mon-fri (upto 5pmish) and still getting 2-3calls a day

 

[Millsy 82]

I use quickbooks for invoicing, but dont get signal a lot of the time so cant send them until i get home. Quotes seem to take me ages, especially bathroom refurbs as they are all different cant seem to find a formula for accurately quoting them??

I do get distracted doing paper work which doesn't help. But at the moment i am booked up during the days mon-fri (upto 5pmish) and still getting 2-3calls a day

Never used quick books so can't comment on that.

I use gas engineer software and you can fill all your invoices out as you go then just click a button and send them all out.

How many of those quotes are you winning? If your too busy price rise time.

 

[plumb_know]

i win most quotes except bathrooms i win about 1 in 4

 

[Millsy 82]

For bathrooms can you work out an estimate for each thing for example

Basin 2nd fix 4 hours + £50 materials
Tiling £x amount per meter
1st fix allow 1 day plus a rough materials price and so on and give them an estimate. If they are happy with your estimate then give them a proper quote if its anything like gas engineer software you could fire an estimate over in 20 minutes. Would save you working out 4 quotes when you may only need to do 1.

 

[plumb_know]

Thanks Millsy,

Yes i will use something like that going forward, we manage the whole project including plastering etc so will be a little more involved than example but think i could make a set price for most things then just add the additions for any problems i may see in the project.

Many Thanks

 

[Millsy 82]

Thanks Millsy,

Yes i will use something like that going forward, we manage the whole project including plastering etc so will be a little more involved than example but think i could make a set price for most things then just add the additions for any problems i may see in the project.

Many Thanks

Get your plasterer to give you an estimate of how much per square meter same with tiler, work out price for stud work per square meter it takes quite a bit of setting up but well worth it.

I'm lucky I mainly get boiler changes and heating systems and generally price myself out of bathroom suites but people down here seem to want them done for £200 labour.

 

[WaterTight]

i see most take a fri off / afternoon

Which must be why I always seem to get a bunch of voicemails Fri afternoon. Which I'm rarely very interested in getting back to. I always presumed it was people having a "Right I've finished work for the week now I have time to get this plumbing problem looked at" mentality. It might also be that nobody is answering their phone.

 

[Meady]

I only really work from 6.30/7.00 ish in the morning until 3.00ish in the afternoon.

The rest of my time is spent with the family, I have 2 young kids so would rather spend time with then than working all of the time.

I sometimes think if I worked more I could be better off with money, but it's not worth it as then I won't be spending that time with them.

 

[hammers4spanner]

Work about 6 hours a day here I'm lazy

 

[clarky101]

Work about 6 hours a day here I'm lazy

Bout 4.5 for me.....I’m lazier....

 

[plumb_know]

Haha thanks everyone one, just me being not lazy enough I think.

I have 3 kids and no hair

 

[king of pipes]

8-10 hour days still for me do everything thing myself tried employing someone but they end up wanting more than I make a day ? I cant see how you can earn enough working short days my customers would soon say something if I was only on site for 4 - 6 hours and charging £200 to £250 a day , breakdowns and servicing only makes up a small proportion of my workload you have more control over these jobs rather than being on full installs and bathrooms upgrades, you can try and hide the day rate in your quote but can easily get caught out, but it's good to see that the younger generation have a good life work balance definitely healthier and may just save your relationship , most of my colleagues are on second or even third marriages take it from a old git I am on me second . All the best kop

 

[Welder]

... most of my colleagues are on second or even third marriages...

No commitment to our trade KOP
You're only a serious plumber when you're on your 4th

 

[king of pipes]

FM Dave 2 is bad enough mate I'd be alot better off I know that but I got a good one now so cant complain mate .

 

[ShaunCorbs]

FM Dave 2 is bad enough mate I'd be alot better off I know that but I got a good one now so cant complain mate .

So you can’t take one back / return for a refund ?

 

[king of pipes]

Na mate dont work like that most expensive bit of meat you will ever buy and you get slaughtered financially when it goes **** up .

 

[plumb_know]

Thanks KOP, think i will see how it goes and try taking on some one else if work continues just hard finding the right person