Greedy tradesmen (or women!)

[LolalovesLondon]

Is it just me or are some people taking the piss at the moment? Everyone I contact is booked up for weeks so it’s not lack of work I don’t think...
Had a quote last week to get a gas oven installed - straight swop, no new pipes or alterations, cooker is the same as we have now just a newer model.
£195 installation only.
Is that normal nowadays? 🤔

I work for a small business tradesman. His prices haven't changed at all although he is busier now post lock down than he has ever been and has had to turn down a lot of work as he just doesn't have the time or manpower.

In London look at 70 to 90 per hour for skilled work like this, then you won't be disappointed.

£150 a day for a skilled tradesman? Is this a joke?

Remember everyone is free to switch careers!

The prices I have been quoted in the SE don't seem to relate to the skills of the trade. The most expensive trade I have found is fencers, I had 3 quotes to replace 3 fence posts with concrete ones (labour only) all of which were around £500. It took 2 guys 2 hours so over £100 per hour.

In contrast I have found electricans surprisingly reasonable and there seem to be lots of them interested in bidding for the work. Plumbing quotes have also not been too bad.

Decorators quotes have varied widely. On one job quotes ranged from £1500 to £3000 (£150 to £300 per day). We went for the cheapest and he did a good job.

Flooring and tiling jobs have been ££££ working out at £300+ per day excluding materials. They seem to be in high demand.

So if you want to make easy money train to be a fencer or floorer not an electrican or plumber.

@weepingwillow22 - if you’ve ever had a bad filet you’ll know why good ones are expensive! Actually the materials that are required to lay tiles are pretty expensive and tiling really is an art form! We built our house and had a brilliant one, but it’s definitely one of those jobs that looks easy enough .. until you try to do it yourself! And the larger the tile the more difficult it is to get it perfect. Similarly plastering - have had brilliant, good and awful! Would happily pay double for brilliant! Pay the right price for the right job.
Would say however there is a very good reason my OH hasn’t touched the domestic market for over 20 years ....

@LolalovesLondon

Tappering

RTFT. The oven has been connected.

Well done!

Old story in many trades.
When the Grand National was hit by a bomb hoax thousands of people couldn't get to their cars and had to stay in Liverpool with out pre booked accommodation.
The magnificent people of Liverpool that lived local came to the fore and put up total strangers for the night free of charge.
The grand Adelphi Hotel in the city centre meanwhile quadrupled it's prices overnight due to increased demand.
They even brought in multiple mattresses to put down in a function room floor side by side and charge people to sleep on them.
It's a form of gouging.
The thing is to remember who done it to you when the emergency is over and just don't give them your trade again and let your friends know not to use them.

Our next door had their driveway done, it was about £7000. I was wincing at the cost, total rip off I thought.

When they arrived to do it, there were loads of guys, there were diggers, rollers, skips, trucks full of sand, trucks full of bricks, always about five guys working at any one time.

I reckon by the time the business owner had paid for the materials, equipment and wages of all those workers there wouldn't have been much left for him. It was an eye opener for me and although we still can't afford to have ours done I no longer think it's a rip off.

Fastest way to become nouveau riche in your 40s - be a tradesman or marry one. They’ll all be complaining from their crushed velvet sofas and cars financed to the hilt in their 60s when they can’t work and have no pension after years of tax avoidance.

The thing that I struggle with is massive variation. We got quotes for pointing our house and they varied from £200 (far too cheap) to £7000 (taking the piss). We recocomnded our brickies to a friend and they got 4 more jobs of neighbours of the friend. We’re having building work done now and the price felt fair and we’ve been really happy. We’d use them again and would recommend. That will be how lots of people get work and once you’ve got that list of trusted people, price isn’t necessarily the driver as long as it is within a reasonable ballpark.

Tappering
Well done!
Well done for what? I didn’t connect it you fool!

Abby
Haha!! I feel bad for laughing so hard but ‘crushed velvet sofas’ ! 😂 😂 So true!

The truth is, many might not have pensions in the traditional way but some definitely have invested in property which will pay them nicely in old age.

Children
Very true!

It seems a tad steep but if you’d have asked me to estimate (on my third renovation) I’d have said £120-170, so not far off. Have another call round.

@LolalovesLondon

Tappering Well done! Well done for what? I didn’t connect it you fool!

I didn't for one moment think that you did. Well done for getting it sorted. Is there a reason why you are being so rude to me?

Tappering
Some of your replies sound very sarcastic.
If they weren’t meant that way, I apologise.

They weren't. But thank you.

@AbbyAbal

Fastest way to become nouveau riche in your 40s - be a tradesman or marry one. They’ll all be complaining from their crushed velvet sofas and cars financed to the hilt in their 60s when they can’t work and have no pension after years of tax avoidance.

This is one of the worst cases of snobbery I have witnessed on Mumsnet in a while.

I'm not sure how you make the leap that profession/trade is somehow aligned to interior choice/finance decisions? Ah of course, tradesmen are nouveau riche...that old chestnut...generally used either by people with family money to diminish anyone else's successes (go you living off mummy and daddy) or by anyone who hasn't been as successful money wise to hide highlight their bitterness. What happened to kindness, and wanting to see others do well? Stamping on others achievements do not make yours shine more brightly. Quite sad really.

And for your information a lot of tradespeople pay tax at source through the CIS scheme. So snobby AND misinformed.

There are certain costs to running s business you know, van, insurance, Corgi cert etc.

Having said that some prices steep for something that shouldn't be too hard to do if you have had a bit of training.

I actually blame teachers and careers advisors for persuading marginal (at best) students to go to university, instead of doing something that would actually help the whole world out, like being s plumber, electrician etc.

You’re not paying them for their time but for their experience.

I don't know why you're wound up by the fact one guy charges more. They're just his rates for a job that would take xx amount of his day including travel and parts. You choose to pay that or you don't, and go elsewhere.

I appreciate that this is not a job that requires finesse, but you don't know if he's the type of fitter who will spend a single day throwing in a boiler, leaving the job safe but messy, or do a gas safety without a service too, meaning he can fit in more jobs but to make his day rate.

The other guy may be the type who makes sure every fitting for the boiler is soldered, not a push fit, and perfectly placed and will spend an extra hour and a half servicing a boiler before doing a gas safe, to extend it's working life. That would justify him charging a higher rate for every job to achieve his expected day rate.

It's like comparing New Look and John Lewis. They're both clothes, but they can be different in every other way, and you're paying for an expected standard. I don't know if that's the case for these guys, but sometimes, you are paying more simply because one person is better at their job.

DP is a tradesman, successful thankfully. No crushed velvet sofas in sight and a nice pension pot 😊

Thankfully people who book him know they are paying a good rate, for a good service that they obviously couldn't do themselves otherwise they would. Not sure why you would pay a lawyer for example, a hefty packet but second guess at tradesmen. Both are getting paid for their time, experience, knowledge and work. Both justified imo. Snobbery I think.

Like any career choice you get the cheeky fuckers.

"Fastest way to become nouveau riche in your 40s - be a tradesman or marry one. They’ll all be complaining from their crushed velvet sofas and cars financed to the hilt in their 60s when they can’t work and have no pension after years of tax avoidance."

@AbbyAbal unlikely. Most tradesman I know are afraid of the tax man, so if you give them absolutely perfectly legal ways to reduce their tax bill, they'll be too frightened to take it. And the reason most retire at a nice enough age is because most trade jobs bugger up your knees, or lungs, or multiple other body parts. Another reason to charge high in your younger years.

Any economist would tell you supply and demand is perfectly fair.

Personally not seeing a problem.

Having said that, I always buy appliances with fitting included

What a horrible username you have chosen @KnobJockey.