£675 to fit 9 curtain rails

[sprunggreens]

I'm really lost with how much handy man type jobs should cost at the moment. I've had several quotes for bigger jobs that have ranged from £6k-24k, a sofa re-cover that's been quoted £2k-3.5k (more than a new one costs). Paint jobs in the thousands and I can't judge if I'm being ripped off. My house is unusual and impressive and I think the trades people might be adding on £££. I can do a bit myself but I want these curtain rails straight and strong and it's hard for me to do it myself (with the kids under my feet). I don't know anyone who can do this for me. Is £675 too much for 9 curtain rails? It's £75 per rail.

WAY to much!!! Wow! Surely it won't take more than a day. Even an expensive day rate would be no more than £300. Prices are crazy at the moment!

I work in this area in an affluent area north of England and agree £300 should be more than enough. Our fitter charges £30/hr plus vat, I think. For reference today he fitted 11 velux blinds, 6 Roman blinds and hung a pair of curtains and that was in 5 hrs.

They are taking the piss OP. Do you live in Belgravia?

75 per rail sounds about right.. Its alot because there's 9 of them

£30 per rail seems more reasonable
Maybe more if awkward, or need two people

I live in Leamington Spa in the Midlands.

It depends- do they need cutting? Shaping around a bay?

I paid £40 for 2 curtain poles, it would have been 3 but I had bought the wrong size for one of the windows

Nothing fancy, just two holes drilled either end. Straight windows.

It would take me less than an hour but I'm not exactly good at diy!

Sorry, I should say less than an hour each. I should just try and do one each day but I'm not confident and want them done properly.

Way too much!

Have you tried TaskRabit?

Wayyyyyy too much. For a standard curtain rail? I did mine, I'm not overly handy but I can use a power drill. It can't have taken more than about 15 mins.

I can't bear paying for things I can do myself to an ok standard, especially not a scandalous amount like that!

I paid £15 for one curtain rail fitted last autumn. Brackets each end and at the middle.

That's insane. Put a message on FB local asking for recommendations.

Definitely trying to rip you off. Check out FB pages yellow pages local magazines for handyperson. The price you've been quoted is ridiculous. Goodluck.

£75 per rail sounds fine.

But ideally you would be wanting someone to do it for day rate. My carpenter’s day rate is £300 + vat and he doesn’t like pricing by the day so will only slot me in when a job falls through.

If these are fitted on ladders, around any awkward angles then you will pay a premium.

With regards to the sofa - what did you want to cover it in and is the fabric included in the price? Is the sofa being properly rebuilt from the frame up or just recovered?

My sofa reupholstered was about 4k and that was because it’s big and I chose a fabric that cost £90 a metre. What is the split labour/fabric?

It's time to start en masse refusing these stupid quotes.
I honestly don't know who on earth "the trades" think they are. I can just about understand a £250 day rate for a skilled person if it's an all-day job. Electrician, gas engineer, structural builder, roofer, etc... But how have we come to this point where unskilled (and often times sub-par) workers get more per hour than nurses, teachers, scientists, chefs, all emergency workers, workers in manufacturing, car mechanics, etc.?

That £675.00 quote divided by 8h of a full working day, is £84.40.
Nearly 85 quid an hour for hanging curtain poles (and it won't even take 8h to do) ! 8 times the minimum wage!
Stick that pole where it don't shine!

Op I put a curtain rail up once and ten years later it’s still there!

why don’t you watch a few YouTube videos? You only need the screws, raw plugs, spirit level, a ruler, pencil and drill. And if it goes wrong then you could polyfilla and get someone else to finish it.

@Gribbit987

How much do you earn a year?
Is it from your salary that you are spending 4k to reupholster a sofa?

There must be some intrinsic pleasure in giving the money away because.... You can.

I just had a bathroom fitting quote that came out at around £700 per day. We pay our md at work around that amount for running a business that turns over millions. It's crazy.

Correction - £800 per day.

This is a joke right? OP sounds like they dont want the job but if you are prepared to pay extra they'll do it. I take it they are not supplying them too.

If you're no good at it, then I don't quite see how you can be so sure that it's a simple easy job.

What a peculiar question…

Look at Carrie and Boris with their gaudy gold wallpaper at £800+ a roll!

I earn my money. I want to spend it on nice things. Unlike the Johnsons I pay for it myself.

My sofa is a quality item with a long frame guarantee. It’s not disposable. You recover it when you desire a change rather than purchasing a new sofa.

Fabric production is expensive. In this instance I used Sanderson. It’s still manufactured in the UK in a traditional mill.

There are fabrics that cost 1/10 of the price or 10 times the price of what I chose. It’s a free market for you to choose appropriately.

You can spend 4k recovering a sofa or buy a second hand sofa off eBay if that’s what budget dictates - I’ve done that before too and been very pleased with it.

My post was not boastful. It was simply explaining that the fabric choice is likely to be what is causing the high cost.