To think that tradesmen take the piss with their rates?

[Pomegranatecarnage]

Just that really. I have had a few repairs needed and some DIY recently. I paid £130 to have a leaking toilet valve fixed (it took 45 mins), £75 to have a pull string light replaced (10 mins) and then £270 labour for 6 hours work putting up some shelves, a small area of tiling and replacing skirting boards. He arrived at 10, left at 12 for lunch, back at 2 then was finished by 4pm. I can’t help wondering why I spent 5 years at University to get paid far less per hour as a teacher.

The snobbery from your post!

You’re paying for their skills, skills that you don’t have. They can charge whatever they like.

Why? Paying tax is the responsibility of the tradesman himself (or indeed herself!) People prefer cash for other reasons, not just to avoid paying tax on it.

270 quid for 6 hours work
Minus parts
Minus insurance
Minus labour
Minus travel
Etc etc
I'm sure you'll be pleased to know the tradie only took home about 15 quid, if that makes your ego feel better.

As if you paid someone to replace a pull light 🤣🤣 we've just replaced ours, for the princely sum of 7.99 on amazon for the new pull cord and fitting.

Maybe put your extensive knowledge to use and learn how to do basic DIY yourself 🤷🏼‍♀️

What a bizarre post. Surely you had a quote and accepted their rates?! Comparing them to your salary is very strange indeed it is almost like you are saying they should not earn a decent living because they are just tradies?

It is just supply and demand and what the culture values.

Teaching takes more education than hanging a shelf or replacing a light pull. But teaching isn’t valued in the UK. Despite some small pay incentives, no one wants to do it because the working conditions stink. And, I suspect education isn’t that valued that much in the UK anyhow. Teachers are seen largely as paid baby sitters and looked down upon. Hanging shelves is seen as much more important than children being taught to read.

And, there aren’t enough tradesmen who are in demand, so they charge pretty much what they want. So, arm yourself with knowledge, and do it yourself. That way you don’t have to deal with tradesmen for minor jobs.

I asked a guy to cut some hedges, and after being faffed, just bought a hedge trimmer and did it myself. It took me a while, but now I know how, and I don’t have to deal with him. My mantra is don’t hire a tradesperson unless it is a skilled big job, get several quotes, get a contract and check out his business. If you don’t, you are going to be in for a world of hurt.

If anyone wants to know what a loaded post looks like this is one.

You're also paying for the years of expertise in knowing how to do a job in just ten minutes. You could have watched a you tube video, bought the tool you didn't have, got it wrong twice, had a row with your husband, bought more of something because you used the first lot up in ballsing it up twice and finally completed it( but never quite as well as the professional). Or you could save your nails and your marriage and paid a man to do it. That man needs to be properly paid

You're not paying him, you're paying his business.

Fit your own light pull then? Oh right... you haven't got the skill have you.

Many trades have spent years in college training as well as regular updates to the their training and or courses for the cards required to do the job. All courses cost money.

They have business insurance. Costs money.
Fuel and vehicle wear and tear to get to you plus the time that took as well. Costs money.
Vehicle tax, insurance, mot etc etc
The tools have spent years collecting. Some even only needed for one particular job but would be impossible to do it without. Costs money.
Silly little sundry items like a spritz of WD40 the spritz itself didn't cost much but you've got to buy the whole bottle. Or a broken screw etc.

All of this before an hourly rate.

You've paid £75 for a job and everything it entailed. You've not paid £75 for 45 minutes of his time.

If we broke down our invoices to include the spritz of wd40 people would kick off like hell about it so it gets absorbed by the hourly rate. So a £45ph rate actually works out at much less to the actual person and its only worse if its a larger company with more overheads like a secretary eg as opposed to a one man band.

I was a teacher (now retired) and it really annoys me when people who claim to be teachers say things like this, exposing their ignorance and snobbish prejudice.
Previous posters have already explained the situation with regard to overheads, planning and logistics, so I won’t.

I can’t help wondering why I spent 5 years at University to get paid far less per hour as a teacher

This is a weird way to look at it. Those 5 years you spent at university, they spent training and learning the skills they needed. They would have worked with another tradie, done courses, got accreditations, set up by themselves. All of this takes skill, work and training.

You can't have it both ways. Either their jobs are so easy that anyone could do them and you don't need to hire them, or they have particular skills and knowledge that take time and practice to acquire.

My parents voted to remain purely because they were terrified my father's carers wouldn't be available anymore. They were all Eastern European.

I quit teaching to retrain as an electrician, I charge £350 a day as a commercial/industrial specialist electrician, plus an average mark up of 50% on materials - my advice, get out and retrain, there is a skills shortage.

Worth pointing out though OP, I have to do my own accounting and pay my own taxes, no PAYE, I have to buy expensive equipment, have things calibrated, pay insurances, run a van, pay my own NI, again its not deducted before my payday, no gold plated TPS pension.

I still earn more than a teacher - but I have 5 years training to be where I am on top of my degree (which was in Electrical Engineering) and have a hell of a lot of responsibility, when I sign off on a job, I'm committing myself to the ongoing safety of that work.

My household fixed something recently ourselves

It took 2 trips to the trade shop to obtain the correct parts - cost for parts
Petrol
Tools which we already had
Time to fit
Time to clear up

A trades person would need to add insurance on top & tax

That's not in including material. She said that was labour charge. Its about £70 an hour

Mind you I wouldn't have dreamed of getting someone in to do a pull cord light or toilet valve tbh.

The alternative is to learn to fix things yourself

This. You are paying for the van full of tools and spare parts that he turns up in and for the time he spent picking up parts for your job before he arrives to actually do it.

Lots of videos on You Tube explaining how to do simple jobs like replacing a light string.

One would have hoped for a more intelligent understanding of a tradesperson's situation from someone who's a teacher.

Yep, enjoy!

They pay their tax and national insurance contributions out of their pay, they don't have employer contributions to their pensions nor do they get holiday pay. Most of them will be paying vat out of your invoice too, and that's before insurance and travel, tools, skills.
so many people are clueless to the costs of being self employed.

OK what reasons? VERY few people want cash for anything other than tax ‘planning’ these days. You know that really, this is just whataboutery. If you take cash on a job you need to record it, bank it, possibly pay for the transaction. Requesting cash in large amounts is suspicious at best.

It’s just a way of pushing away the responsibility and washing your hands of guilt. The black economy is very real.

My husband is retired. He works occasionally as a consultant . He charges £500 an hour ( or part of). He can be paid that £500 for a ten minute phone call. He has knowledge someone wants and they are happy to pay for it. No pay, no info. Domestically he can do basic electrical work but that's where his practical skills end. We get three quotes for a job that we can't do ourselves and choose based on price and comfortableness of having someone around. Happy to pay for someone's skill

No sick pay, no holiday pay, retraining to renew licences, accountant fees, list is endless.

If its so quick and easy and cheap to do then why aren't you doing it yourself?

You are paying for your laziness/convenience/cheapness (many councils have low cost controlled programs for disabled/elderly/vulnerable members who can't do it themselves) their time still has value.

I'm looking into buying a reno, many jobs by the time I bought the tools and supplies its cheaper and easier to hire a pro (especially for small jobs). I also would have to store all that equipment that I may never use again.

Unlike your 'teaching job' where you have an employer and unions they likely are self employed and have to:

• book all their own jobs
• pay for advertising
• lose time driving place to place (which can make up most of their day on small jobs)
• supply most things
• lose money on estimates that turn out to be harder or that people don't book

and

• sometimes even risk their lives (electricians never know if someone has DIYed etc... one got shocked not long ago when he isolated the downstairs circuit and someone had crossed two circuits via the boiler, the heating switched on creating electrical a loop - boom).

In this day and age more than ever you could just google how to do it or put together your own bookcase (flatpacks come with instructions specifically for anyone to do its not a specialist labour like gas fitting etc...).

"Retuning to", not "entering"
That's the way it always used to be until Blair's brainwave of 'persuading' every kid to go to uni, thus showing an enormous drop in youth unemployment figures

This one’s on you for paying for things you could easily do yourself. There’s a premium for convenience, and you paid it. If you weren’t willing to pay it (I wouldn’t be) they’d inevitably end up charging less.