Shocked at the cost of tradesman

[Nooooooou]

3 bedroom, average size.

Costs are for labor only... no materials

install laminate wood flooring across house £1.5k to £2.5k (3 quotes were above £2k).
strip wallpaper, skim and paint walls -£3k to £5k.

based in south east..
I think this is really excessive. I think it works out to more than £400 per day.

As the wife of a builder, I really don’t. They have to pay insurance, tax, NI, pension contributions, holiday, sick pay, their own vehicles and insurance, tools etc from what they earn. They’re not just profiting £400 a day. Plus the risk of people letting them down and cancelling last min resulting in a gap in the diary.

it’s a skilled profession. I’m always surprised that these type of threads moan about it

what prices are you expecting?

Prices have been sky high for some time now. You can’t get work done at pre covid prices anymore. If you haven’t had work done for a while then it is a shock. I don’t know if the prices you’ve been quoted are reasonable but if you’re getting 3 and they’re all coming in around a similar ball park then it will be the going rate.

I think that’s about right to be honest.

You could always do it yourself? And if you cannot then you need to pay the going rate. Charging costs are not an ethical issue but a market driven one of supply and demand.

A lot of that you could do yourself I don’t think it is that expensive

I honestly don't think that sounds all that bad tbh...

But the cost of everything is a lot higher now.

I went clothes shopping with my dd and dsis yesterday and bought precisely zero for myself! In times gone by, I'd have always bought something on a shopping trip. I get almost everything secondhand now and we are on a reasonably good income

Why don't you do it then?

Oh wait you haven't invested the time and money to learn the skills required, not do you pay tax, national insurance, holiday pay, pension, insurance etc etc to ply your trade.

£400 a day for a skilled tradesmen in the area in which you live sounds about right to me.

Supply and demand. We’ve not been training enough tradesmen for 2 or 3 decades, they’re retiring and there’s nor enough coming through to replace them.

Costs are increasing - van costs, fuel and repairs, insurance, accountancy, phone contracts, materials, bank charges, etc.

They have to price in all the non chargeable time of travelling, quotes, picking up supplies, admin, holiday time off, etc, waiting for deliveries etc.

Also more awareness to look after themselves and prepare for years to come, I.e. paying into pensions like employers have to do, sickness and health insurance to cover if they’re too ill to work, life insurance to cover their dependants, gym membership to stay fit, etc. They don’t accept a life of work till you die anymore! They don’t have an employer to pay for it all, and growing realisation that governments won’t provide enough support, so the cost has to be borne by the customer!

Probably be 2 tradesmen doing the work

do £400 split in half…

If that includes VAT it’s a bargain! Especially the plasterer if he’s skimming the entire house. I was £900 for my kitchen and that was at mates rates.

That sounds reasonable to me, although it's difficult to judge as you haven't given us the square footage.

That's about £45/hour which seems to be pretty standard around here, also SE for that kind of work. It's a lot more for electricians, plumbers etc.

Sounds right to me. As others have says thee are costs of NI, pension, insurance , to pay b ever minds the tools needed ie brushes pots ladders stripping machine etc etc plus possible a work van. That £400 a day is soon eaten up before he cash the cash to live on

At 45 an hour - out of which they need to pay tax and NI,build a reserve against ill health and holidays, extra time for their paperwork and skilled labour … so that seems reasonable for the south east to me

As the wife of a tradesman, I can say it's definitely not too high. By the time you've paid out on transport, your tax and NI, and (probably) paid the labourer(s) it's not as much as you'd think. Also, you're paying for years of training and skill (that's why it'll be cheaper for you to hire a new plasterer fresh out of college).

I paid 1800 just for painting of hall, stairs and landing so I think the painting part is quite cheap!

We've had a lot done in the past two years so it's about what I'd expect. Supply and demand. I just can't (or refuse to learn) to do this stuff abd ut woukd rake me a very long time to do a terrible job, so I earn my salary doing what I am skilled at and pay people to do what they're skilled at.

Instead of moaning on here, get on and do it yourself or pay someone what is the proper price for a job

The price sounds right if they actually do a decent job. I think that's the harder bit, finding a tradesperson who is good!

When I hear complaints like this I wonder what women pay their hairdresser or for other cosmetic treatments. They probably don't blink at the cost, yet when it comes to paying for work at home it's supposed to be cheap?

If you look on checkatrade, the average cost of skimming one room is £480. So x that by say 6 rooms and that's almost £3000 without anything else. So your quote for that seem reasonable to me.
You could save money by stripping the wallpaper yourself.

The flooring sounds reasonable to me too, it's a skilled job. Again, Checkatrade says the average cost for one room is £450 (£600 in more expensive areas).

I paid £750 for laminate flooring in one room about 6 months ago. That included the flooring and fitting. So over the entire house your quote for labour only seems ok.

Our gardener charges 45 an hour, I'm in Brighton so it seems about right to me. There are two of them, sometimes three if he brings the apprentice

Tradies have to eat too and they’re dealing with the same high prices in supermarkets as non-trades.

Anything I can do myself I will. Levelling concrete, stripping wallpaper, small repairs, etc. If not, I’ll get a tradesperson in.

One day I’d love to learn to tile!