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.

Unless you are very proficient, don't be tempted to do it your self. It's a false economy. If you can't afford to have it all done then stagger it until you can or look to finance it. If you try to do it, it will drag on for ages, you'll get stressed and it won't be the finish you want. Best to get a second job with the time you would be doing it and pay a pro with the extra cash you earn.

Why oh why oh why did I bother going to uni for 3 years and training in a profession to be paid less per hour than your gardener 😰

You don't think you can't be sued if you install faulty electrics. Most routine legal advice and conveyancing is done by para legals who haven't trained for years. Conveyancing, divorce, probate. Most of it is routine. Note I'm saying routine not LA law.
Don't fall for the narrative that a posh office indicates some higher plane of intellectual superiority. That's what they want you to think.
And there numerous examples of poor legal representation without consequences for the legal profession. Creating the mystic is how they over charge for their service.

You can’t compare rates as an employee with rates as self employed.

Certainly seems like you didn't do a maths degree.

When I got divorced I did it myself and when I needed a Grant of Probate I did it online. Didn't need to see a solicitor.

You are talking about basic processing of life events though which is different to circumstances when you actually need tailored specialised advice.

It’s completely excessive OP.
I’m in a senior position in the third sector. My salary hasn’t gone up in line with costs in this way.
Daylight flipping robbery!

So, in addition to paying off our education and working, we all have to get second bloody jobs to be able to afford to pay the trades?! It’s just insane.

I don’t understand why some posters have a problem with tradesmen earning more than someone with a degree and a desk job?

The system is a capitalist one it does not have to be “fair” as decreed by some higher power. If your skills whatever they are are in demand and in short supply you can charge more it’s that simple. You are not providing a charity.

I see the government is trying to plug the gap by adding trades to the Shortage Occupation List, which makes it easier for workers from abroad (especially India and the Philippines) to get visas. Heaven forbid we have to rely on skilled, punctual, hard-working foreigners again. What a nightmare it was having kitchens finished on time, walls actually straight, and someone who didn’t disappear for three days because their clutch has gone in their van.

@TroysMammy £11k for a wardrobe? How big is it?

Good tradesmen (tradespeople) are worth their weight in gold

I always pay cash for everything unless it's online. Never made a difference in price, but I prefer cash. I won't use a shop where 'no cash' signs are up.

How much were you expecting it to be out of interest?

My self employed gardener partner reckons his actual income, after all the considerable costs he incurs (van, tools, fuel, insurance, tax, maintenance of equipment, MOT, time to do free estimates, factoring in holiday periods, cancellation by clients, replacing broken equipment, petrol, time invoicing clients, to name just a few) is approximately HALF of the quoted amount. So by my reckoning that is £25 per hour in your case, OP. Was it just one person doing it?

It's laying laminate flooring not a massively skilled trade, crazy prices for that.

Neighbour is a builder and flashes around in new range rover and lots of holidays making a killing. Many trades earn more than doctors, nurses and other people who studied for years.

You seem to be rather confused. The hourly rate quoted by a self employed tradesperson cannot be compared to the hourly rate of an employed person. The costs of running a business will take 40-50% of that figure. Do you really think that's their actual pay? Really?

I’ve not RTFT but you are paying for the years of experience, not the time taken to do the job. HTH

That's all the work that seems expensive because it's basically DIY on a large scale but those quotes sounds good to me. You can't find people to strip the walls near me, I would love the option!

Because they think having a degree and an office job makes you better than a tradesperson, who apparently does no training and just picks up a hammer one day.

They are pissed that someone they perceive as lower can earn more money than them.

They are snobs who want to say their DH is "top of their field" and would be mortified to say their DH was a plumber.

My brother in law has just paid 30k for someone to paint every room of the house he has had built. My jaw nearly hit the ground 😄

Do it yourself then.

Surely you know going into education or low to mid level office work isn’t exactly going to bring in the big bucks?!