Over 100% mark up by trader?

[Anwen11]

Had new boiler installed. Paid directly for boiler & filters. Bill for installation £700 - will be paying it. Asked for receipt for thermostat (and fittings) in case it's needed and notice that the trader, for these items, is charging us over twice as much as their actual costs. Seems a very high mark up.

I understand that the actual cost might be exceeded but by over twice as much? Before asking him to explain this discrepancy and adjust the invoice, I thought I'd ask here for advice. Thanks.

Pretty normal mark up. Hopefully he’s buying at a trade price and not retail.

He’s running a business, not doing you a favour! And I guess you were presented with the total price before you agreed to it? If so, what’s the problem?

Er, no. You agreed the price and presumably have paid it. You can't ask him to adjust his invoice.

Just for info I sell a product to shops who mark up by 2.4 , thats the common wholesale / retail difference.

Plus you have to pay for his time to get the items, hence the mark up.

He will probably bought at a discounted trade price that you wouldn't have be able to buy at anyway .

It is one reason I often buy parts in. I bought 3 or 4 large outside free standing lamps on lamp posts. I had had a man buy and install them about 10 years before when others had broken and they bought a cheaper brand and probably marked it up too. This time I bought all the lamps and unpacked them all ready and just paid for him to fit them. It worked very well. Would not work with central heating boilers however unless you are in the trade as that is quite a specialist thing to buy. I had to have two new boilers (big house) before Christmas and they wanted to put in very expensive ones. I said I just want the same I have now (they could not find the identical ones but they did find ones where the pricing seemed fairly much what I expected) and I let them get on with it.

Pretty standard. If the parts turn out to be faulty, and he's the one who bought them, he's liable to replace which is time he can't charge you for. If you bought them yourself directly, and they turned out faulty, he'd be able to charge you for the replacement. He's also had to spend his time/fuel on sourcing the products and time doing his accounts/paying the bill, etc.

I source things myself if i can and then pay for installation on top. If i cant source it, then the mark up covers them doing the leg work, as they used their time. I still dont like such huge markups but its to be expected and you did agree the invoice.

This is quite usual IMHO. I think quite a lot of profit is in the boiler supply. If it wasn't then you'd just end up paying more for the installation. Which is why there really isn't any point in buying your own boiler.