Daily rate for a builder?

[MyCatIsInCharge]

How much would you expect to pay for labour for a builder per day for the following type of job?

• take an old shed down.
• extend the existing base.
• some cutting back of bushes to the boundary line (not a lot).
• take down greenhouse; rebuild it smaller if possible.

I’m interested in what you’d consider to be a normal daily rate for this kind of thing in the SE. We’ve just had a quote from a builder who has done work for a neighbour including a patio (one-man band type builder.) It is much higher than I expected, needless to say. We have no access issues so not a pig of a job, if you see what I mean.

Cheap £150 a day average 200
Expensive £300

We had a builder do some general work recently and his day rate was £250 for him and his labourer, plus materials. We are in Yorkshire.

That’s interesting - thank you. I mean, to be fair, we’re paying for labour because we can’t/don’t want to do it ourselves but I definitely need an idea of how long it will take him as the labour cost seems astronomical!

I think 3-5 days depending on the builder.

Any trades person at £150 a day is a bargain in my experience.

Don't pay by day, ask him to quote for the job.

It's also worth getting a few quotes as some people quote high as they don't want the job or are just chancing it if they have enough work on.

Is the rate including disposal of the old shed and whatever they have cut back? That is expensive usually, as it's paying for trade waste disposal. Day rate in SE near us has definitely gone up and probably over £200 now.

Any “builder” working for £150 is shit! DH has labourers on that and some on more.

dont ask for day rate but a charge for the job. It’s not a huge job but a lot of GOOD builders now are averaging £400-500 a day. They won’t be free anytime soon though!

Completely depends on the area.

Definitely ask for a quote for the work, not a day rate.

Carefully dismantling your greenhouse and reassembling it smaller could take a day. Depending on size.

Time for making an Extension for your shed base will have also depend on size. It will involve digging out soil to a depth of approximately 1m. Partially refilling with hardcore (brick rubble). This keeps it level and stops it cracking.
Making shuttering (timber frame) to contain the wet cement in the right shape.

hope this helps

Area doesn’t really make a difference anymore. It used to, but not for the past 3-4 years.
Sites up here (we’re South Yorkshire) pay the same on price as the south.

Our builder 4 years ago charged £200 a day for labour (S Wales).

Get a job cost, not a day rate, because he'll drag it out.

I'm paying 150 a day for a decorating job. Short days tho. 9-3.

Average is around £250-260 a day

Get an hourly or complete job rate. Day rates are pointless if they turn up for an hour and charge the daily. Equivalent £26 / ph isn't much. They could go to a big site and earn a lot more.

Thanks everyone. @Lurkingandlearning , that is helpful and is what I envisaged. We asked for a quote for the job, which he broke down into materials, plant hire (aka skip) and labour. He estimates 5 days work. Which sounds about right to me - a day for dismantling and cutting stuff back, a day for digging, a day for getting the base laid, a day for sorting out the greenhouse and a day to finish off, maybe. And some of it would be hard labour (digging) so I wouldn’t expect a long day.

The labour cost is £1700 for the job. Which works out at around £340 a day.

I do not object to paying a fair rate for labour. I was just a little surprised it was this high. I mean, maybe that’s what we need to pay for a quality job (we haven’t ever tried to hire someone for something like this). But we are getting multiple quotes to compare against it.

Don’t know the extent of the bushes or greenhouse but it sounds expensive. None of it is skilled work.

would expect a shed removal and base pour to take a day max

@MyCatIsInCharge I think that’s a fair rate. Not cheap but not expensive.
Skilled work would cost more, obviously.