£120 + VAT to cap gas cooker off?

[brokenbiscuitsadness]

I inherited an ancient gas range cooker that doesn’t work and needs to go.
As I’m hoping to put in a new kitchen once I’ve saved enough I’ve just bought a reconditioned electric cooker to tide me over.

just contacted a gas engineer who has quoted me £120 + vat to cap off the existing cooker which seems a lot to me? The new cooker itself only cost me £150.

That sounds about right, we would probably charge slightly more but we mostly deal with commercial, not domestic.

it’s half a day’s work with travel, trades charge 200-250 a day, ergo you’re not going to get it much cheaper

Why do you think it is expensive? You require a professionally qualified person to come and perform a simple procedure in your home. They have to account for travel time, the fact it is such a small job but would prob prevent them getting a half day job elsewhere, insurance, registration etc etc. Seems resonable to me.

Sounds about right if not a little on the cheap side

That’s quite cheap.

By today’s rates I mean!!

How much do you expect it to be?

For someone to travel to and from your house. Who has the necessary insurance, who has to pay Tax, NI, Pension
Who has to have the skills and certification to do it?

If you can get a handyman who can drop by when he is in the area, it's cheaper.

That would be illegal unless the "handyman" was a Gas Safe registered engineer.

We'd charge £100 plus vat. That's assuming it doesn't take more than 1 hour to do the work. A capping off should be relatively straightforward as long as it's all accessible.

As well as what you actually see the engineer do there's the travel to you, the equipment used, the insurances and accreditations and the knowledge. The engineer has spent years learning his skills and becoming and staying qualified. That's what you're paying for, and also to stay safe and not gas yourself or blow your house up.

If everyone could just do it without qualifications and knowledge then you wouldn't need to get someone else to do it.

It's because of the travel time.

It is a higher % of the overall cost on a small job than on a big one.

If you can do multiple jobs at once (maybe service boiler, check gas fire etc) then you get it cheaper.

If he is a gas safe plumber you might be able to get him to fix radiators or dripping taps for you at the same time, and pay much less £ than for 2x call outs.

That's not too bad. AO charges £110 to disconnect and connect a cooker when you buy a new one. When we bought our electric cooker AO were the only company that would cap off a gas cooker and fit an electric one. I would expect a tradesman to charge more as they are not selling you a new cooker.

Thanks All, I’m clearly out of touch with the costs of trades. Will book him in

Seems reasonable to be honest. Trades people ain't cheap.