Price of workman?

[Cleanbedlinen12]

Hello, we are looking to get windows sanded painted and retro fitted with double glazing. We’ve just been quoted £30 an hour and it is 1 -2 days per window. Is this a reasiponable amount of time and a reasonable cost per hour? It’s a lot more than my Dp makes and he has 4 degrees.My concern is that with 8 windows he might slow down..how do I keep a track of his hours and keep them reasonable?
Thank you!

When you take into account that the hourly rate has to cover insurance, tax, pension, NI, tools, PPE etc. it's really not comparable to an hourly rate in an employed job regardless of the number of qualifications! Seems reasonable to me. Ex was a tradesman.

Ps you could ask for a fixed price for the job then you don't need to worry about slowing down or time taken

It’s unusual to quote per hour and not per job but not an unreasonable price.

We would be looking at £35 per hour with my usual tradesmen, NE Scotland.
But I would ask for a fixed price.

I'd ask for fixed price. When I've paid by the hour it's been for a general handyman working through a list of small jobs.

How many windows?

I guess you've priced up but is it not cheaper to replace the whole window?

I agree that’s a really unusual way to price window restoration. Be aware that the cost of both timber and glass have absolutely sky rocketed so any ideas you may have from the past about how much the process ‘should’ cost are likely to be well out. We had 23 restored last summer and it would be thousands more now.

Thanks everyone. That’s great to know the hourly rate is ok. Now I need to know how long I can expect it to take! We have 8 windows to revamp. And 4 new sills. 2 windows are in bedrooms, the rest are downstairs. Apart from 2 sash’s that need Making from new, they will be sanded, fitted w double glazing and primed. And painted. I can paint the myself maybe?
We had them all routed with brushes, repainted, new ropes ets about 10 years ago. Has anyone a thought as to what might be a reasonable time/ cost? They are simple double sans no astragals and about 160x 90.
Sorry to sound mad, we have had so many people say replace with pvc . One guy wanted about £ 1800 per window. To revamp. We just need to be careful it doesn’t mount up and I am not sure how to say that nicely!

I would agree that you should get a price for the job. There are lots of fb groups for period properties and renovations. It might be worth joining a couple of those for advice. I am on a few and they are really helpful. There are people on them with an abundance of experience with these sorts of things!

It may be worth you or your partner taking some time to do some of the easier parts if paying by the hour.

Whilst it's not an unreasonable hourly rate I think you would be mad to pay for this type of work by the hour. You could have someone who works slowly and takes lots of breaks! Definitely need a price the whole job, and a timeline.

Agree there's no way I'd agree to a per hour open bucket either and also that the property/diy section of mumsnet usually has excellent advice.

Ours were removed, totally restored and reglazed with double glazed units for around £1000 each all in last year. They are all significantly larger than yours though, about half are well over 2m tall and about a metre wide. This included draughtproofing though which it sounds like yours don’t need. This was by a fairly ‘premium’ joinery firm in central Scotland. Accounting for the increase in cost of glass/timber, I would hope you would be able to get each in for under £1000 but who knows at the moment. I think it’s totally daft to try and price it by time - some of ours were dead quick, others needed a total rebuild. It also presumably doesn’t account for materials. You need the job quoted properly.

Thanks so much. He has already saved us a packet by suggesting a company which has made us a French door for a few k less tha we were quoted by other companies. But I agree about being slow and taking a lot of breaks.
Thanks for the Facebook tip woodstockj and mumsnet tip that’s brilliant
Hate getting work done. How on Earth do people revamp a castle on tv?

I’m sure I can sand and paint myself.(green maybe? ! ) asdf I’d rather pay me to slap dulux around. Thanks so much, we have so much that needs doing and it takes so long to find anyone .