charging

[gazzamikes]

good evening everyone, i have now been in business just over a year and to be honest i haven't actually set myself a pay scale, it has now finally come round and bitten me. if you dont mind me asking could you guys give me an idea as to what the going rate it for electricians? ive spoken to many but as they are from the 'boom' era they are talking telephone numbers.

thanks for your help!

 

[rugbynick]

Most sparks I know including some that I employ earn £50-£60k WITH LITTLE RISK

 

[Voltimax]

What you charge is dependant upon two things, what you need and what the market will bear.
I have posted before on how to work out what you need to be charging.

 

[RWJ]

Most sparks I know including some that I employ earn £50-£60k WITH LITTLE RISK

Are we talking the UK in the current climate? or are we talking what the "training centres" claim.

Answer to the original question.... depends on how busy you are, over heads etc, if your looking to invest / taken on etc

 

[Dave 85]

Day rate, you wanna be looking at £200-£250 a day. Price work (big jobs) should be £300+ per day. This is for domestic work in south east england. If you are charging about £200 a day, don't go thinking you're earning 50K a year, cause your not. You got about 5k-10k a year expenses, people who dont pay, jobs that overrun, time spent doing admin/ pricing etc and of course if you're a new business, the chances are you may well not be gettin more than 150 days work a year.

 

[Darkwood]

Hi Gazzamikes im just starting my 3rd year and from my experience i would like to go on a slight tangent and give a little forwarning advice...

Year 1 you wont be asked for any earning related tax or class 4 NI
Year 2 - at the end of this year you will be accounted for Yr 1 and expected to pay what you owe in income tax and class 4 NI + (using year 1 as a guide) you will be asked to pay half of your 2nd year, then in 6months following this you will be expected to pay the rest of year 2's income tax.
Ps if the money is rolling in i take my hat off to you and dont expect this to be a big concern just dont spend it too quickly


So in a nutshell at the end of yr2 you get 1.5yrs income tax bill + class 4 NI
then mid yr3 you pay the remaining yr2 bill........

this catches alot of small businesses out and can be the downfall of many of them and is a large factor of the failure of the majority of small businesses within the magic 2yr line, if you can make it to year 3 then things usually get easier from then on as your only paying for the tax on the yrs just gone.

 

[wellshocked]

most people i work for charge about 250 a day for them selves and about 150 a day for the apprentice and give them 50 so a lot of them are probably getting 350 realistically.


plus whatever there charging for sparks they are making a bit themselves

 

[gazzamikes]

Hi, thanks everyone for your advice. I have just completed my first year, and the books don't look good, bearing in mind I have I no idea how a first year should look. I managed to pick up more work than I thought I would have gotten but seem to have earns hardly anything. Soom jobs barely earning a penny. I was going to set my sites for £150 - £180 per day, does this sound reasonable for east Anglian? Thanks again for all the help and advice

 

[Adam W]

The problem with underpricing to gain customers is that when you have to increase your prices to actually make any money, your customers will just go to the next new electrical business trying to gain customers.

 

[Richard Burns]

Hi, thanks everyone for your advice. I have just completed my first year, and the books don't look good, bearing in mind I have I no idea how a first year should look. I managed to pick up more work than I thought I would have gotten but seem to have earns hardly anything. Soom jobs barely earning a penny. I was going to set my sites for £150 - £180 per day, does this sound reasonable for east Anglian? Thanks again for all the help and advice

Sounds OK if you have a local full days job, but if you are doing separate jobs aim for the £250 mark.