grrrrrrrr!

[coxy84]

there is a "DOMESTIC ELECTRICAIN" advertising in my local rag next to my add for £11 pound a hour!!
all certs provided ect and with napit.

this has really ****** me off!
fine do your self out of money! but now any one who rings me is going to say why am i so expensive? and there an electricain £11 a hour in the paper!

if charge any thing less than £20/22 per hour id be losing out! what with van/insurance/part p/fuel/ pl/ pi and so on!!

almost considering ringing him and giving him what for!

 

[tonys]

Its no-ones business what other people charge.

But think about this, people like me fully qualified JIB Approved, 17th edition, 2391, all the tools, tester, van everything, 27 years experience, fully insured and can not get any work.

Agencies want to pay about £12 - £14 and hour, now if that person is of the same calibre as me and can not get work, what are they doing wrong ?

Not saying I agree with what they are charging, but like I said, think about my situation ?

Also Ive been self employed for 22 years.

 

[alanl]

Could you please explain how you are losing out at £20/hour?
I worked it out last year that if I was on £80/day, £10/hr, I'd actually be earning around £6.00 a hour after taking off all expenses.
I gladly work for £12/hr, as it is difficult to get any more. Fixed price work can work out better, or, as in my present job, worse, taking 3 days longer than expected, still at the same fixed price.
£20/hr is pretty good for anywhere in the Midlands, in fact anything over £120/day is good.
Alan.

 

[solo2771]

It is very cut throat these days soon we will be working for minimum wage if things don't pick up

 

[Giovanni]

Financial climate as it is....Everyone is pushing the prices down, TBH you gotta do what you gotta do, £11ph is better than £0ph, empathise all the same

 

[rocker]

Could you please explain how you are losing out at £20/hour?
I worked it out last year that if I was on £80/day, £10/hr, I'd actually be earning around £6.00 a hour after taking off all expenses.
I gladly work for £12/hr, as it is difficult to get any more. Fixed price work can work out better, or, as in my present job, worse, taking 3 days longer than expected, still at the same fixed price.
£20/hr is pretty good for anywhere in the Midlands, in fact anything over £120/day is good.
Alan.

You've got to be joking! Regardless of all the money and hard work it takes to get qualified, the massive amounts we have to pay to various organisations in order to work, the stock, the fuel, cost of tools...... disregarding all of that, this is a skilled job and damn hard work. You think it's reasonable to take home less than people working in McDonalds? I'm sorry mate but you need your head reading.... the only reason people will only pay 12 per hour is becasue people drop their prices that much. If we all stuck together and only accepted the £20 per hour which should be the minimum we get, then they would have to pay.

 

[bugsy]

Supply and demand , if your under 21 and really want to earn top money train to be a cisco partner ( ccna + ) recently got quoted £900.00 ( yes no typo )per day!
At the moment it's supply and demand and sparkies are not in demand ( please note anybody thinking of a change in vocation. )
This all started 3 yrars ago with the government screeming about skill shortages , 2 years later they open the EU floodgates and relax the qualification requirements

 

[alanl]

No, it is not reasonable to take home less than Minimum wage, but people will just not pay a 'reasonable' rate.
Today, I was asked to swap over a built-in electric cooker for a gas one.
I pulled it out, and found no isolator at all, just the MCB. 6mm t+e on a 40A MCB feeding a JB, which went two ways, one to the oven rated at 3kW, and the other, a 1mm max. flex feeding the hob ignition.
To get that to a good, safe condition would take nearly 2 hours. I'd be tempted to replace the cable with 2.5mm as well while I'm there.
What can you charge for such a job?
I'm going for £35.
It is way too cheap, but I know that if I say £50, they'll just get the kitchen fitter back to connect the new one direct to the 40A 6mm at the JB.
£30 profit is better that nothing in my view.
Alan.

 

[coxy84]

take home £6??? just above min wage for all the stresses that come with running your own bussines! id rather wash dishes,

at £20 a hour after taxes and national insurance contrabutions id be left with around £15 per hour but then i have to factor in fuel ( i live in mid wales then nearest shop is 6miles away) my public liablity/ elecsa/ tools/calibration of testers/ van tax and insurance, all the time doing paper work!, which doesnt leave me with much!!

 

[rocker]

If you do that for £30 you are a mug. If they don't like your price (if you need to install an isolator and a fused spur and a bit more 6 mil and 2.5 plus certificate your upper price of 50 is still low) then let them get the kitchen fitter to do it. And then when it all goes tats up, explain to them that you have an hourly rate for fault finding and a call out charge.

If you work for that money, mate, you will NEVER have any money. You will get a name for yourself as 'the cheap guy', you may end up rushed off your feet with work, and you'll never get anything out of it. Do you see McDonald's workers buying houses and nice cars? No. And the reason is because they work for 6.50 an hour, and you can never save anything on that even on a 50 hour week.

You may say it's none of my business, but it's people undercutting everyone else that is driving the prices down overall, and that means I will have trouble getting work. I do a damn good job and I price accordingly.... if you're charging such low prices, even with with the best will in the world as I'm sure you have, something's gonna have to give and quality is going to be compromised in some way. What about guaranteeing work, are you going to come out in future if a fault develops and fix it for free? Because you have to do that, and I bet your six quid won't stretch that far then.

EDIT: oh, and people WILL pay a reasonable amount - they pay it to most of the people on here all the time. If you have a bit of a look around, you will find that the general consensus is that people who refuse to pay a decent amount will even be funny about paying up their paltry amount when the job's done. These people aren't worth working for. Set a decent rate and stick to it. Honestly mate it's the only way you'll ever get anywhere.

 

[telectrix]

think i'll study law. our solicitor sent us a letter last week, stating his new hourly rate, approved by the courts system. give us a few guesses lads/lasses, and i'll tell you the figure at 10.00pm

 

[ian1511]

i totally agree with rocker by working for low rate means you set the tone,you become the cheap guy,makes it hard to ever make any money.mays well get a job in maccies flippin burgers less hassle.they always ring back wen it goes**** up.some ppl put money before safety.

 

[ian1511]

£350 per/hr, £50 per letter.

 

[Sintra]

I would go for £185 / hour

 

[tonys]

Lets come back to this thread in a years time and see whats what and who still works for them selves and see whos in debt and who owns what.

Certain parts of the country may be escaping rate cuts at the moment, some parts may not have that much cheap labour floating about.

But one thing people have to remember there's no friends in business and its not what some people are really worth, its what you need, and what their used too. But its also what the customer is prepared to pay. Now if things are tight for us, then things are tight for our customers.

1992/1996 were bad years and this is a lot worse from my personal experiences. I'm where I am through hard work and knowing what the money game is about, so I know how this will pan out.