horly rate

[1shortcircuit]

but at least we don't deal with human excrement on a daily basis

I was working in a house that was being refurbed and the plumbers removed their waste pipe and left it in a pile in one room. Now I knew that this is where they thought it was going to stay so I contacted the chap who was paying me at the time and politely informed him that there was no way on this planet that I was going to touch it.

Sure enough, the plumbers said that their quote had not included to remove any rubbish from the premises. However, they felt it necessary to remove any copper and put that in the back of their van


As some of you may be aware, I am not an Electrician. I start my course in January.

I currently work in construction as a slinger/signaller for Tower cranes (Pays around £12.50 p/h at the moment) and a Telescopic Forklift operator (Currently earning £9 per hour)

I actually turned down a long run of work a little while down because the Agency were paying £8 odd per hour I told them in no uncertain terms that they were having a laugh and said goodbye

I believe it's very important to realise what you are worth and if it turns out that people do not want to pay that then they look elsewhere and possibly get a shoddy job done

Now I have a long road ahead of me and there's no guarantee that I will ever become an Electrician but I guarantee if I make it then I will be in business to make money and never out to undercut everyone so that I get the work. It should be about "Quality" not "Quantity"

Cheap quotes in my opinion will reflect the quality of work.

I will not be studying my nuts off to eventually earn just a few quid more than I could sat in a forklift truck or running around chasing a crane. Hell No, I will be quoting to make enough money to provide for my family AND progress my business.

My goal is to one day have people working for my business so that I can just deal with the quoting and running of the business. It would be even better if I ever make it to the stage where I can just sit back and over see the running of MY Successful business

This is years away but IF I make it then this will be my Plan of Attack

 

[DLMahon]

£15 an hour, you may as well work for someone else and save yourself the hassle of all the other work you need to do to run a business. If you work for yourself you need to factor in that you do not get paid, as you would if you worked for someone else, for bank holidays, 8 of approx, annual leave, plus the other time you need to put in such as your free quotes, visits to accountant, time when being audited for Part P, HMRC audits, van servicing, repairs etc on top of all the other overheads that have been mentioned, insurance, advertising cost software licences, etc. I charge £35-£40 per hour for domestic, £45-£50 for commercial and from £60 upwards for industrial, max so far I have charged is £120 per hour working in dusty environment at heights. If I can give you some sound advice that is if you are self employed you are a Business man first, electrician second!! If you are a brilliant sparky but a crap businessman your business will fail! Do you sums for a full 12 months and allow for the jobs you don't get paid for or someone going bankrupt as has happened to me.

As a rule of thumb to get your cost right, if you quote and you get every job you quote on, your to cheap!!
Look at getting approx 60% of the jobs you quote on. If you are still getting 85% upwards, put your cost up.

Its better to do less work for more money. If I charged 50% more than a competitor but only get 50% of the work I quote on for similar work, we both end up with same pay but my competitor has to do twice as much work, including paper work, running around to suppliers etc for the same amount of pay and I can have more time off. Some think it's a competition if they 'win' the job but it's all about getting more pay for the work that you do, do!

Charge what you think you are worth but many electricians do not charge enough because we are fighting with each other for business and with those doing jobs on the side. We should charge like solicitors, they will not drop the price but they also know there competitors will not drop either. They work together and have a pricing policy. I am an Electrical Engineer and worked for the electricity board and have managed many high cost projects. I now have my own electrical contracting business. All sparks should put there cost up. Do you know you can get paid more for removing rubbish!! I mean that, these online sites for work people will pay £400 to have rubbish removed from there garden and it takes about 2-3 hours for £400!! Employ a couple of numpties so you don't get your hands dirty. I sometime wonder if its worth being a spark at all but certainly not for £15/h!! No disrespect but its business novices like yourself who are driving prices down.

I'm an electronics engineer (M.Eng) who is looking at going self-employed as a domestic electrical installer, so it's good to see another man has done this. I also want to say, I couldn't agree more. Work together for the benefit of all!

 

[sparky paul]

I only wish i had some of mazdamans advice when i started out on my own 3 years ago

I had to learn the hard way,when i first started i used to win 90% of the jobs i quoted for and yes it looked good as the money rolled in,then the bills started landing on my mat

I had to wise up sharp,

Someone said to me once ,if your doing a job ask yourself how much money you are making out of it,if the answer is nothing then ask yourself why you are doing it

Sometimes it is hard to walk away from work even more so with the work situation we all face daily,but i would rather lose a job than do it for nowt.sparkies are there own worst enemy ,selling themselves short instead of commanding the respect they deserve and pay to match.

 

[roukel01]

I live in a small Town not far from York. There must be at least 15 - 20 self employed electricians in the area, most of which charge between £20 - £25 per hour. If you charge any more, you simply don't get the work, because there are plenty of sparks out there quite happy to be paid this amount.
I'm not just talking domestic stuff here either, thats industrial, commercial, the lot.

Its the same with PAT testing, we used to do quite alot of PAT testing for our regular customers, but then flyers started coming through the post advertising PAT tests as little as 90p per test, it goes without saying, I no longer do their PAT testing!

 

[martinxxxxxx]

I have just started and I have based my prices on £25 per hour for public, £20 trade. I have picked up a lot of trade work to be fair. but I will have to watch my profitability, as although I have billed £5k this month, I am yet to cover my start up costs. I took 9K out of the bank to do this and have yet to put it back.

I think that £35 is a real rate that should be charged in order to have a sustainable business. That is if a job is too big , you would have enough to hire another to help. Lower rates than this are really just buying work. I need to buy work at the moment, but I think I should not do this as time goes on.

It is not so bad having a low trade rate. as you are having all of the finding work and customer facing stuff done for you and you are getting a stream of work. Also the person giving that work needs a mark up to cover their advertising and general business risks.

I find this a compelling subject and wish there were more contributors, as the broader the picture the better. I will stop talking hourly rates to the public and start using a job card based on £30 p/h in the new year.

Martin

 

[Amp David]

I'm working as a service engineer for a print engineering company. They charge to a non contract customer 155 quid per hour with a 90 quid call out. Thing is, nearly every company that knows the equipment charge roughly the same.

With the electrical trade, everyone else is trying to undercut the next man on their hourly rate, thus creating the competition, that sooner or later will drive the rates down even more.

 

[jimmyjazz]

Martin, not surprised your getting the work for your area that's half price!!

 

[martinxxxxxx]

Hi

i don't want to be half price - are you sure?

I have seen posts saying it was about average

If it is half price then I shall change it pronto.

I will never pay off my tool bill, tax bill and fuel bill if i keep going as I am.

But i would rather be busy than not so i have to have a strategy forward.

Trouble is I have mostly worked in industrial and at distance from home town, so I don't know many local sparks to get guidance from on pricing etc.

Does everyone agree that it is half price?

Martin

 

[jimmyjazz]

Posts are from all over & prices vary greatly. I live just outside Pompey & charge £50 ph domestic. Whilst I know others on or about this rate, its not just about price its also about selling your services. As stated in earlier posts you got to make sure all of your overheads are covered. At my rate I'm busy, but I can'y afford a Porche, I cover my commitments. It's also harder to raise your prices with your customer.

 

[martinxxxxxx]

Thanks for that and I really like the Strummersque name , if aint your day it aint your day.

So do you announce you rate to you customer straight up?

They say they want a new CU and you say ooo that'll be £600 please. Is this far off.

3 bed house rewire empty inc parts £1800 , is this too low?

Martin

 

[pennywise]

Too low I would say but I'm in the southwest of london you would be taking £3-4k, Just went to kensington yesterday Client showed me a price she had received for replacing her CU and upgrading the Bonding £900. then again may be all RCBOs etc plus parking and inconvenience for working in london. Everywhere and every job are always different.

 

[coggy]

I say £30.00 per hour for home counties but for £60.00 count me in !!!!!!!!!

 

[martinxxxxxx]

Hi

I am being brave and putting up my prices, though not to the builders yet, but where I price a job I will go in line with some of the pollster here. I realise I am not making a profit at the moment and I should not just price to work all week on that basis. Otherwise i am just spoiling the market for me and others. I will not rip anyone off but I have taken on board the fact i need to cover overhead too.


I have done the last 2 jobs at a lot more than I usually charge and one of the jobs was for a landlord that owns 6 houses, he said he checked my price, as he did not know me and was told it was ok. So there you have it. Good old jimmyjazz is on the money with this one.

Martin

 

[jedisparks]

Interesting thread.

Stumbled on this as i was searching for info on hourly rates. Dont usual have a problem with it. But went to look at a job today, potentially a big job over the next 2 or 3 years on and off, so am quite interested in it.

Anyway went and had a chat with the client today and told him my usual hourly rate of 25 per hour (north essex area) (I stay quite busy with this rate). he coughed and spluttered! i asked him how much his previous sparks were charging him, he said £18.50 per hour. while i was there had a quick look at some of their work and it was to a good standard.

Other thing is i usually work within 15mins or so of my front door. this job is 40 mins away. I said i would see if i could bring my rate down abit for him. but now im thinking **** it! i would be mad to.

I rekon either his other spark is absolutely desperate for work or he is trying it on to see how low ill go. what do you folks rekon?

thanks for reading

 

[acat]

Stick to the rate you charge if you give in on this one you will give in on the next one and before you know you will be paying the client to do the work.


Chris