Job pricing

davek · May 10, 2014

Hi all
I guess this I on going question, ask by many newbies. I have only gone self employed this year but struggling to get the balance right on my pricing. Thing am struggling with are small jobs like, changing a light fitting £30 Is this good or bad for a singe fitting Some qte happy at that. but others moan, my mate will do it for a tenner but then he does not do a mwc and it beer money. I am trying to work on £30 per hour, but often find end up earning less. I am not super fast at doing my certificate, due to no having done many but getting better. again lost time which is down to me. The sort of stuff could do with help on is thing like outside lights What would be completive but with out under cutting others. I feel that some time I under estimate the length of time it takes me. But again if i charge to cheap it also under cuts which kills the job.
Hope that made sense
Regards
Dave

Octopus · May 10, 2014

davek said:
Hi all
I guess this I on going question, ask by many newbies. I have only gone self employed this year but struggling to get the balance right on my pricing. Thing am struggling with are small jobs like, changing a light fitting £30 Is this good or bad for a singe fitting Some qte happy at that. but others moan, my mate will do it for a tenner but then he does not do a mwc and it beer money. I am trying to work on £30 per hour, but often find end up earning less. I am not super fast at doing my certificate, due to no having done many but getting better. again lost time which is down to me. The sort of stuff could do with help on is thing like outside lights What would be completive but with out under cutting others. I feel that some time I under estimate the length of time it takes me. But again if i charge to cheap it also under cuts which kills the job.
Hope that made sense
Regards
Dave

Well, I've got customers in massive houses which complain about my prices - I need to earn a living so its my price or I walk away.

Re MWC's - I don't do these either - I note the Zs on the invoice. Doing MWC's for like for like changes is a mugs approach unless its a rental property and the landlord wants to cert.

SJD · May 10, 2014

Like Murdoch, for many small jobs (such as light fitting changes, socket/switch changes),I don't do a MWC unless specifically asked for one (and that is not often, even for landlords). I also note relevant test results on the invoice, towards the bottom, e.g. Zs, RCD trip time (if applicable) to show I've tested it, sometimes I'll also include an IR result (L+N to E).

As to prices, there are those who think a light fitting can be changed in a few minutes and want to pay hardly anything. With practice, you can sense they are that sort of customer quite quickly, and if that's all they want to pay, I'm busy enough now to say if they can get it done cheaper elsewhere, please do so.

Geordie Spark · May 10, 2014

davek said:
Hi all
I guess this I on going question, ask by many newbies. I have only gone self employed this year but struggling to get the balance right on my pricing. Thing am struggling with are small jobs like, changing a light fitting £30 Is this good or bad for a singe fitting Some qte happy at that. but others moan, my mate will do it for a tenner but then he does not do a mwc and it beer money. I am trying to work on £30 per hour, but often find end up earning less. I am not super fast at doing my certificate, due to no having done many but getting better. again lost time which is down to me. The sort of stuff could do with help on is thing like outside lights What would be completive but with out under cutting others. I feel that some time I under estimate the length of time it takes me. But again if i charge to cheap it also under cuts which kills the job.
Hope that made sense
Regards
Dave