making money on materials??

[Mark_Burgess]

At least 30% mark up on standard quotes, if there is a particularly high priced item and I am in a good mood as the rest of the job ie: time, labour and working conditions are good and easy then 20%, especially if it is a click of a mouse to order it job.

 

[Amp David]

For example, Click Flow connectors.

From my good well stocked wholesaler £2.65 +vat and from a little crappy usually a rip off type of place, £1.85 +vat.

Normal wholesaler won't budge on price as if he does hes giving them away for less than cost.

How can I mark up materials using places like this???

 

[martysparky]

nice one Mark thats about 200 on a 3 bed total job maybe I should revise. good if its coming.

 

[lloyd1980]

I look at the overall cost of labour and cost price of materials then think what am I happy with sticking on the materials, what can the customer afford
I would say a min of 10% but the skys the limit, in b and q wylex RCBO's are nearly £ 35 quid each, wholesale I get them £ 10.99 + vat, ok not wylex but an RCBO non the less and decent quality
I worked in a shop yesterday and the owners were moaning about the last spark who did the lighting
it was a good job to be fair to his install, they were moaning about the cost
he installed 6 T5 twin 5ft fluorecent fittings
2 double sockets cable surface enclosed in conduit, not big run - small shop
total bill came to over 3 grand!!!!!
he charged them £ 300 per light and over a grand in labour
he was there less than a day, and I priced the lights wholesale out of curiosity and they were £ 105 each plus VAT
no wonder he drives a range rover!!!!!
I could NOT charge those prices and sleep at night!!!

 

[TPES]

Although work can be tight and a strugle now and then it just shows that there's many people that do actually pay these high prices.

While there's many that moan about the price there's others that don't, my way of thinking is customers have to face up to it that we don't give our time and effort for free. Were here to make a living and not every job is £30!

If they don't like it, I walk away.

I just explain to people you get what you pay for

 

[DurhamSparky]

depends what the cost of materials are and how cheap i can get them according to customer...!! 25-30%

 

[panicoll]

I find the more you try to make the job cheaper for the client, the more they want done for nothing and now I dont save them anything. i now only use good quilty gear none of them cheap sockets MK only and also none of this writing lists for them to supply. supply and fit only take it or leave it. With regards to markup i am normal 15%.

Wholesalers can be cheaper but some gear is alot cheaper in screwfix and i take the most expensive quote add 15% and then buy at the cheapest place

again I allow for screws etc and depending on job from about £20 - £50

 

[lloyd1980]

fair play
I beleive we are pricing ourselves too low
look at grease monkeys charging £ 50 ph labour
god knows how much they stick on parts
each year when the MOT comes around I pull my pants down before entering the garage to save them the trouble of removing them
if only PIR's were compulsory for everyone each year like MOT's are

..........we can dream!!!!

 

[TPES]

Yes Lloyd, well said my man, won't happen, but we can dream

 

[UNG]

And how long would it be before the 50p PAT brigade muscled in and started knocking them out for 20 quid

 

[Adam W]

Garages are some of the biggest ripoff merchants around - you drop your vehicle off at 8am for an MOT, go back at 5 and it's in the air with the wheels off; greasemonkey sucks his breath in over his teeth and tells you it's failed on the brakes and gives you an estimate at how much it's going to cost. You feel obliged to accept the quote because you can't exactly drive away with your vehicle in it's current state, go back the next day and the price has doubled because it was "a bigger job than expected".

Now I get my MOT done at the bus garage because they don't do any remedial work there so it doesn't make much difference to the tester whether your vehicle passes or fails. Things like the brakes are totally down to the tester's discression and you can do all the servicing (change the oil, spark plugs etc) yourself with only basic tools.

And they seem to get away with it as well! If a spark tried telling every customer they need a consumer unit change because theirs isn't 17th edition or they need a rewire because their house wasn't wired in harmonised colours, they'd get 'named and shamed' quicker than you could say "Matt Alright, BBC Rogue Traders".