Pros and cons of screwfix

[piggyitm]

Recently,I had a customer that said to me" if you can get the materials cheaper than I can get myself at screw fix,go ahead!" for 6 bathroom spots and a shower install
I said they would have to incur my premium charge of £17 PH if they supplied their own materials.
After agreeing,but then after a survey, I found their was no bonding(not even main) and advised upon a 17th board with 10mm bonding.They bought the board for £100 from screwfix and I had a shag end of 10mm in the shed.
The total bill for the job in hours was £255.00 with admin for cert.They got a mains change at the price of 3 hours labour.Some of you guys charge £350 just for the CU
I know i'm shorting myself but without dragging your heels and if the guys got the catologue what do you do??
I might be better with a job on the bins!

 

[miner69er]

i'm never happy for the customer to provide their own equipment. however some people are insistent, so i advise the correct parts ie. must be fire rated downlights etc. and make them aware that if any of the items are non-conforming i will have to charge £20 per hour for going back out to suppliers to replace what they have bought. and all items provided by themselves will not be covered by my 12 month warranty, this usually works as they don't want to pay any extra. also i use proteus consumer units for domestic properties, O.K they are not as good as hager but they are cheaper from CEF than going to screwfix and you only pay for the mcb's you want and not having 4 spares afterwards.

 

[flukey]

Recently,I had a customer that said to me" if you can get the materials cheaper than I can get myself at screw fix,go ahead!" for 6 bathroom spots and a shower install
I said they would have to incur my premium charge of £17 PH if they supplied their own materials.
After agreeing,but then after a survey, I found their was no bonding(not even main) and advised upon a 17th board with 10mm bonding.They bought the board for £100 from screwfix and I had a shag end of 10mm in the shed.
The total bill for the job in hours was £255.00 with admin for cert.They got a mains change at the price of 3 hours labour.Some of you guys charge £350 just for the CU
I know i'm shorting myself but without dragging your heels and if the guys got the catologue what do you do??
I might be better with a job on the bins!

stick to your price or move on, unless you havent got any other work

i havent as yet fitted any customer supplied cu`s and you are correct i also charge £350 for a cu change

 

[Amp David]

This is how I do it,
Materials supplied by the customer don't get any warranty from myself.
As said before, if anything is wrong or broken then either charge them an hourly rate to fix or don't fit it at all.
If they start being fussy then I tend to submit my quote and tell them that my price for the work. If they get someone else in to do it then so be it.

 

[kevyn]

Recently,I had a customer that said to me" if you can get the materials cheaper than I can get myself at screw fix,go ahead!" for 6 bathroom spots and a shower install
I said they would have to incur my premium charge of £17 PH if they supplied their own materials.
After agreeing,but then after a survey, I found their was no bonding(not even main) and advised upon a 17th board with 10mm bonding.They bought the board for £100 from screwfix and I had a shag end of 10mm in the shed.
The total bill for the job in hours was £255.00 with admin for cert.They got a mains change at the price of 3 hours labour.Some of you guys charge £350 just for the CU
I know i'm shorting myself but without dragging your heels and if the guys got the catologue what do you do??
I might be better with a job on the bins!

If customer provides their own materials they dont get any sort of warranty and get charged full rate if I have to go back to repair anything supplied.
Also if they are providing their own materials then add at least the mark up you would put onto your own material on top of their bill. This way you are not losing as much to screwfix and you would still be putting in a decent price.
At then end of the day there are still bills to pay!!!

 

[ian]

I hate customers supplying materials, if they do I tell them they wont get a warranty, and should the fail I will charge them to replace them with a minimum charge of 1Hour.

As long as they bought a decent C.U I would change it, but it would need to be one that I approved of.

Ian

 

[eddielarge]

Customers who want to supply are penny pinchers and not worth the time of day, walk away

 

[rocker]

It says in my contract that whatever is customer supplied is not under any guarantee. I also insist that they run by me what they are getting first. I think I've only done one job with 'new' stuff that was customer supplied. A lot of the time, people want to supply their own but when they see that it will cost them more if they supply and decide against it.

Your local wholesaler will be cheaper than screwfix. Shop around a few and choose one. After a while, once they know your face, you will get discount also. I don't know why everyone seems to think screwfix is good or cheap, I find their products to be very similar to B&Q rubbish, and I find them wildly expensive.

 

[DiscoDave]

for the same reasons I mostly use one wholesaler, They know me i know them, I occasionally put a list out to tender to other wholesalers just to make sure i'm not being had over. If you can supply it cheaper than me it's not worth fitting!

Likewise I've had a few people go on about prices, and wanting to supply their own gear. This is fine by me but all the usual terms apply with regard to no waranty, minimum charge for replacement etc etc. my only exception is consumer units, I will not customer supplied boards, unless it is what i have specd, i like hager and niglon, that's what i fit, I won't have someone slagging me off because the fuse box they supplied keeps tripping out or causing problems due to poor quality.

 

[lloyd1980]

stick to your price or move on, unless you havent got any other work

i havent as yet fitted any customer supplied cu`s and you are correct i also charge £350 for a cu change

I charge £ 190 a day labour + materials
CU change + test will take a day, I charge my RCBO's out at £ 25 a peice when I get them for £ 15 inc vat also I mark my tails and 16mm earth up, I prob make £ 260 for a days work fitting a CU

dont feel bad about marking up

everyone does it and you are providing a service

I would imagine you pay the £ 60 per hour the garage charges you come MOT time dont ya!!!

we are sparks and are top of the tree

 

[flukey]

I charge £ 190 a day labour + materials
CU change + test will take a day, I charge my RCBO's out at £ 25 a peice when I get them for £ 15 inc vat also I mark my tails and 16mm earth up, I prob make £ 260 for a days work fitting a CU

dont feel bad about marking up

everyone does it and you are providing a service

I would imagine you pay the £ 60 per hour the garage charges you come MOT time dont ya!!!

we are sparks and are top of the tree

believe me, i dont ever feel bad about marking up

 

[Phil]

i have never felt bad about marking on materials as it`s my time and fuel that goes around getting them. and also my time and fuel that will return if there is a problem within the guarantee period.

 

[lloyd1980]

how much have you all marked up by?
the most ive heard of is £ 300 per light when the T5 fittings were £ 100 each

what is your mark up?

I generaly do what I can

 

[Phil]

all depends on the job mate. i have never been to extortionate. i usually see what i can get the bits for through the discount the wholesalers give me and then i mark up to the big orange prices. if there is no mark up i have just put the labour onto the bill for the running around.

 

[piggyitm]

These all sound like good,yet reflexed responses What are the real counter measures. If the customers have catalogues as arms and the ungratefull,out of habit,who counter all final bills quoting so called whole sale prices,do you walk away?


On the side,my missus has just accused me of not really wanting to work for my self because I won't drop my prices to guarantee the work.Obviously she is envious of the sparks potential to earn,but also becomes annoyingly aware if i've over priced a job according by her own wages.She comes from a council house background and can't help her self but to drag me down to council estate prices?I try not to discriminate between customers but does anyone else look them up and down and make an instant judgment as to how much to charge? Cheers