Small Works Price

[craig1000]

2 t&e's poke through wall from kitchen each in different place spurred from separate sockets floating in living room, sockets connected.
Customer would like them trunked down the wall along skirting in each case as far as cable length will allow, approx 3 foot per cable!
To include testing & minor works cert!
not much probs an hours work plus testing & form filling etc on top then travel!
Not trying to be expensive but at the same time if i charge just my hour there can be ripping myself off!
Not used to pricing for small items like this?
Any ideas?
What would an fair hourly rate be in the south west, per day or per hour excluding VAT?

 

[Guitarist]

I normally charge £50 for a small job up to an hour to cover travelling and fuel, then £35 per hour after that. Different if a full day. Any less than that and you may as well stay at home.
I have charged less for some people but don't make a habit of it.

 

[HandySparks]

I always charge travel time to and from the job at my standard hourly rate. So, for 1 hour on site, 15 minutes travel each way adds 50% to the total job labour charge. If there's paperwork to do at home I'd try adding that, but it's less straightforward to explain to the customer. If it's a notifiable job, then a standard charge for notifying, including paperwork would be reasonable. I've only had one potential customer quibble about paying travelling time. Just let them know up-front when they enquire or you quote/estimate.

 

[Tonkatoy27]

I'm in the SW and do mostly small domestic jobs. I work on about £24 per hour plus tax+overheads+VAT which comes out at £36 per hour including travelling. Small jobs are unfortunatly more expensive than large jobs because they usually require the same amount of documentation and paperwork as a much larger job. The result is that old Mrs Jones down the road thinks she's getting ripped off. You're also being compared against non qualified/non registered sparkies. I'm also very aware that a lot of sparks in my area arn't VAT registered so have a 20% advantage straight away. (They ususlly ask the customer to buy materials) I would of thought you are looking at charging 1.5hrs total. Plus notification charge (if it applies) and materials. Hope this helps.

 

[Octopus]

I'd recommend a first hour price of say £40 - £50 then a per hour rate of £20 - £30. Only you know what your area will stand and what your costs are.


Not sure about adding or "showing" travelling costs as a lot of people think that they shouldn't pay for it, unless they are asking you to travel out of your "patch" specially for them. Costs for notification too make sense and I do show them as an extra cost.

Hope this helps

 

[craig1000]

Just a quick one lads, for a job you expect to complete within a 8 hour or standard day for yourself 9 or 10 hours ect do you then charge your hourly rate * those hours or would you charge at a discount for a full days work? so for example 8 * 36 = ££288.00 including VAT
Would tyou use this meathod when calculating a multiple day job etc & so on & so forth when going into fixed price quotations for larger jobs upto & including a rewire. So hourley rate * hour per day expected to work * days expected to complete job + materials?
Cheers in advance

 

[Taylortwocities]

A full days work on one site will always cost the punter less than multiple hourly rates.

Per the above, you've got travelling between sites and multiple lots of paperwork. Also you'll never fill your day with several little jobs you've got loading and unloading tools, general chatting. Usually a "while you are here, could you look at this".

Also (unless you are trousering cash) for each job paid by cheque you'll need an invoice to back it up though your books and a trip to the bank (bless em) to pay in that cheque.
Then time to notify your job with your friendly Pee scam. IMO it all adds up to make £50 for the first hour a reasonable starting point.

PS Have a chat with a friendly plumber if you are worried by charging money like this. Its scary.

 

[craig1000]

Cheers bud what would you say then is a fair day rate for a day spent in one place? ;-)

 

[sythai]

Just a quick one lads, for a job you expect to complete within a 8 hour or standard day for yourself 9 or 10 hours ect do you then charge your hourly rate * those hours or would you charge at a discount for a full days work? so for example 8 * 36 = ££288.00 including VAT
Would tyou use this meathod when calculating a multiple day job etc & so on & so forth when going into fixed price quotations for larger jobs upto & including a rewire. So hourley rate * hour per day expected to work * days expected to complete job + materials?
Cheers in advance

I always try to work on a price per point basis / and it works out much better than hourly rate once you have it sussed (for me anyway.) Also easier price and think it is more clear cut for the customer rather than having a separate break down of mats + labour.

I limit hourly rate to fault finding or minor works where it isnt worth driving there to price before hand.

If it is to be a set rate, then for local works within half hour drive each way = £40 for up to one hour, £30 hour following hours rounded up to nearest half hour + mats +vat. Never had a prob with that so far....:shades_smile:

 

[Guitarist]

Cheers bud what would you say then is a fair day rate for a day spent in one place? ;-)

A lot of people charge £200 for the day, tho a "day" is different in everyone's eyes...
I know one guy who starts at 8 and runs through till 5. Another turns up around 9, has an hour for lunch and leaves around 4. Both charge £200

 

[Taylortwocities]

Another turns up around 9, has an hour for lunch and leaves around 4.

Have you been following me around? I thought it was HMRC looking for a comedian.