what do you charge?

[amckay]

Was just wondering what people charge for pat testing and how they apply the charges.
Most companies I do work for expect 3 stickers on a laptop, 1 on the laptop itself, 1 on the transformer lead, and 1 on the kettle lead, thus being 3 appliances. Personally I only charge it as a single item and my rates differ depending on who it is that needs testing but range between 77p and £1.20 per item. Low yes, but I know of two national well known (not saying who) (yellow logo and purple logo lol) pat companies that charge 82 and 83p per item. So its all about competition. I did a stadium t'other month and I went down and explained to her how I apply my charges in comparison to other firms and told her I would charge £1.50 per item, even tho the other quotes were 70odd pence lower per item than mine she struggled to get her head around it. But I did the job give her the bill and she was surprised at how much she saved but on the face of it I looked more expensive.
Or should I be milking the customers?

 

[Silly Sausage]

Why would a laptop, powered by batteries @ELV, require testing?!?!

Only the mains lead & tranny need testing, in my book.

 

[GMES]

The thing with the big pat companys is that they probably employ some poor 17 year old gimp on minimum wage and get him to blast 250 stickers on to untested appliances. That is how they can afford to do it for 83p an item, 250x83p is the same as earning 200.00 a day.
And thats per tester remember these firms might have 6 lads out every day distributing stickers, it suddenly becomes very lucrative.

 

[Pete999]

What he said:50:

 

[dazza1981]

PAT
Agree with Glenn here. Its very competitive out there with the sticker brigade just slapping stickers on anything without even getting the PAT out the van.
You already know a rough price at what companies are charging so its up to you what your prepared to charge to get the work i suppose.
Personally whatever you charge i would also price in at least 20 cups of coffee and 10 redbulls to stay awake !!

 

[Octopus]

£2.50 for the first 49 items, minimum charge £50

I don't do much PAT testing, thankfully

 

[sparkdog]

£2.75 per item plus call out.

 

[amckay]

Why would a laptop, powered by batteries @ELV, require testing?!?!

Only the mains lead & tranny need testing, in my book.

Its the same in my book as well. I don't tend to argue with the clients requirements on that tho lol

 

[ohreally]

Hourly rate. Saying that, next to no plug top testing, majority is 3 phase and fixed appliances.

 

[7029 dave]

Pat testing must be the most boring job in the world, easy money suppose .

 

[ohreally]

Pat testing must be the most boring job in the world, easy money suppose .

Prisoners should be made to do it.

 

[IzzyS]

Pat testing must be the most boring job in the world, easy money suppose .

Easy, low cost transfer of liability from the customer to you more like.

 

[amckay]

Pat testing must be the most boring job in the world, easy money suppose .

Easy, low cost transfer of liability from the customer to you more like.

Only for the day of testing tho. Pat is just like an mot on a car, its only good while the cars in the garage!

 

[Jason Howard]

Per item???? i know only charging per hour.
And do test whatever client wants you to test. Client's satisfaction is very important.

 

[kenuk]

Why would a laptop, powered by batteries @ELV, require testing?!?!

Only the mains lead & tranny need testing, in my book.

Difficult one, but if you think about it its not always powered by batteries, its also powered by a psu, so a faulty psu could put dangerous voltage into a laptop, worse the inverter in many laptops runs at hundreds or thousands of volts, whilst it is unlikely (but maybe could) to kill someone in a fault condition in worse case scenario it could cause a jolt /injury.
To me, I would visually inspect a laptop, check no loose power supply connections (as they can be heavy amps on the socket) and no damage to the battery - as lion batteries are a major fire risk ( plus check no recalls on the battery etc) and make sure no damage to hinges/screen/casing that could cause any risk of inverter shocks or damage etc.
Possibly also check to see if the metal work is earthed in cases where the psu has a functional earth for EMC purposes also, I know its all way over and above IET practice but I prefer to err on side of safety.