What is your hourly rate as a self employed electrician?

[HappyHippyDad]

I do like chatting about prices!

I thought I would start a poll to see 'roughly' what the average hourly rate is for self employed electricians?

To keep it as simple as possible, forget about any 'first hour' rate you may or may not charge and just go for your rate after that.

I realise this isn't going to cover lots and lots of scenarios (quotes, domestic, commercial, location etc etc), but it's just for a bit of amusement and perhaps along the way we'll gain a very rough idea of an electrician's hourly rate.

It will be anonymous so please do answer honestly.

 

[littlespark]

I suppose it all depends on what you’re happy with, and can charge up there?

Like you said, you’ll likely get return business from him and he’ll no doubt recommend you to others.

I went up a bit to £40. New customer, doesn’t know what I was previously, and I can introduce the 40 to other jobs as I go.

 

[Dustydazzler]

I went up a bit to £40. New customer, doesn’t know what I was previously, and I can introduce the 40 to other jobs as I go.

I think £40-50 per hour is pretty much a 'standard' pricing for trades especially in the SE , possibly £60-90 the nearer you approach London

£I think £40-50 per hour is pretty much a 'standard' pricing for trades especially in the SE , possibly £60-90 the nearer you approach Londo

In Surrey £50 per hour is an 'easy sell' to old and new customers in my area , plumbers , sparks , gardeners , painters will all quote this kind of hourly figure. Infact if you quoted less, imo people would get suspicious that you are 'too cheap' and not very good

 

[ipf]

I wouldn’t budge on the price. Told him I’m running a business, not a charity.

NICEIC are part of a charity.........they don't hold back, price wise.

 

[pirate]

I only do small jobs, so it's either £50, or £100 depending on the time involved. If it's an all-day job it's £50/hour...but charity jobs are FOC for lamp replacement or very minor fixes. Most of those jobs the clients make a donation to the charity. I'm in a different position to most as I don't have to work daily, but I get no complaints if I charge £100 to put in a new socket etc. The folks round here are well-off.

 

[catdog1121]

Interesting.

Someone phoned me last night, RCD had tripped. Fridge and boiler off.
I said I couldn’t come out on a Sunday evening… had had a drink with my dinner, but I’d come Monday morning after putting off my planned job.

When I got there, it was obvious to see it was their rather large light fitting that had caused the problem… Brass thing with loads of arms, and a lamp holder on the ends…

Took it down, made the cables safe as they said they would buy a new fitting, and they could do without a ceiling light. RCD reset fine.

The customer himself last night thought one of the arms looked a bit crooked, so tried to turn it himself….. which cut through the inner insulation of the flex which was showing at the top of the fitting…. Wish I’d taken a photo now.


Which brings me to a dilemma.
Do I charge my usual 35 an hour, which covers my travelling there and back, or up it to 50…. As it was putting off another job this morning?
I will be asked back to put up the new fitting, no doubt.

So I do a strange thing which I have not seen people do, I charge for normal hours at least £35 per hour but have a minimum charger of £60, so if I am there 10mins its £60, if I am there 2hrs its £70, rather than a higher first hour rate. If I am there only 10mins then I normally say ill knock it down to £50 which customer tend to like...

Roofers seem to be charging around £80 to fix one roof times, they seem to be just sticking them back on with some kind of adhesive in a tube... My neighbour had to call out someone to clear their drains, £120+VAT took the guy less than an hour..

I find people seem to recognise a minimum fee better than a higher first hour fee, don't know why but it works for me..

 

[JBW175]

NICEIC are part of a charity.........they don't hold back, price wise.

I’m with NAPIT; and nor do they…

 

[LukeD]

So I do a strange thing which I have not seen people do, I charge for normal hours at least £35 per hour but have a minimum charger of £60, so if I am there 10mins its £60, if I am there 2hrs its £70, rather than a higher first hour rate. If I am there only 10mins then I normally say ill knock it down to £50 which customer tend to like...

Roofers seem to be charging around £80 to fix one roof times, they seem to be just sticking them back on with some kind of adhesive in a tube... My neighbour had to call out someone to clear their drains, £120+VAT took the guy less than an hour..

I find people seem to recognise a minimum fee better than a higher first hour fee, don't know why but it works for me..

The initial call out charge must be made .Its NOT the time on the Job .Its making yourself available for that time . I have once had a car pick me up as I was on the wrong side of 1 x bottle of wine. But I still got stuck in and helped the customer resolve a crisis at 2 am . he paid me £250 cash for 3 hours work and we have always been cool about things .

 

[HappyHippyDad]

I went up a bit to £40. New customer, doesn’t know what I was previously, and I can introduce the 40 to other jobs as I go.

So you moan about my silly thread, then up your wages straight after

 

[littlespark]

Not me moaning….

Anyhoo… about time my price went up… covers the diesel going up.

 

[Markyd]

I also found that by upping the hourly rate.you get better customers and less wasters

 

[Dustydazzler]

I also found that by upping the hourly rate.you get better customers and less wasters

As i like to be called ' reassuringly expensive'

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

£50 per hour or £350 for a full day 8hrs

8 hrs!! Im self employed. Dont leave until 8am. Go to suppliers, maybe a quote. Arrive on job 9/9.30 pack up at 4 if not before .

 

[scootknew]

£50 callout minimum 1st hour and go from there, more if job entails more expertise, long travel, fault finding if 2 or 3 electricans already been there., difficult customer lol

 

[HappyHippyDad]

Well, I'm a bit surprised by the results so far, not hugely, but a bit.

I thought I would be closer to the top at £45 p/hour, but there are a significant amount of people chargering higher than that.

Again, I realise this is an extremely inaccurate poll, missing out many, many factors, but it does perhaps give an indication.

So far there are 40 responders, based on that we have the following averages.

Mean average hourly rate = £41.40 - £45.40 (based on all the £60+ rates being exactly £60, so actual average is going to be a little higher)

Modal average hourly rate = £35 - £39

Median average hourly rate = £40 - £44.

 

[Dustydazzler]

As I said , I think £50 per hour would be pretty much the national average if you rang any self deployed , plumber , sparks , painter or tiler etc. Which on average would be around the £350 per day mark.

It is expensive being self employed , and you get no holiday pay and no pay if you are laid up with an injury or illness

My wife is free lance in the fitness and training industry and their rates are similar to ours yet they have significantly lower over heads then trades do