What Rates should I be getting as a subby

[John Matrix]

Hello everyone I’ve recently become self Employed and it’s going ok. I’ve had a couple of weeks in a Job earning £21 an hour. I’m speaking to people on a regular basis and the question of what rate are you looking for always comes up. I’m just after some feedback on what rates to ask for. I have been getting £21 but I realise this is a top end rate in my area if the country. I don’t wana price my self out by asking for this much money all the time. So Is this too much? Is £21 about right? Or should I be asking for less to make sure I get the work.
Any feedback would be good. I obviously have a lot to learn.

 

[John Matrix]

Interesting question as rates of pay do seem to vary tremendously up and down the country. Here in North Kent you might expect to get between £12 to £15 pounds per hour...saw one in a recruitment company for £16.50 for work at London outskirts yesterday so it depends where you are . I would advise never to get too high as customers will drop you like a hot cake...and you never get the work back. Hope this is of some use to yoy .

Those rates your talking about are shocking. Seriously hope your not going to work for those rates.

 

[Vortigern]

It is a difficult one as it is so variable as you have experienced in fact. On a short job say yesterday fault finding on a ring I charged £35 per hour sorted it in three hours out the door with the cash. On jobs I do for a regular supplier of work £200 per day. On commercial £300 per day. When someone looks like they have a problem paying a tenner will do for an hours work. Just depends on the client, length of work, domestic or commercial, one off or regular, short term or long term, complexity and simplicity and so on. I feel my way with each client. Bottom line it is whatever the market will bear. £21 per hour is not bad for northerly climes from what I hear. £25 per hour would be better. I think it is all down to what will get you out of bed each day, if is not enough, let the next man take the work. From what I see there is loads of work out there/here.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

It is a difficult one as it is so variable as you have experienced in fact. On a short job say yesterday fault finding on a ring I charged £35 per hour sorted it in three hours out the door with the cash. On jobs I do for a regular supplier of work £200 per day. On commercial £300 per day. When someone looks like they have a problem paying a tenner will do for an hours work. Just depends on the client, length of work, domestic or commercial, one off or regular, short term or long term, complexity and simplicity and so on. I feel my way with each client. Bottom line it is whatever the market will bear. £21 per hour is not bad for northerly climes from what I hear. £25 per hour would be better. I think it is all down to what will get you out of bed each day, if is not enough, let the next man take the work. From what I see there is loads of work out there/here.

There are so many variables as @Vortigern has stated, Bristol like Bath has areas of great wealth where people wouldnt think twice of paying £50 per hour and not even question it. Yet 100m down the road somebody would struggle to pay £20 per hour for the same job. When sub contracting you are at the mercy of the people hiring, if self employed then you have much greater earning potential. like @Vortigern I can earn £200 per day domestic no problems and often earn between £250-300.00. without working my backside off. Commercial work has fallen off a cliff in Bath but Domestic is booming. there is no hard and fast rule but I call it postcode pricing!! charge what the market can take whilst ensuring it is enough for you to earn a good living you are comfortable with. the times you might do something a bit cheaper due to the customers circumstances is usually off set by the times the rich russian customers call and pay in £50s and nothing but £50s!! the bill is always rounded up to the next £50 mark! I think of it as karma do a good deed then it all balances out in the end.

 

[Brian Taylor]

Those rates your talking about are shocking. Seriously hope your not going to work for those rates.

Those rates your talking about are shocking. Seriously hope your not going to work for those rates.

Yes I and many others work for those rates....it's what s on offer.As a matter of interest I've just finished adding up my invoices and outgoings for the the year and am willing to share the figures so as to help anyone thinking of starting out.

 

[Mike Johnson]

I have posted this before, I would not get out of bed for under £50/hour.

 

[DPG]

I have posted this before, I would not get out of bed for under £50/hour.

Go back to sleep Mike.

 

[James]

I have posted this before, I would not get out of bed for under £50/hour.

I know a girl who won't get in bed for less than £200 per hour.

 

[Dave OCD]

He must get bedsores.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Perhaps that's why I am retired and have a place in France as well as the UK, I never undersold myself and mostly worked only, on average fifteen days a month, so who had it wrong?

 

[casperLennon]

But working half the month for twice the money is exactly the same

 

[Mike Johnson]

Now let me see, fifteen days of free time playing Golf vs fifteen days of driving up the motorway and working, does not seem the same to me.

 

[HappyHippyDad]

Now let me see, fifteen days of free time playing Golf vs fifteen days of driving up the motorway and working, does not seem the same to me.

But now you spend most of your time on here, chatting about electrics ;-)

 

[Mike Johnson]

Only in between rounds.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Which begs a question , how ? Much should a Self deployed electricIan be charging for an hours / days work ..?

£50 ph £400 per day ?

2000£ per week ?

 

[Zerax]

This is one of those "how long is a piece of string?" questions.

Basically... you can charge what you want... but;
If you quote too much, you might not get the job and die from starvation as you're not working.
If you quote too little, you might win every job you quote for and die young from exhaustion.

The trick is to find the middle ground... where you're getting a good level of work at a sensible rate. What this level is depends on a raft of things... geographic location, reputation, type of work, if it's specialist work, quality of work, speed of work, if you can work on a Sat, how clean you leave the job, charm etc etc... all sorts of things...