We are all in the wrong job!

[Sean Kelly]

Was working in a house yesterday when the owner was having a loft ladder installed. The ladder man said that the current loft hatch was too small so he would have to make the hole bigger to accommodate the new ladder. The cost was an extra £149 to make the loft opening bigger.

It took the bloke about 35mins to saw out a bigger hole and to line the opening with architrave.

I was absolutely amazed at the speed of this man. A great finish too. It was his fourth job that day!

So basically this man can charge £149 for less than an hours work (inc wood, silicone, nails). That’s 10 times my hourly rate! I’m in the wrong job!

So that got me thinking, what other jobs are out there that you are only in a customers home for about 2 hours, but charge them a days rate?

 

[Sean fsy]

electrician, plumber take your pick

 

[Andy Allen]

dyno-con.......they charged my neighbour £120 to unblock his drain, and were there for all of 10 mins.

 

[SandyFloor]

My brother was tiling an ensuite last year an a guy appeared from a bedroom company to do the fitted wardrobes on one wall 3.5 mtrs long. They were made of laminate boards and fittings and, apart from the doors and drawers, all the fabrication was done on site. He was there 2 days working with basic tools and the bill was £6500. The customer was delighted.

 

[macten]

Soffits and fascias. Done a couple with a mate and will be doing more this year.
We bought a tower at scrap value and can reach most properties now. The Fein and rotozip makes the tricky bits a breeze.
With the extortionate money companies charge you can undercut by as much as a grand
and still make £800 in a day. He's just quit his job to do it full time and I'm going on a
flat roof course with him (we did mine last month).
So if that takes off I will be hanging up my trowels but maybe keep my plumbers hat on.

 

[Sean Kelly]

I could do 1 wardrobe a month or 10 wardrobes in a month (and have the rest of the year off!). I am now off to find the wardrobe forum!

 

[user123]

Rob's online on here right now and as he might think what I'm thinking but I'm not daring to say I'll go away and come back later to see if he dared.... :lol:

 

[Colour Republic]

[FONT=&amp]Wardrobes[/FONT]
There are a few companies that charge crazy prices like Moben/Sharps/Dolphin but keep in mind that often custom built bedroom furniture may have been made to order (i.e sizes of doors) which can be an expensive process. Not least the design of it offsite and producing drawings. There are good rates achievable for installation but the work that goes in to it is not always visible.

[FONT=&amp]Soffits and Facias[/FONT]
Again some companies do charge a lot for S&F. This is because when the double glazing firms could no longer command huge profits from windows and doors they moved in to S&F and applied the huge mark ups to the industry. The materials are dirt cheap so yes it's easy to undercut the Double Glazers but there are plenty of builders offering S&F at normal rates, it just depends where the customer is looking and who they are comparing your price with.

It all comes back to what a customer perceives the value of something to be. Like the loft ladder. They don't see it as Materials+Labour=Cost they see as Convenience=Cost so say the ladder was £150 and installation £150, they are quite happy to pay £300 to gain easy access to the loft, the fact it was made bigger also helps because they now see the loft as a more useable space with being able to store larger items up there. So they now feel the size of their house has increased and all for £300? Bargain!

 

[Colour Republic]

Rob's online on here right now and as he might think what I'm thinking but I'm not daring to say I'll go away and come back later to see if he dared.... :lol:

What did you think I was going to say! :lol:

 

[user123]

What did you think I was going to say! :lol:

I'm not saying.... :lol: don't worry about it, mysteries are good... :lol:

 

[Colour Republic]

You thought I was gonna say stick to your own bloody trades didn't you :lol:

 

[russ1980]

my father in law fits kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms and makes good money.All the bedroom furniture and kitchen units come ready made from the company he uses.From what i can remember when he prices a job he charges £300 a day for himself and £100 for a labourer(but i know for fact he does'nt pay them that).He also makes on the cost of the tilers and any other trades he gets in.A kitchen from start to finish takes him about a week in total including tiling and the average bedroom about half aday.Even at these prices he manages to undercut the bigger companys my a couple of thousand he's never out of work and most of his work comes from recommends.I think this is were tilers struggle because theres not really many bigger companys to compete against where you can seriously undercut others.Just my opinion

 

[doug boardley]

What did you think I was going to say! :lol:

probs about coming out of the wardrobe/closet??

 

[Colour Republic]

probs about coming out of the wardrobe/closet??

You've just gone in the book Doug:incazzato:

 

[DHTiling]

oops doug... not the book..:lol:

 

[user123]

:lol: :lol: you guys are funny... :lol:

 

[doug boardley]

You've just gone in the book Doug:incazzato:

lol, should I act just a little bit frightened:lol:

 

[user123]

:lol: ..... who needs TV... :lol: