why i never charge a day rate unless ripping up a floor

[jonnyc]

no .the point i am making is that natural stone can vary 5mm but i dont give a hoot,
we solid bed every piece . any fixer that expects even stone thickness and thinkdks he can just notch should stick to ceramics

 

[CJ]

Ripping off old tiles floor & wall is always an unknown..........so that HAS to be on day rate. So I tell customers just that........it could take a day......or a week.

 

[Ian]

no .the point i am making is that natural stone can vary 5mm but i dont give a hoot,
we solid bed every piece . any fixer that expects even stone thickness and thinkdks he can just notch should stick to ceramics

Gotcha, I agree, I like the variation that comes with fixing stone. A good point to be made here in relation to the pricing is, check your material before quoting. Another thing that comes with experience.

 

[Spud]

Jonny many years ago I worked for a marble fixer we fitted all types of marble , granite and limestone, when the company he subbed the work from we're looking for stone fixers they would advertise in the evening standard the advert would always say, marble fixers, stone masons and mason paviours req. ceramic tilers need not apply. The boss of the company did not consider tilers to have the knowledge or ability to fix stone correctly
It was classed as 2 completely separate trades back then but these days I think there is a massive cross over between them with the large format porcelain and natural stone products being sold in the same outlets these days

 

[Peter]

Never given an unlimited 'day rate' where I don't know how long it'll take. Would look very bad imo saying "I'm *** a day but I'm not sure how long it'll take". Usually when pricing a job I will measure up and work out how long it'll take vs the meters, and give a finished price. Usually the meterage and dayrate works out about the same, apart from on big floors where I can always pull in a better price compared to a bathroom. If there are unknown factors, I will give a best case and worse case scenario price eg, standard tile removal only in a bathroom and complete reboard. Customers are always fine with this as they know their parameters, and if I make a balls of pricing it then I will take the hit myself.

Still get caught out the odd time but in 95% of jobs I will be able to tell how long it'll take me and if I finish before that then it's a bonus. To be honest I don't like giving my 'daily rate' to customers as they may think it's too high for a lowly tradesman, a fixed all in price for labour and a separate price for materials seems to work best.

I have a base line and as long as I meet that every week I'm happy. Eg, had 120m in a house last week. Had given the same price per meter for bathrooms and floor. They changed the tile for the bathrooms to a 8x4 ceramic (showers only and 600x300 floor tile) and we were running at a bit of a loss due to the slowness of fixing the wall tiles. Wasn't worried as the 90m very flat floor downstairs would swing it back again. I could have been grumpy and told him we needed more money for the walls but there's no point being greedy, as at the end of the day there was still a good wage in the job overall.

 

[charlie1]

I don't see a problem charging a day rate as long as you tell the customer how many days it 'should' take you... Then if it drags on longer then your either incompetent or you have not taken everything in to consideration before start of job, neither should be funded by the customer

 

[Andy Allen]

I never give a day rate because I like to come and go as I please. Don't get me wrong i put in a good shift but if I want to finish at 3pm then I can as it's costing the customer no more and no less. On a day rate you would be obligated to work a full day or the customer wouldn't be to happy. .

 

[jonnyc]

I don't see a problem charging a day rate as long as you tell the customer how many days it 'should' take you... Then if it drags on longer then your either incompetent or you have not taken everything in to consideration before start of job, neither should be funded by the customer

then thus is a price charlie not a day rate!!

 

[Andy Allen]

Spot on jonny a day rate is x amount of pounds per day till jobs finished. Telling a customer it's x amount of pounds per day and it should take 5 days is a price. Cause you try getting more than 5 days money out of them.....lol

 

[jonnyc]

Have you had an experience of this today Jonny? Did one of your fixers want a day rate as the job was awkward? Or is this just a general thing?

no bri my guys are employees .i was just thinking about the number of times stone suppliers tell me a tiler has been on the phone saying the tiles arent same thickness and therefore no good and will take them more time to fix. these are the type of fixers who muck the jobs up and then i have to go round and see client for stone company .i see plenty of jobs done by rogue stone fixers!!