Going rates

[Internet Know How]

Hi All,

 

What the going day rates for plumbers in north west if you are coming in self employed on a job, and do you price a job up based on you day rate x the number of days you think are in the job. Seeing some very different ranges out there for similar jobs.

 

Cheers

 

C

[nod]

A self employed plumber will want a minimum of 25-350 per day 

Most will base there price on how busy they are 

[ProDave]

Didn't we have a thread on this recently?

[nod]

I think the majority of topics come up continually 

 

[PeterW]

4 hours ago, Internet Know How said:

Hi All,

 

What the going day rates for plumbers in north west if you are coming in self employed on a job, and do you price a job up based on you day rate x the number of days you think are in the job. Seeing some very different ranges out there for similar jobs.

 

Cheers

 

C

depends what you call “similar jobs”..? Devil is in the details and some small jobs can be an utter nightmare and need some proper planning and pipe work runs that at first sight look easy. Couple of itemised estimates will help as you can at least see what’s included. 
 

 

[Marvin]

8 hours ago, nod said:

I think the majority of topics come up continually 

 

Yes. I've had started producing scripted answers which I hope will be comprehensive enough and yet help.

 

We should employ an AI to sort the basics....

Edited March 24, 2023 by Marvin
further thought

[ProDave]

Here you go, have a read of this thread.  It explains why a tradesman charging £200 per day is not a rich man, and other thoughts on the matter.

 

 

[Internet Know How]

11 hours ago, PeterW said:

depends what you call “similar jobs”..? Devil is in the details and some small jobs can be an utter nightmare and need some proper planning and pipe work runs that at first sight look easy. Couple of itemised estimates will help as you can at least see what’s included. 
 

 

Well yeah but I mean you can go out there an get a quote off 4 different people for the exact same job and there can be 100% difference in the price. Also people do tend to quote much higher prices if they are quoting against a more expensive property.

[Internet Know How]

3 hours ago, ProDave said:

Here you go, have a read of this thread.  It explains why a tradesman charging £200 per day is not a rich man, and other thoughts on the matter.

 

 

Good read that thanks

[SteamyTea]

In the UK we tend to have quite low barriers to entry to set up a business. 

Apart from a few technical jobs, there are no barriers i.e. anyone can be a computer engineer, or gardener.

We do tend to have high business running costs i.e. vehicles, premises, insurances.

I cannot comment if customers have high expectations, I suspect they tend to be the same globally.

What we do have a lot of in our trades, is qualification inflation.

This is where the seemingly high prices charged come from.

I pass a lot of vans with 'engineer' written on them.

If you want pipes fitted, get a technician, if you want the heating system designed, get a thermodynamisists to design it. Not the other way around. That will lead to problems.

[SimonD]

29 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

I pass a lot of vans with 'engineer' written on them.

 

Engineer is quite a confusing term for a lot of people, but its formal definition from the Cambridge English dictionary does include:

 

1. a person whose job is to design or build machines, engines, or electrical equipment, or things such as roads, railways, or bridges, using scientific principles:

- a civil engineer

- a mechanical/structural engineer

- a software engineer

 

2. a person whose job is to repair or control machines, engines, or electrical equipment:

- a computer engineer

- The engineer is coming to repair our phone tomorrow morning.

 

So heating or gas engineer, for example, could technically be correct. I personally get miffed by design engineers who somehow believe they're above the engineers that work with their hands. I remember when I was taught how to use metal lathes and mills and my teacher was the head of apprenticeship programme at the AWE. He used to get looked down upon because of his dirty dungarees, until those very same engineers had a problem and were told by the senior design engineers to ask him for help to solve problems - the things he could design and make were incredible. They used to call him a technician....

 

29 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

heating system designed, get a thermodynamisists to design it.

 

Probably a little overkill, but I'm not sure I'd let a thermodynamicist anywhere near my heating system......much like how I wouldn't let a physicist anywhere near the design and building of my house.😉

Edited March 24, 2023 by SimonD

[SteamyTea]

9 minutes ago, SimonD said:

could technically be correct

Not in a lot if countries where the profession is protected.

I started my engineering career as an apprentice, got my technicians certificate as it was called then (production engineering), then studied proper engineering (HND in Automotive Engineering), then a couple of years evening classes to upgrade it to a proper Degree.

Then, many years later did two more Degrees (Renewable Energy and Environmental  Science).

I don't call myself an Environmental Engineer as that gets confused with the person that cleans the bogs in a cafe.

A bog cleaner has probably contributed more to general healthiness than I have.

 

I don't know why you would not get a thermodynamisist to design your heating, or a physicist to design the structure of a home.

Are you getting engineering design and layout confused?

[SimonD]

10 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Are you getting engineering design and layout confused?

 

I doubt it.

 

11 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

then studied proper engineering

 

That's exactly what I meant in my post 😁 I studied 'proper' engineering at degree level too; aerospace engineering. I was drawn to aerospace engineering because I'd been influenced by members of a gliding club I used to fly at where they built their own planes, then got turned off aerospace engineering because it was so much about mathematical modelling and it just didn't inspire me, so I changed paths. I also worked at what used to be Foster Wheeler for about 5 years. I tend to think that a proper engineer includes those who can make, build and work on the stuff they're designing.

[SteamyTea]

31 minutes ago, SimonD said:

I tend to think that a proper engineer includes those who can make, build and work on the stuff they're designing

I think this is part of the misunderstanding.

There is ability, intelligence, knowledge and qualifications.

There is usually a decent balance, but we remember the ones that are unbalanced.