Trades daily rates
Discussion
jimwilli said:
Mick Dastardly said:
Last year I set 2 of my sons up in a non-skilled trade.
They currently earn c.£180 a day each after expenses, and by the end of the year this will be c.£250 a day. After that, if they continue to reinvest in their business and employ additional staff, their earnings will increase exponentially without them doing any more work.
90% of their work is repeat business, they never have to go out and find new customers, and their competitors never attempt to steal their customers.(and vice versa)
Anyone guess what the business is?
Window cleaning?They currently earn c.£180 a day each after expenses, and by the end of the year this will be c.£250 a day. After that, if they continue to reinvest in their business and employ additional staff, their earnings will increase exponentially without them doing any more work.
90% of their work is repeat business, they never have to go out and find new customers, and their competitors never attempt to steal their customers.(and vice versa)
Anyone guess what the business is?
Lord Marylebone said:
I'm not a tradesmen, and I never have been, but I fully understand the reasons why they charge what they charge.
Me too, but equally I understand why someone earning £80 a day is less than happy about paying £250/day for a tradesman, especially when some of those jobs are DIY. I have been a chippy for 22 years now, I charge £25/h and work between 8-10h a day 5 days a week. By the time the business running costs have come out of it, it’s not bad but not fantastic.
I would say it’s only been the past few years where I would say I don’t have to really think too much about the job I’m doing so I guess I’m ‘there’ with my skills and experience.
Recently I got off the tools though and I’m now a contracts manager purely because the job was offered to me and I was daft not to give it a go.
Good quality tradespeople are in VERY short supply, I created myself a problem because now I need a good chippy to replace me! There is a still a lot of bad tradespeople out there and unfortunately their money has been dragged up by the good people getting good money.
I’m really struggling on getting another good all rounder/multi trade, carpenter and brick layer.
I would say it’s only been the past few years where I would say I don’t have to really think too much about the job I’m doing so I guess I’m ‘there’ with my skills and experience.
Recently I got off the tools though and I’m now a contracts manager purely because the job was offered to me and I was daft not to give it a go.
Good quality tradespeople are in VERY short supply, I created myself a problem because now I need a good chippy to replace me! There is a still a lot of bad tradespeople out there and unfortunately their money has been dragged up by the good people getting good money.
I’m really struggling on getting another good all rounder/multi trade, carpenter and brick layer.
Teddy Lop said:
jimwilli said:
Mick Dastardly said:
Last year I set 2 of my sons up in a non-skilled trade.
They currently earn c.£180 a day each after expenses, and by the end of the year this will be c.£250 a day. After that, if they continue to reinvest in their business and employ additional staff, their earnings will increase exponentially without them doing any more work.
90% of their work is repeat business, they never have to go out and find new customers, and their competitors never attempt to steal their customers.(and vice versa)
Anyone guess what the business is?
Window cleaning?They currently earn c.£180 a day each after expenses, and by the end of the year this will be c.£250 a day. After that, if they continue to reinvest in their business and employ additional staff, their earnings will increase exponentially without them doing any more work.
90% of their work is repeat business, they never have to go out and find new customers, and their competitors never attempt to steal their customers.(and vice versa)
Anyone guess what the business is?
Wagonwheel555 said:
Just had an electrician rewire our kitchen (it was back to brick already) and install it all on a new consumer unit in the garage. Rest of the house was left on the old consumer unit for now until we rewire all of that to the new board.
Came to £4500 inc VAT.
I roughly calculated materials to around £1500 which was probably generous and it took him 5 days.
Works out to around £600 per day.
He seemed to charge per item so a socket was £75 x as many as you want
Same for downlights, it was £60 per item.
Expecting the rewire for the rest to be about £5-£6k so around £10k all in.
I didn’t know this until after it was done but the electrician working for our builder doing our extension / refurb charged each point at £65 plus VAT. For things like downlights, where they’re just looped together, that’s absolutely insane.Came to £4500 inc VAT.
I roughly calculated materials to around £1500 which was probably generous and it took him 5 days.
Works out to around £600 per day.
He seemed to charge per item so a socket was £75 x as many as you want
Same for downlights, it was £60 per item.
Expecting the rewire for the rest to be about £5-£6k so around £10k all in.
And how on earth did your job take a week? Rewiring a stripped back room is an absolute dream of a job - it’s hard to imagine anything easier.
Electricians can be a funny lot- there is no "day rate" as such - just lots of smaller jobs done for a fixed price.
I needed a new consumer unit in the cellar. I purchased one off eBay for £45 quid brand new surplus to requirements.the loft company have their own electrician so I asked him how much he would do it for before the work starts. £650 quid labour only was the reply.
I ended up using an electrician my other builder uses and he did it for £275.00. he was here for no more than half the day.
I needed a new consumer unit in the cellar. I purchased one off eBay for £45 quid brand new surplus to requirements.the loft company have their own electrician so I asked him how much he would do it for before the work starts. £650 quid labour only was the reply.
I ended up using an electrician my other builder uses and he did it for £275.00. he was here for no more than half the day.
Square Leg said:
It’s certainly an eye opener.
Some people in this country (and on here..) have absolutely no clue.
One of our customers sold her (large) house with decent sized garden for £500k and the new owners kept us on (gardeners) but then got the hump because "I was told (by the previous owner) I get three of you for £40 for two hours". Really, £6.60 per hour each? This guy apparently used to be a headmaster. We haven't been back.Some people in this country (and on here..) have absolutely no clue.
Edited by Oakey on Sunday 2nd April 10:58
princeperch said:
Electricians can be a funny lot- there is no "day rate" as such - just lots of smaller jobs done for a fixed price.
I needed a new consumer unit in the cellar. I purchased one off eBay for £45 quid brand new surplus to requirements.the loft company have their own electrician so I asked him how much he would do it for before the work starts. £650 quid labour only was the reply.
I ended up using an electrician my other builder uses and he did it for £275.00. he was here for no more than half the day.
I'd I guess the loft conversion electricain did not want the job hence the high quote, just like a restaurant not wanting to cook the steak you purchased from Aildi’s reduced section to save you a few quid.I needed a new consumer unit in the cellar. I purchased one off eBay for £45 quid brand new surplus to requirements.the loft company have their own electrician so I asked him how much he would do it for before the work starts. £650 quid labour only was the reply.
I ended up using an electrician my other builder uses and he did it for £275.00. he was here for no more than half the day.
As for the second guy only being on site half a day, that's not really the point, if he had quoted half a days labour and run in to unforeseen issues and was still on site at 7pm would you be offering more money or telling him to suck it up as a price is a price.
jimwilli said:
Window cleaning?
Correct.As trades go it’s an absolutely brilliant business to go into.
It’s physical but not hard work (all their cleaning is done with the pole system), apart from startup costs and fuel there’s very little overhead, little bad debt and every extra van and employee you add brings an additional 50k nett profit to your business.
My sons plan is to have 4 more vans on the road within 5 years, which will mean they’ll nett 200-250k profit a year.
505diff said:
I'd I guess the loft conversion electricain did not want the job hence the high quote, just like a restaurant not wanting to cook the steak you purchased from Aildi’s reduced section to save you a few quid.
As for the second guy only being on site half a day, that's not really the point, if he had quoted half a days labour and run in to unforeseen issues and was still on site at 7pm would you be offering more money or telling him to suck it up as a price is a price.
I know the electrician well as he's done work for me in the past. The price he quoted is the standard fixed price quote he has for that specific job (I double checked it with the loft company and they confirmed it was his standard price). He also didn't mind me supplying the board as long as I could prove it was new and unused.As for the second guy only being on site half a day, that's not really the point, if he had quoted half a days labour and run in to unforeseen issues and was still on site at 7pm would you be offering more money or telling him to suck it up as a price is a price.
Mick Dastardly said:
jimwilli said:
Window cleaning?
Correct.As trades go it’s an absolutely brilliant business to go into.
It’s physical but not hard work (all their cleaning is done with the pole system), apart from startup costs and fuel there’s very little overhead, little bad debt and every extra van and employee you add brings an additional 50k nett profit to your business.
My sons plan is to have 4 more vans on the road within 5 years, which will mean they’ll nett 200-250k profit a year.
Sheepshanks said:
How much do they typically charge? A local firm to us does this for £25 per house using two guys and I can see how they'd make a living but not much more. A few locals binned them off when they switched to using the pole system.
It depends entirely on the house, some are 7 quid and some 40, and everything in between, but the aim is to clean £2-300 each per day, which they always achieve.They also do fascias, roofs, patios and conservatories, which are all well priced extras.
Edited by Mick Dastardly on Sunday 2nd April 16:35
Mick Dastardly said:
It depends entirely on the house, some are 7 quid and some 40, and everything in between, but the aim is to clean 2-300k each per day, which they always achieve.
They also do fascias, roofs, patios and conservatories, which are all well priced extras.
Jetwashing roofs. Are they They also do fascias, roofs, patios and conservatories, which are all well priced extras.
s?Also a window cleaner is not nor ever has been a trade. Never think that it is.
Mick Dastardly said:
jimwilli said:
Window cleaning?
Correct.As trades go it’s an absolutely brilliant business to go into.
It’s physical but not hard work (all their cleaning is done with the pole system), apart from startup costs and fuel there’s very little overhead, little bad debt and every extra van and employee you add brings an additional 50k nett profit to your business.
My sons plan is to have 4 more vans on the road within 5 years, which will mean they’ll nett 200-250k profit a year.
MYOB said:
This is daft. No way each van will bring in £50k profit to the business.
A hard working lad in a van will clean 300 quid a day.Minus £80 wages and £20 for fuel and insurance, that’s £200 profit a day.
I’ll let you do the rest of the maths.
A bloke my youngest used to work for has 12 vans and insisted his lads clean £350 a day, but they really had to graft hard to do that.
Mick Dastardly said:
A hard working lad in a van will clean 300 quid a day.
Minus £80 wages and £20 for fuel and insurance, that’s £200 profit a day.
I’ll let you do the rest of the maths.
A bloke my youngest used to work for has 12 vans and insisted his lads clean £350 a day, but they really had to graft hard to do that.
The cost of buying the vanMinus £80 wages and £20 for fuel and insurance, that’s £200 profit a day.
I’ll let you do the rest of the maths.
A bloke my youngest used to work for has 12 vans and insisted his lads clean £350 a day, but they really had to graft hard to do that.
The cost of maintaining the van
Depreciation of the van and equipment
Accounting
Sick pay
Holiday pay
Pension
National insurance
The water
Just to name a few
And if the guys are self employed, and they work for the same company each day HMRC will tell you they certainly aren't and need to contribute to the above.
Mick Dastardly said:
MYOB said:
This is daft. No way each van will bring in £50k profit to the business.
A hard working lad in a van will clean 300 quid a day.Minus £80 wages and £20 for fuel and insurance, that’s £200 profit a day.
I’ll let you do the rest of the maths.
A bloke my youngest used to work for has 12 vans and insisted his lads clean £350 a day, but they really had to graft hard to do that.
Taking a rate of £25 per unit they would need to clean say 13/14 houses every day and factoring driving between units/break time there is a 8/9 hr day, my windows are cleaned once every 6-8 weeks, so the client base must be in the hundreds
My window cleaner charges £12, 4 bed dormer bungalow. Takes him about 20 minutes. Seems good value to me, and a fair living for him if he plans his round to minimise travelling. He readily admits that it's "the easiest job in the world" if you have the right kit.
Plumbers and electricians making £50 to £80 an hour on small jobs (half a day of less) that go to plan seems fair too. Easy to come unstuck and spend a lot more time on a job if things go wrong - previous bodges, etc. Bit different if they are charging that hourly rate for a week or more.
£60 for a downlighter and £75 for a socket in a bare room is pushing it a bit, if doing multiple "small jobs" in one go. Again, different matter if it's just one or two at the same time.
When I had my kitchen diner gutted and re-done 8 years ago, I was happy to pay the builder £3250 for 4 weeks work. CeiIing down, stud wall, custom larder, floor tiles up and replaced, etc. I helped him when a task required 2 bodies, and did things like wiring, painting, tiling and grouting after he had finished for the day. I also handled ordering materials, planning, put the carcasses together, etc. Worked well, got what I wanted to a very good standard, and he got paid without having to worry about anything other than doing his work.
Plumbers and electricians making £50 to £80 an hour on small jobs (half a day of less) that go to plan seems fair too. Easy to come unstuck and spend a lot more time on a job if things go wrong - previous bodges, etc. Bit different if they are charging that hourly rate for a week or more.
£60 for a downlighter and £75 for a socket in a bare room is pushing it a bit, if doing multiple "small jobs" in one go. Again, different matter if it's just one or two at the same time.
When I had my kitchen diner gutted and re-done 8 years ago, I was happy to pay the builder £3250 for 4 weeks work. CeiIing down, stud wall, custom larder, floor tiles up and replaced, etc. I helped him when a task required 2 bodies, and did things like wiring, painting, tiling and grouting after he had finished for the day. I also handled ordering materials, planning, put the carcasses together, etc. Worked well, got what I wanted to a very good standard, and he got paid without having to worry about anything other than doing his work.
505diff said:
Mick Dastardly said:
A hard working lad in a van will clean 300 quid a day.
Minus £80 wages and £20 for fuel and insurance, that’s £200 profit a day.
I’ll let you do the rest of the maths.
A bloke my youngest used to work for has 12 vans and insisted his lads clean £350 a day, but they really had to graft hard to do that.
The cost of buying the vanMinus £80 wages and £20 for fuel and insurance, that’s £200 profit a day.
I’ll let you do the rest of the maths.
A bloke my youngest used to work for has 12 vans and insisted his lads clean £350 a day, but they really had to graft hard to do that.
The cost of maintaining the van
Depreciation of the van and equipment
Accounting
Sick pay
Holiday pay
Pension
National insurance
The water
Just to name a few
And if the guys are self employed, and they work for the same company each day HMRC will tell you they certainly aren't and need to contribute to the above.
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