Help pricing

[Octopus]

Slightly contradictory to your earlier post lol :rofl:

Absolutely - but yes its to suit me, and hence why I offered!

 

[hightower]

Absolutely - but yes its to suit me, and hence why I offered!

Yep, but working weekends part-time suits the likes of me and the OP. Don't think there's a right or wrong way to do it to be fair, so long as it suits the worker and the customer

 

[Octopus]

Yep, but working weekends part-time suits the likes of me and the OP. Don't think there's a right or wrong way to do it to be fair, so long as it suits the worker and the customer

What do you do monday to friday?

 

[hightower]

What do you do monday to friday?

IT buddy, brilliant job in terms of pay and perks, but my word it is SOUL DESTROYING!

 

[HandySparks]

... do you guys / girls have a set price list you use or do you just calculate it based on an hourly rate, if hourly rate what is this averagely?

I think that sorting out your standard hourly rate is the key. After that, you can then price particular jobs, whether estimating price and materials or a fixed price quote.

I don't think that a set price list really works. For example 'install new socket' can vary from a quick job adding a socket adjacent to an existing one in a plasterboard stud wall to a long job chasing in metres of cable and cutting a backbox into hard brick and then making good.

Your hourly rate will be a compromise between what you'd like to earn and what the local market will stand. Try and find out what other local sparks are charging (do any publish their rate?). I've recently been told by a customer (local accountant) that my current rate is on the low side, so I'll consider putting it up next year. In fact, she said that if my hourly rate (published on my website) was much lower, she'd be suspicious that I was 'too cheap' and therefore not likely to be any good! So pricing too low may be counter-productive. However, you do need to know your stuff and be acceptably quick.

For fault-finding and small repairs, you also need to carry a reasonable selection of materials on your van, so that you're not forever disappearing off to buy small items, which makes you look very inefficient.

 

[hightower]

A couple of lads I know work off an hourly rate on smaller jobs, and once 5 hours is reached it changes to a day rate (so for example, £30 an hour, capping at £150 for the day). Larger jobs like consumer units have prices that are set (excluding any unforeseen work), and rewires are a whole different kettle of fish altogether.

 

[tomspark93]

As far as I'm concerned if you can't earn enough Monday to Friday doing a typical 8 hour day the. It's not worth doing. Obviously occasionally you have to work a bit late but my old boss would happily work till 7 in an evening and on weekends. Worst of all he would drag me around with him hence why I left.

 

[markadams]

Martin,

I am interested in what your experience is in electrical work? If you are very knowledgeable/experienced then you should be charging a bit more. Otherwise are you sure you have the right knowledge/experience?

Mark

 

[Hellmooth]

Does anyone charge extra for weekends?

I don't charge extra for weekend work, unless it has been asked for by the customer, I have usually priced a job anyway so if it needs to go onto the weekend it is still the same, and half the time I work the weekend to allow my schedule for the following week to be followed!

 

[JM ELECTRICAL]

The best way to find out what to charge is to phone all the companies in your area pretending to be a customer n ask the how much do they charge per hour or ask for a rough estimate of specific jobs, thats what i done then once i had all the rates i just went with the average

 

[Leesparkykent]

Im not bothered what others charge. I know what my over heads are and how much I want to earn a day.

 

[JM ELECTRICAL]

Im not bothered what others charge. I know what my over heads are and how much I want to earn a day.

thats fair enough but if your struggling to decide what to charge or don't know where to start that is the best way to get a rough idea then go from there

 

[Octopus]

thats fair enough but if your struggling to decide what to charge or don't know where to start that is the best way to get a rough idea then go from there

Er no. You need to work out how much you want/need to earn after business expenses each day (and remember you need to earn enough for your tax and NI too). You could be surrounded by very busy poor fools!

 

[newtothis]

Pricing is as simple or complex as you want to make it.
Simple is Cost plus % profit you require.

The massive upside of that is you’ll never operate at a loss, provided you have the work.

The possible downsides of the above.

1) It doesn’t take the market into consideration.
I don’t understand know why you wouldn’t carry out some kind of competitor analysis in your initial market research, while not putting down those who don’t.

2) It doesn’t take the stage the business is at into consideration.
Eg start up. growth, maturity, or externals like whether you’re operating in a saturated market.

There is no ‘one method fits all’ approach.
You can’t compare a business that has to raise prices to control demand.
With a start up, eh ??

Question: from a customer perspective, why wouldn’t you seek out the business you perceive to have the lowest overheads, with the best customer services ?

 

[muzza1]

I always wonder about how people actually organise themselves when they have 1 full time job and want to do a job like sparking part time? A Sunday job goes off the rail and you have to work Monday - Friday - do you leave the client in the lurch for 5 days?

I also wonder about how many people actually want work done at the weekends only too? Most of my customers don't!

A manager (full time) at a supermarket registered with the niceic, not sure about that....