What materials is it reasonable to expect a contractor to supply

[Ken77]

Hi,

I just wanted to get other peoples thoughts on the following:

As a contractor what would you say can be reasonably expected of me in terms of providing parts before charging extra.
I.E - Would you expect all materials to be supplied by employer or do you provide some of smaller items such as screws, grommets, connecting blocks without additional charge.

Thanks

 

[Sintra]

The employer should supply all materials to his employees no matter how small.

 

[stidge]

Agree with Sintra mate, you are being employed for labour only !!!!

 

[Megavolt]

Depend sometime we just do a sort of swop. As long as your not out of pocket it fine

 

[Johnuk]

i would think they would get the stuff as it there job lol

 

[Guest111]

Its ok using your own bits, but once you start where do you stop?If I needed something on a job and happened to have one in my car then yes I would use it BUT it would get replaced at the next visit to the wholesaler,plugs and screws and the like I,ve never been too picky over as I usually ended up on the winning side with small stuff.You go and get terminal block or armoured cleats then they come in a pack,and if they.re not all used then they end up in your box so if say you get a bag of 50 cleats and only use 30 then if you happen to need half a dozen on another job then no big deal,the trick is to make sure that you don't end up actually paying out for stuff to do your job.Even tools,if it was something I would use anywhere then I 'd buy it but if it was specific to one job then the firm paid for it.

 

[Essexboy7]

If it means a half hour round trip to the stores on site and i happen to have plugs/screws/connecter blocks etc in my bag then i use them just because it makes my life easier but in return i would expect a few drill bits,a couple of rolls of phase tape and a packet of tie wraps coming home with me courtesy of the firm

 

[DNS1]

Different for me as I'm a one man band, but if I worked for someone I'd definitely expect everything to be paid for by them...

You need something, you buy it at the wholesalers and submit the receipts for expenses!

Gets complicated if you're working for someone but using your own tools, but that's just down to the wonderful taxman...

 

[Robert Turnbull]

you should supply all materials.

the other others have said sometimes there is give and take, but thats just usually because its quicker to do that.

If i work for someone and they wouldn't buy screws there would be nothing on the walls!!

Saying that the last person i worked for kept the screws in a locked draw and pretty much counted them out to me.

I vowed not to work for anyone again, and started my own business lol

 

[wildgoose]

Depends on what you agree beforehand. I work a system with a customer who has me in for odd days in his industrial unit.

I'm now authorised to order parts for my next visit against his account at CEF. When I do the job, I invoice for my daily labour charge plus a small amount of usually £10/ day, to cover any sundries I have used off the van.

Sundries= Fasteners, Terminals, Tape, Glue & pickup of parts from local CEF.

This system works well because I get recompensed for those little bits and pieces that soon add up.

 

[Guest111]

I once worked for a firm where the storeman was so tight you'd have thought that he was paying for the kit out of his own wages,went in to get 2 boxes of 11/2 8s black jap screws and 1 box of red plugs and he asked why I wanted 2 boxes of screws and only one box of plugs,he obviously thought I was up to something.So I asked him if he would use plugs when fixing to timber,no he replied well thats why I only need one box of plugs,some pyro is on a brick wall and some is on timber.What a pain he was! Another good one was a storeman in a factory,we built these machines that sold for 1 million pounds each,and some of the steel was really hard,well this day I had gone through about half a dozen 1/8th drill bits and he wouldn't give me any more so I made a drink and sat down,sure enough the boss came and asked what I was up to so after explaining the situation he said he'd have a quiet word with the storeman.So much for quiet,you could hear the shouting all the way down the shop floor,mind you I'm not saying the storeman was tight but if you broke a drill bit he wouldn't give you another unless you brought ALL the bits of the broken one back!

 

[Knobhead]

It’s the basic design of store room doors that is wrong, they only open inwards!

 

[glasgospark]

Hi,

I just wanted to get other peoples thoughts on the following:

As a contractor what would you say can be reasonably expected of me in terms of providing parts before charging extra.
I.E - Would you expect all materials to be supplied by employer or do you provide some of smaller items such as screws, grommets, connecting blocks without additional charge.

Thanks

any employer should supply all materials
if you are a subby then you could be asked to supply everything you need and have it paid back to you just add you % on to it