Consumer Unit Changes - What make & what price?

[markthespark]

Hello hope everyone is well.

I was wondering how much you guys charge for a Consumer Unit change and test.

The company i used to work for used to charge around £450+vat.

Ive googled a few prices and some people are doing them for as little as £250.

Im looking at starting my prices at around £325 not including bonding.

£75 for fully loaded Wylex board.

£15 for new tails, new earth block and labeling etc.

So that leaves £235 profit minus 20% tax which leaves £188 profit.

Which isnt bad but i still think its quite a cheap price. But with the recession are customers willing to pay anymore?

Does anyone claw back profit on the materials by using cheaper boards, ive seen BG boards fully loaded for £50.

Are they any good?

Cheers.

 

[sedgy34]

Hello hope everyone is well.

I was wondering how much you guys charge for a Consumer Unit change and test.

The company i used to work for used to charge around £450+vat.


Ive googled a few prices and some people are doing them for as little as £250.

Im looking at starting my prices at around £325 not including bonding.

£75 for fully loaded Wylex board.

£15 for new tails, new earth block and labeling etc.

So that leaves £235 profit minus 20% tax which leaves £188 profit.

Which isnt bad but i still think its quite a cheap price. But with the recession are customers willing to pay anymore?

Does anyone claw back profit on the materials by using cheaper boards, ive seen BG boards fully loaded for £50.

Are they any good?

Cheers.

£400 all in but your up against the spark with no work and only wants £100 to do the same as you

 

[bwm730]

I normally charge £300 for supplying and installing a 10way Daul RCD CU ( Wylex, Contactum, Schneider (all about £80 fully loaded)) including 1 metre 25mm tails. If its part of a rewire then £250. People even question this price until i explain that it's a days work including testing and certificating.

 

[Ponty Massive]

Out of that £188, you then have to take out your part p annual subscription, then your notification fee, then your public liability insurances, then the cost of the fuel to get your to and from the job, then the general running costs of your van / car, road tax, insurance, time travelling to the wholesales. Then things like allowing for your meter calibration. When you have complete the job, time taken writing out the certificate and posting /emailing.

Not to mention advertising and the fact you wont get every job you quote on, so time and travelling costs to be allowed for work you don't even get....

£350 is about the right price, but don't think you'll end up with £188 profit.

 

[markthespark]

I know mate thats the sad thing, might aswell work for someone and save the hassle.

 

[Dave 85]

Yeah bout £350 for me.
If you're working local, 200+days a year, then I find the expense of running the business, after materials is about 5k, a lot of which is vehicle running cost, which most people in other jobs have to pay out of their taxed salary anyway. So a ton a week, which doesnt hurt too bad if you aim to make £200 a day minimum for labour.

 

[ample current]

I quoted £250-£300 for a CU change supply and install and cert. I didnt get it as the next quote was cheaper, dunno how much by tho.

 

[Amp David]

One reason i've knocked driving miles to do jobs on the head. Stay local now and still get the work.

BG CUs are as good as any other budget brand CU, used a few and not had any problems so far.

 

[Octopus]

So that leaves £235 profit minus 20% tax which leaves £188 profit.

Less 9% National Insurance

Where in the UK are you?

 

[markthespark]

Im in Manchester. £250 - £300 seems really cheap dont know how people are making money charging less.

 

[Octopus]

Im in Manchester. £250 - £300 seems really cheap dont know how people are making money charging less.

By avoiding TAX and national insurance probably

 

[Andy78]

A local company has been advertising in the local paper for the past few weeks. Rewires from £1000, board swaps from £100. £100 !!!!! tested, certed and notified ? He can't be making anything, even if his £100 is for a 4 way board with no bonding.

 

[Spudnik]

£450 here.

Although it does depend a great deal on the state of the existing installation when i have done the survey.

 

[markthespark]

Surely notifiable jobs leave a paper trail for the tax man?

 

[Tonkatoy27]

I use Crabtree CU's as you haven't got to drop out the entire bus bar to add a CB in the future. Also means the bus bar is 90% insulated in it's own right.
Inc the vat most customers get away with £300-£350 for the entire job. I always state, 'cheaper materials are availible if required' on the estimate for the scrooges out there.

 

[Tonkatoy27]

A local company has been advertising in the local paper for the past few weeks. Rewires from £1000, board swaps from £100. £100 !!!!! tested, certed and notified ? He can't be making anything, even if his £100 is for a 4 way board with no bonding.

I can change boards for £100 as long as its a garage board with one socket and one light! And I can rewire said garage for £1000 as well if the customer wants to pay me that much.

 

[Spudnik]

Surely notifiable jobs leave a paper trail for the tax man?

Correct.

And now you understand Part P.:wink_smile:

 

[Amp David]

Surely notifiable jobs leave a paper trail for the tax man?

Thats because most of em aren't getting notified. Whos there to check that it does - no one

 

[Welchyboy]

I usually charge around £350 for 10 way wylex, sometimes less if it's an easy one, bonding usually included unless its major so around £100 mats, £250 profit, usually an easy day and finished early afternoon unless hit problems with testing, normally have some small bits to do on way home to top up the days money.
On a pre job survey you can usually tell if the jobs gonna be a DIY nightmare or not and I try to avoid these ones or price accordingly

 

[Spurs]

I have a standard charge of £450 for a CU swap, which includes tails etc. Also allows for testing and for any unforseen faults to be found and rectified (within reason), and certification.
We are based in north west London, i would imagine that location will be a big factor on prices.

 

[PC Electrics]

Surely notifiable jobs leave a paper trail for the tax man?

No, not at all.
It's notified jobs that leave the paper trail.

 

[Welchyboy]

I have a standard charge of £450 for a CU swap, which includes tails etc. Also allows for testing and for any unforseen faults to be found and rectified (within reason), and certification.
We are based in north west London, i would imagine that location will be a big factor on prices.

^^^I am located in essex but now and then when i get the odd cu change in london i think this would be a more realistic figure yes, i think london pricing has a rule of its own for me, normal price x at least 35% for traffic/travelling time/parking/parking tickets/wheel clamps/congestion zone and all the other general ball-aches that go with a days work up there! lol

 

[gap30]

Problem i find is as soon as i mention the test on top ie £200 for board change then say £80 for eicr i have effectively lost the job as so many people will just do a board change without the test.

Up here in Liverpool its a nightmare pricing for work atm, i quoted a guy £35 for an additional socket the other day and he told me to you know what it was 10 miles away, socket, back box, cable, fuel, labour...

board changes are a minefield, i HAVE to convince the customer to get the test done, its got that bad i done a few free tests serious just to cover myself, there is no way in this world i would get £300 plus for a board change and i only fit square d as i can em fully loaded from theelectricalwarehouse for £65, great site btw for boards

 

[Welchyboy]

No wonder your loosing jobs pricing for a cu change then an additional eicr, a customer just wants one price, you need to have a good survey before hand, then go on your instincts and findings,I accept the fact that mostly they will go ok and I'll win and sometimes I will find issues and maybe some minor fault rectification will be required, but I can usually tell what the installs gonna be like after having a good look for additions, cpc's on lighting and a 250v ins res between N and earth

 

[gap30]

what certification do you issue following a board change? serious question i always try to carry out eicr at same time as board change, i am new to running my own business btw so would really appreciate help!!

And eic with no test results

http://www.esc.org.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/industry/best_practice/BPG6_09.pdf

The initial approach of the contractor planning the
replacement of a consumer unit should be to
encourage the customer to have a periodic
inspection and test of the installation carried out in
advance of the consumer unit being replaced.

 

[jase]

Hello hope everyone is well.

I was wondering how much you guys charge for a Consumer Unit change and test.

The company i used to work for used to charge around £450+vat.

Ive googled a few prices and some people are doing them for as little as £250.

Im looking at starting my prices at around £325 not including bonding.

£75 for fully loaded Wylex board.

£15 for new tails, new earth block and labeling etc.

So that leaves £235 profit minus 20% tax which leaves £188 profit.
minus insurance
minus part p registration/LABC notification
minus fuel/van tax/wear and tear
minus outlay on tools/repair/wear......

Which isnt bad but i still think its quite a cheap price. But with the recession are customers willing to pay anymore?

Does anyone claw back profit on the materials by using cheaper boards, ive seen BG boards fully loaded

Are they any good?

Cheers.

......

 

[jase]

Do the EICR as part of the board change, just tell em the price is £350, if they ask what you are doing and what is taking so long and why everything has to be unplugged just explain the tests that have to be carried out as part of the testing process that is part of the upgrade

 

[spark 68]

I just do a quick pre-test, how much pre-testing depends on the installation as the previous posters have said, you can usually tell early on if you are going to have problems.

I don't a full blown recorded EICR though, unless the client specfically ask for this (chargeable).

Some of the testing can be done during the change, although I always do a Ze test prior to starting any work at all, not just on CU changes, (usually at the survey stage).

The EIC covers everything, no need to provide a seperate EICR unless it is specifically requested.

There is a sticky on the forum about this subject here:

http://www.electriciansforums.net/e...ctrical-regulations/12971-cu-changes-you.html

 

[Welchyboy]

what certification do you issue following a board change? serious question i always try to carry out eicr at same time as board change, i am new to running my own business btw so would really appreciate help!!

And eic with no test results

http://www.esc.org.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/industry/best_practice/BPG6_09.pdf

The initial approach of the contractor planning the
replacement of a consumer unit should be to
encourage the customer to have a periodic
inspection and test of the installation carried out in
advance of the consumer unit being replaced.

In a perfect world every customer would want this done and pay for it but the real world ain't like that, plus with an eicr as well you are taking on a load more paperwork too, just test all the circuits your reconnecting before/after the board change as this is required as you are effectively changing the protective device for each circuit(usually) when I quote for a job a have a written quote and in small print at the bottom I have some thing like this

'quotation includes full test, inspection and certification of stated works plus remedial work of any minor faults, however on discovery of any unforeseen major problems further remedial works may need to be undertaken before a satisfactory certificate can be issued, these may incurr an additional cost to the customer.

It's just to cover yourself, I have not needed to go down this route so far, and have been self employed since 2004, just do a good survey beforehand!

 

[huntos33]

I Charge 2 hours to change the board ( maybe a bit more if its in a right pig of place) then half hour per curcuit to test after not had any complaints , must admit i use wylex DBs find them hastle free