hi people sparky turned scientist back to sparky

[Barry123]

Long time lurker. finally decided to post as my brain is very confused. My situation is family friend really wants me to do his rewire but wants that mates rate. I'm thinking just full stop doing for family and friends as they seem to think its all for free or some dumb price. but at the same time i dont want to ruin relationships. what do you guys do in these situations?

 

[Deleted member 26818]

I tell them my hourly rate and get them to purchase or pay up front for materials.

 

[Dustydazzler]

As above tell them you family hourly rate , I personally think £15-20 is perfectly acceptable for family and friends , give them a comprehensive list of everything you need to complete the job and get them to go to TLC (or other wholesalers) and buy it all.
If they accept this arrangement then crack on with the job....

 

[Barry123]

thanks for the responses ill probably get them to buy materials as above and see what they say.

 

[buzzlightyear]

answer to that ,tell your friend with out falling out get some body in and a friend ship is not lost .and wait for them to tell you how much the other sparky will charge them.good luck .

 

[David Prosser]

I only do Family/Friend jobs for free as I limit them to simple light fitting changes or similar in a domestic situation or just fault finding help in an industrial setting.
Anything else has in my limited experience (limited by learning quickly) has lead to more trouble or effort than it was ever worth. In short if it's not worth doing don't do it.

 

[Barry123]

thanks to be honest im leaning towards not doing it for the another family members job. Ill ask what quotes my friend got as its been a week and a half since i told him my quote

 

[dmxtothemax]

get them to do the shitty work for you

 

[Barry123]

spoke to my mate hes got a quote for the house to be completely rewired for 2.5k from another person. So i told him just to go with him as i can't beat that price. i could take pictures after and post an update after if you guys want.

 

[Barry123]

The other family job i feel is more complicated because im located in northamptonshire they live in patringotn it will a weekend away job or longer depends on the results of testing. part 1

 

[Barry123]

part 2 They want to replace each point with new black nickel style equivalents.

 

[Barry123]

part 3
Would i charge for just fuel or fuel and travel time as its about 140 miles 3hr journey one way, in addition to the hourly rate. do i do the same again tell them my charge and advise them to get it done by a local as it will probably be cheaper?
thanks barry

 

[telectrix]

tell them to get someone local as you can't leave your local clientele without service if you are away.

 

[buzzlightyear]

What would we do with out TeleTex.

 

[Andy78]

part 3
Would i charge for just fuel or fuel and travel time as its about 140 miles 3hr journey one way, in addition to the hourly rate. do i do the same again tell them my charge and advise them to get it done by a local as it will probably be cheaper?
thanks barry

Yes I'd say to get someone local. I can make a few recommendations if you like ?

 

[snowhead]

Are you trading as a Sparky with membership of a Scheme and full Insurance cover?

If not, tell them you're not registered and not insured so can't do the work, but to be helpful you could look over any quotes they get.

 

[remedial]

depends a lot on if you actually want to do the work. even if you do don't do it too cheap

 

[Barry123]

thanks for replys again Andy ill call them up and send a quote and if they want others ill pm you.

snowhead not part of a scheme but have insurance under my dads company but they know that already

and remedial that's what im trying to avoid doing it too cheap beacuse then everyone will want that relative or family friend that does work for basically free.

I might from now go with davids way of doing it, free advice and only the most basic alterations.
thanks everyone for the suggestions

 

[Charlie_]

Why have you chosen not to show your profile information?

 

[tony clark]

always charge family and friends extra because always turns out to be grief and more than likely end in tears and no favours in bussiness if boot on other foot would they do you any favours i think not?

 

[Andy78]

Why have you chosen not to show your profile information?

It seems to be the default option for new members, been like that a long time now.

 

[Charlie_]

Ahh right, that’s a shame.. Be good to get a feel of who we’re talking to so our responses are appropriate to their knowledge base, etc

 

[Andy78]

Ahh right, that’s a shame.. Be good to get a feel of who we’re talking to so our responses are appropriate to their knowledge base, etc

I've tried to bring it to the attention of @Dan quite a few times in threads but never got a reply. It makes it very difficult for regular members to discern how best to help new members.

 

[Charlie_]

Especially when the op starts getting all uppity...

 

[Dan]

Hang on I can fix that.

 

[Dan]

Oh no, I've already fixed it. He must have registered in the week or so it was set like that for new members. It's the norm now to be fair but we have always had it more open so I set it back as soon as you lot pointed it out.

Those who signed up during that time will need to edit their options. As that's what they agreed to at the time so I can't really go open up people's profiles without individually contacting them all etc. And I don't have time for that.

Click your name and account settings and then show profile to members only or all visitors.

 

[Toneyz]

Ahh right, that’s a shame.. Be good to get a feel of who we’re talking to so our responses are appropriate to their knowledge base, etc

I've tried to bring it to the attention of @Dan quite a few times in threads but never got a reply. It makes it very difficult for regular members to discern how best to help new members.

Me and Pete999 have been posting this for ages.

 

[Dan]

Me and Pete999 have been posting this for ages.

As above.

I rate around 100 people could have the settings like that so it's just gonna be a case of guiding them to their settings or asking them what the deal is.

 

[Andy78]

Oh no, I've already fixed it. He must have registered in the week or so it was set like that for new members. It's the norm now to be fair but we have always had it more open so I set it back as soon as you lot pointed it out.

Those who signed up during that time will need to edit their options. As that's what they agreed to at the time so I can't really go open up people's profiles without individually contacting them all etc. And I don't have time for that.

Click your name and account settings and then show profile to members only or all visitors.

That's great, thanks for that Dan, should make it easier for regular members to glean info or persuade new members to fill in info.

 

[Barry123]

dunno how i came across arrogant charlie but i didnt know how to do it so i posted the info on my profile. (dunno how my qualifications would of helped in this scenario) thanks to dan, now updated the info. if its still private please lemme know

 

[Charlie_]

dunno how i came across arrogant charlie but i didnt know how to do it so i posted the info on my profile. (dunno how my qualifications would of helped in this scenario) thanks to dan, now updated the info. if its still private please lemme know

Hey, I never said you are arrogant and don’t I don’t think you are..
I was just generalising with my comments, sometimes we reply to people who have no info and then they get uppity because they feel offended by our comments which to experienced sparks are very basic..
In your situation some info would have been handy because you said you had been out of the trade and come back into it... we had to ask you questions to try and ascertain you knowledge base, I was going to make some suggestions but didn’t as I wasn’t sure if it would be appropriate to you