UK How much do electricians charge?

[Lewiselectric]

Hi guys. i'm a young electrician just starting out in the south east of England (not London) and I've just finished a job and not sure what to charge. I've spent around 30/35 hours there, testing and inspecting wiring before altering an existed ring, fitting new dado trunking, pulled in several CAT5s for new data points and lots of other little bit's he's asked me to do over the last 2/3 weeks. I'm just double checking how much most electricians charge as I don't want to over or under charge the guy. Thanks.

 

[telectrix]

up here £25 - £35 per hour is the range, down there i imagine it;s more like £45 per hour.generally for jobs of this amount of hours, you can maybe drop the rate by a %.

 

[davesparks]

Something around 35-45 per hour would be normal I think. But you should work out for yourself how much you need to charge, your overheads and other costs will be different to other people's.

Also you really should have the hourly rate agreed, ideally in writing, before you start the job, that way there can be no arguments (well they can try).
Also try not to let a job which is being done on an hourly rate go on for weeks without invoicing, you'll soon get yourself into financial difficulties that way. Agree before you start on a job like this that you will be invoicing at the end of each week.

 

[buzzlightyear]

approx. £35 is a going rated if you are self employed with out the outlay , £25 if retired £10 for stacking shelves £ 5 for newspaper boys .

 

[Lewiselectric]

thanks for the replies. I was thinking £25 per hour to be honest, so I think that's what I'll invoice him for. And good point Dave, I really need to get this invoice over today cos i'm getting a bit skint lol

 

[telectrix]

thanks for the replies. I was thinking £25 per hour to be honest, so I think that's what I'll invoice him for. And good point Dave, I really need to get this invoice over today cos i'm getting a bit skint lol

£25 is way too cheap. you must have overheads of around £150/week so "
£25/ hour will leave you with £850 wages. and don't forget to allow for all the hours at home doing certs. and paperwork. days with no work, and allow for 40 weeks in any one year, so your annual wages would be £850 x 40 = £34,000 for something like 60 hours a week.

 

[Mike Johnson]

And the fuel used to get to the job and wear and tear on the vehicle, office paper, ink, pens and other consumables often forgotten, but do come out of your bottom line.

 

[Baddegg]

At £25 an hour down here mate you’ll be the busiest fool around....go higher you may not get all the jobs but you’ll still be making the same dough with half the stress....the only person who can really answer this is you....get ya self out there and you’ll work it all out mate and good luck to ya ?

 

[snowhead]

The problem with charging too low is the customer may want you back for more and you're stuck at that price and may recommend you, as it's cheap, to others who would then expect work at the same price.
And as above, you suddenly become very busy but not rich.

 

[pc1966]

As already covered don't undercharge for your time as its not your pay: its your business income from which you end up paying some to yourself (after overheads and tax man has taken their slices).

It is tricky if you have started a job without an agreed payment. Some like to pay by time, others by job outcome, but you need to get it agreed early so no arguments or bad feeling later.

Also mentioned but to be reinforced here - invoice early and at sensible intervals. On big jobs try not to go beyond 1 month without settling out what is due, they will take a month to pay you if lucky!

There used to be a roofer around here that did a great job at reasonable prices but I had to chase him for over a month for an invoice to actually pay him. No longer in business sadly

 

[Taylortwocities]

It also depends on the length of the job. When I started I charged not much and hour and did every job that came in.
That way I ended up with 4 jobs a day that took an hour each. The rest of the time was traveling to and from, tools in and out, paying cheques in to the bank (none of the old ladies had cash, so it was cheque....)

After a while it dawned on me that trying to fill the day with little jobs for not that much was a mugs game. So concentrate on jobs that are minimum half a day. Save the one hour jobs for fill in, and chrge 2 hoursminimum.
Best to find large projects, new builds where you have many days on one site.

Don't be scared to charge too much. There's a huge pent up demand due to lockdown.
Lots of the European competition have gone home and cant get back.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Set yourself a minimum charge, no use going to a half hour job and not even getting the cost of the fuel to get there.

 

[Dustydazzler]

I know you shouldn’t price like this but sometimes you can price the job on it’s locality, difficulty and if you were doing long full days or short easy days

if it was a nice clean easy job that was on your door step you might feel inclined to do a more favourable rate of say 20-25 per hour

if it was 39 miles from your house, long days and difficult fiddly pain in the butt job then you may feel like charging 30-35 per hour

not all jobs are the same

 

[Taylortwocities]

+25%If their Porche Cayenne has a personalised number plate.

 

[Dustydazzler]

+25%If their Porche Cayenne has a personalised number plate.

Also Don’t forget the extra 10% if they have electric gates

 

[Mike Johnson]

Jealousy is not attractive, You should not pass judgement on others or it will eventually bight you, I have both, because I can't remember the registration of my car and my Arthritis prevents me having the strength to open the gates, so in reality it's not indicative.

 

[Taylortwocities]

It’s not jealousy, and not bring personal. it was a lighthearted comment. Sorry you saw it differently. I refuse to add LOL to avoid confusion.

Anyway, my suggestion is one of the ways that wealth can be distributed.

 

[davesparks]

thanks for the replies. I was thinking £25 per hour to be honest, so I think that's what I'll invoice him for. And good point Dave, I really need to get this invoice over today cos i'm getting a bit skint lol

That's too cheap, don't forget you loose over a quarter of that to tax and NI, then you've got to allow for business overheads including insurance, scheme registration, travel time, paperwork time, tools, vehicle expenses etc etc

 

[Baddegg]

It’s not jealousy, and not bring personal. it was a lighthearted comment. Sorry you saw it differently. I refuse to add LOL to avoid confusion.

Anyway, my suggestion is one of the ways that wealth can be distributed.

We can jest but I’m in agreement mate, it’s just a fact of life that if you have lots someone will try n take it, I charge higher rates to people that can afford it but conversely I also do lots of small jobs for free for elderly and less well off people.....it’s all about balance ?

 

[Micktw68]

thanks for the replies. I was thinking £25 per hour to be honest, so I think that's what I'll invoice him for. And good point Dave, I really need to get this invoice over today cos i'm getting a bit skint lol

Too cheap. SE is £35 minimum.

 

[DefyG]

£25 is too cheap in SE. We charge £45 for first hour and £36/hr thereafter (Plus VAT) (including o'heads plus travelling) and haven't stopped throughtout lockdown! Often think we are too cheap!
Saying that, I do know 'one man band' sparks locally charging £25/28 per hour.

 

[pc1966]

I charge higher rates to people that can afford it but conversely I also do lots of small jobs for free for elderly and less well off people.....it’s all about balance ?

There are few things I remember from a short business/accountancy course we had as a student (main memory is being bored witless), but I remember Mr Symonds covering this sort of thing: that some customers have high expectations and want work done to suit them so you charge them more, and others simply can't afford it and are more accommodating to you, so you charge them less.

 

[Baddegg]

There are few things I remember from a short business/accountancy course we had as a student (main memory is being bored witless), but I remember Mr Symonds covering this sort of thing: that some customers have high expectations and want work done to suit them so you charge them more, and others simply can't afford it and are more accommodating to you, so you charge them less.

To be honest it’s nice working for people don’t don’t worry about costs and are more concerned with the finish, but I do like the look on an old girls face when they get the purse out and then you tell em it’s ok no charge ?

 

[Lewiselectric]

thanks for all your responses guys, helped out a lot.

 

[Mike Johnson]

I live in an ageing community and generally do not charge for anything I do, the problem is you can only eat so many bars of chocolate (UK), but the bottle of wine are always nice to have (France).

Just realised I am part of that ageing community, in fact I am a major ageist.

 

[Edtwozeronine]

Hi guys. i'm a young electrician just starting out in the south east of England (not London) and I've just finished a job and not sure what to charge. I've spent around 30/35 hours there, testing and inspecting wiring before altering an existed ring, fitting new dado trunking, pulled in several CAT5s for new data points and lots of other little bit's he's asked me to do over the last 2/3 weeks. I'm just double checking how much most electricians charge as I don't want to over or under charge the guy. Thanks.

£96.50 p/h + VAT!

 

[shaun1]

If you do decide to do a job cheaper because its local/convenient/a big chunk of work etc, dont lower your hourly rate, price at standard rates and then apply a discount at the end. Then people wont expect other jobs to be at the same low rate.

 

[Mike Johnson]

A client of mine asked for a discount on the multiple projects he appointed me for, I agreed a rate on seven day payments, the QS denied that and said he did not agree it, but being me I had put everything in writing at the time and asked him to sign it, he did not like it when I presented it too him, the client still gave me more work, in fact I worked for them exclusively for the last few years before I retired, just to put this into perspective one of the last projects was a £67 million house.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

+25%If their Porche Cayenne has a personalised number plate.

I call it postcode pricing. Bath is a tale of 2 cities.
One part has million pound houses galore who wouldn't blink at £50 an hour call out. Other side would have a heart attack at £25 and is generally poorer with more social housing etc... Its not that black and white but I find with pricing I am not fixed. It all depends on workload and whether I want the job etc..

 

[Baddegg]

I call it postcode pricing. Bath is a tale of 2 cities.
One part has million pound houses galore who wouldn't blink at £50 an hour call out. Other side would have a heart attack at £25 and is generally poorer with more social housing etc... Its not that black and white but I find with pricing I am not fixed. It all depends on workload and whether I want the job etc..

Portsmouth or portsea island is the exact same.....easily 3-4 million pound houses on the seafront at the other end of the spectrum are places you leave ya apprentice in the van all day to make sure it ain’t nicked ?