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Gringoking88

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DIY
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Hi all,

I was called out at 2100 on a Sunday, in the greater London area and tbh I have no idea how much to charge so am looking for some guidance please. It was fault finding a lighting circuit (lights in the extension would not work) and at the time I did not want to leave my house lol so I explained to the customer I would come but if it was not a quick fix I would have to come again at a more suitable time. The customer said that was fine.

I attended and could not find the extension connection so left. Since then the customer has a builder who was doing other stuff and new exactly where the junction box was and fixed the problem suspect he was also the cause!

I was there just over an hour at 2100 on a Sunday and am curious how much you guys would charge?

Many thanks,

Martin
 
Hi all,

I was called out at 2100 on a Sunday, in the greater London area and tbh I have no idea how much to charge so am looking for some guidance please. It was fault finding a lighting circuit (lights in the extension would not work) and at the time I did not want to leave my house lol so I explained to the customer I would come but if it was not a quick fix I would have to come again at a more suitable time. The customer said that was fine.

I attended and could not find the extension connection so left. Since then the customer has a builder who was doing other stuff and new exactly where the junction box was and fixed the problem suspect he was also the cause!

I was there just over an hour at 2100 on a Sunday and am curious how much you guys would charge?

Many thanks,

Martin
My price of £100, how far did you have to travel? how long from leaving home to getting back home
 
Hi all,

I was called out at 2100 on a Sunday, in the greater London area and tbh I have no idea how much to charge so am looking for some guidance please. It was fault finding a lighting circuit (lights in the extension would not work) and at the time I did not want to leave my house lol so I explained to the customer I would come but if it was not a quick fix I would have to come again at a more suitable time. The customer said that was fine.

I attended and could not find the extension connection so left. Since then the customer has a builder who was doing other stuff and new exactly where the junction box was and fixed the problem suspect he was also the cause!

I was there just over an hour at 2100 on a Sunday and am curious how much you guys would charge?

Many thanks,

Martin
Martin, you are down as DIY, yet you are charging customers, are you a Trainee if so you need to get transferred to the Trainee section
 
I charge 50% more than my normal 1st hour and subsequent hourly rate for out of hours and weekend call outs..... but London is a big place and how far did you travel?

EDIT: If they are having work done, why didn't they call the builder or the builders spark?
 
ok so you should really have fixed a price before you left your house that could have been anything from £90 - £250 depending on how greedy a person is , the fact you haven't done that attended and not actually helped the client i would suggest you ask for the client to cover your fuel £30 (they may pay a bit more anyway) if you hit them for a ton you will get nothing .
and really it shouldn't have taken an hour to realise you cant find where the extension is fed from .
 
You didn't rectify the problem.

I thought that would be the likely reply :)

I could quote many instances of where we pay for things which have not been "rectified" but I won't.

I will tell you about a late night call out to a big house in Islington where the world renowned heart surgeon who lived there spent £94 an hour, or part thereof plus vat.

I told him where the fault was shortly after arriving. I told him the quick fix for that time of the night. He would have none of it and instead went on at length to tell me about his job. He was paying to do that :)

We were into the second hour when he decided to listen to me and not the sound of his own voice.
I disconnected and made safe (that couldn't be done according to him) within a few minutes. Told him how much the fix would be to which he replied 'I will have my man fix it as you are too expensive'

He paid up for two hours work and I went home. I did not fix anything.

That was 20 years. I learned a lot that night.

If I go to a job and can't fix it for any one of a number of reasons I will still charge for my time. It's gone, I'm not going to get it back. I will have paid out to get myself to the too. I no longer throw that money at the wind.

The internet is full of good tradesmen that are skint now or will die skint because they didn't think it right to charge for their time. No fix no fee is ********. Most learn that in time.
 
Cheers all,

An interesting array of responses!

TBH I did not have to go very far in fact just 5 mins from my home, that said I did make it very clear on the phone I might not be able to fix that night, in which case I would need to come back at some point not knowing he had a builder already doing work and the coming back would not be an option.

I was looking at the likes of Aspect and Pimblico who both charge in excess of £160 / hour and was thinking it would be fair for me to charge around the £80 mark.

Thanks again for all the responses!!!

Martin
 
I thought that would be the likely reply :)

I could quote many instances of where we pay for things which have not been "rectified" but I won't.

I will tell you about a late night call out to a big house in Islington where the world renowned heart surgeon who lived there spent £94 an hour, or part thereof plus vat.

I told him where the fault was shortly after arriving. I told him the quick fix for that time of the night. He would have none of it and instead went on at length to tell me about his job. He was paying to do that :)

We were into the second hour when he decided to listen to me and not the sound of his own voice.
I disconnected and made safe (that couldn't be done according to him) within a few minutes. Told him how much the fix would be to which he replied 'I will have my man fix it as you are too expensive'

He paid up for two hours work and I went home. I did not fix anything.

That was 20 years. I learned a lot that night.

If I go to a job and can't fix it for any one of a number of reasons I will still charge for my time. It's gone, I'm not going to get it back. I will have paid out to get myself to the too. I no longer throw that money at the wind.

The internet is full of good tradesmen that are skint now or will die skint because they didn't think it right to charge for their time. No fix no fee is ********. Most learn that in time.
Right on!!!!!!!
 
An interesting array of responses!
Yeah well it goes to show the very individual ways of seeing things. I havent gone "skint" in 44 years on the job quite the contrary. It's just the way I feel about it, if I did not do something for the customer I feel guilty about charging. But maybe you are right its food for thought anyhow. Vive la difference!
 
Yeah well it goes to show the very individual ways of seeing things. I havent gone "skint" in 44 years on the job quite the contrary. It's just the way I feel about it, if I did not do something for the customer I feel guilty about charging. But maybe you are right its food for thought anyhow. Vive la difference!
Surely, though Mate if you are called out cold on a weekend, if you have any loyalty you would attend the call out, on arriving all you can do is make safe and advisem and add you will deal with it in the morning, when you can access spare etc it warrants a fee. I the client / householder wants to approach his/her builder then that's their problem, they called you out after all.
 
they called you out after all.
Well as I said it is food for thought, I think it would depend a lot on the particular circumstances. But I do not reject the idea of a charge absolutely, I am not (quite) that foolish its just I have not looked at it that way, which I am now considering. The way you put it, well hell no, I am going to charge. And in fact I am on call out commercial buildings wise and have been called and did not rectify but charged so I spose I'm a bit tongue in cheek here so......
 
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