labour charges

Re: labour charges

Streetlighter,

Easy up on the labour charges, it is not a question of “how much can I get away with?” so much as ” what will give me a fair and reasonable profit?”. It is true that Trading Standards will need to see a copy of your Labour/Call Out Charges and expect you to stick to them. The cheaper you are the better for all concerned including yourself.

I would say however that £30 per hour a very reasonable rate for our trade these days, couple that with whatever extra is needed to cover travelling expenses in the form of a ‘minimum call-out fee’ (a set price for say the first 15/30mins on site) and if you are not VAT registered your laughing anyway as you will be cheaper than most and therefore could undercut your local competition!

Martin

Re: labour charges

streetlighter wrote:Hi martin
are you saying that £ 50 total is to much for a 2 hour job or not enough ❓

Paul,

£50 for 2 hours work is a bloody bargain believe me. To be frank (and I have nothing to hide here) but, locally I charge £35 for the first 1/2 hour on site then £7.50 for each 15minutes thereafter all PLUS VAT as I am registered with the SOB’s. So in my case to have the pleasure of me fixing your machine within 2 hours that will cost £94 in total 8O. I do stress locally (within 5 miles from base) beyond that I have a sliding scale of charges based on distance travelled (roughly £1 per mile)

If you can possibly afford to do the work cheaper I would whole heartedly advise you to do so. You may well get more business as a result and make a good living to boot 😉

Martin

£35 an hour works for us – pro rata after that. Certain jobs are pre-priced and the customer will know in advance – blockages, most bearing jobs, door seals, pumps etc.

The only time we’ll break from this is nuisance jobs – door handles and the like – then you squeeze 2 into the hour @ £20 a throw plus the bits. If you can keep them local to each other, this is more profitable!

The main reason that it all works is that Mrs P is a perfectly competent engineer in her own right and is able to assess the customers problems reasonably accurately and allocate time appropriately. Seeing as she now deals with the phone, e-mail and twins, this is good!

A big van with plenty of basic stock racked out in the back helps as well. Our first year, we didn’t make any money; but we learnt a lot about what we should be carrying – and filled the van!

Mrs P also means that there are no “free call outs” or “free estimates” – I can go to a job knowing that the customer is informed as to likely cost, and I’m likely to have the bits.

Of course, it all goes pear-shaped occasionally – usually customers misdescribing faults is the main reason and you have to grin and bear it. These days they are relatively few and far between.

I think the main thing is to be very aware of your overheads. I guesstimate that it costs me £23 to ring a customers door bell and that is the crucial point that must stay in mind when you cost up any job, or you ain’t going to make any money!

Regards,
Penguin.

Re: labour charges

YOU TAKE THE GOOD WITH THE BAD.WE HAVE ASET LABOUR CHARGE WITH NO TIME LIMIT £40+ PARTS OR £20 IF NOT WORTH REPAIRING,AFTER ALL A BAD ENGINEER WILL TAKE HOURS DOING A SIMPLE JOB. CHARGE MORE FOR PARTS ON A BEARING JOB,WHEN I WORKED AT HOOVER HAVING TO CHARGE SILLY MONEY FOR CHANGING a FUSE OR RINSE HOLD.
IF YOUR CHARGING EVERY 15 MINUTES THEY MUST PUSH OUT THE FRONT DOOR,

Re: labour charges

Simon46 wrote:Am getting ready to submit tax return and this has got to be the worst year on record.

The volume in regular chargeable work is now in rapid decline as you can no doubt testify Simon 🙁 It is getting worse year by year for me also to a point where I am repairing appliances now that I would have never bothered fixing 2 years ago. I’ve started doing oven repairs again (something I stopped doing 6 years ago ‘cos of the hastle) to help with the cash flow 🙁

I’m doing ‘Letting Agency’ work in filthy bedsitland and university campus’s, that helps but I wouldn’t have dreamt of needing that sort of work in order to bolster the cashflow.

Had to deregister VAT not only because of being well below the current threshold but in order to compete with the opposition on labour (callout)rates. I make it up on the spares of course but just last week (bad bad week being Easter) I only fitted 2 pumps a TOC Kit and a Shock Absorber, so no big stash of cash that week for me. 🙄

So thanks to the £179 Zanussi and all that follows such marketing junk, the prospects are grim at best. I’m working on setting up a little sideline business to get me out of this rut, but in order to buy the plant I need I’ve got to press on another year or two at this yet. So I must try to maintain my position and hope the phone keeps ringing all the while (hoping that its a customer rather than a Letting Agent* :rotfl: )

Martin

*I call them ‘Pin-stripe jobs'(PSJ’s) much to my wifes amusement, but I think you know where I’m coming from on that 8)

You might consider a diagonal move into a similar trade? Most of my time is in labs but some garage equipment work too, industrial customers pay real money…