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Costs are dropping and there are plenty of Engineers out there who like to do 3-4 calls a day for £30 a call as opposed to working for minimum wage in a warehouse or jobseekers allowance.
Re: Domestic and General cutting agents
richardable wrote:and what costs are dropping??
Work it out. 😉
In business, the cost may be one of acquisition, in which case the amount of money expended to acquire it is counted as cost. In this case, money is the input that is gone in order to acquire the thing. This acquisition cost may be the sum of the cost of production as incurred by the original producer, and further costs of transaction as incurred by the acquirer over and above the price paid to the producer. Usually, the price also includes a mark-up for profit over the cost of production.
Re: Domestic and General cutting agents
lee, thanks, i see i was being somewhat dim regarding costs, like fuel, taxes (many and various), etc…..
Re: Domestic and General cutting agents
I could have made it easier, I guess D&G are being squeezed, less income from insurance policies now the crisis has hit and appliance sales prices are dropping.
They probably got wind of DSG dropping charges and decided this could become the norm across the industry, like I stated on the DSG thread if there cutting costs they will take the opinion others in the industry should as well and that includes engineer call out and labour rates paid to contractors.
Most people are now becoming more budget aware and cutting out uneccesassary costs such as appliance insurance policys and extended warranties, most I come across are usually moaning they haven’t claimed for yrs and have paid silly money, more than enough to buy a mid range Bosch for sure.
I bought a £40 Mp4 player the other day in Argos, the girl tried to sell me a policy to cover any faults after the warranty, for £18, are they real.
The insurance concept for appliances is not a great one, colleagues in Spain where at a loss as to why people pay insurance for an appliance in the UK. :rolls:
Re: Domestic and General cutting agents
Lee8… Maybe start another thread for your opinions on why things are happening or how to improve this trade? My costs are rising, not decreasing, and I am sure that every other Self Employed person will confirm that they are in my boat regarding costs. I’m not going in to detail here, as this is, sadly, a thread for D&G Agents that are or might be affected by cuts, so lets have a ‘Costs’ thread somewhere else and leave this one to the people actually worried by and / or want to talk about the D&G news?!
Adrian
Re: Lee’s Cost Embarrassment Thread
I split the thread.
Lee, we have topic titles for a reason and we do try not to wander off into the farthest reaches of the galaxy when we’re posting. Can you please try to do likewise and, as stated, refrain from rambling on about stuff that has little to do with the actual topic?
Thank you.
The second post you made here… are you for real? That sounds like some hooey you got in the “Self Help For Business Management” guidebook bought on Amazon for three quid, or less! Either that or you got it from a fortune cookie, I’ve not quite made my mind up yet.
Apart from which, given that (in the original topic) we’re talking about the delivery of service which is not tangible in the way that you allude to, most of what you’ve said wouldn’t apply anyway. I say that as there’s nothing produced, service is a cost, end of story.
In other words, it’s b0ll0cks.
K.
Re: Lee’s Cost Embarrassment Thread
I guess some are caught up in the cost definition I posted.You can read it in most good dictionaries, under “Costs” for those not to quick spotting the obvious.
Retail prices are dropping, therefore does that not affect peoples attitude towards purchasing Insurance.We relates to D&G income, which relates to expenditure.
I guess I missed the relationship.
As for talking bollocks, I like to say thats the first time someone told me that.
:rolls:
Re: Lee’s Cost Embarrassment Thread
Okay then, I’ll play…
Yep appliance costs have dropped in real terms.
But, due to the corresponding drop in quality of the items the repair costs would also rise, no?
Therefore the cost to insure an inferior quality of product with a lower replacement value has to also rise correspondingly.
So, you have a downward curve on cost of goods, upward trend on cost of insurance and an apathetic audience that think they only last a few years anyway.
Now look at the base prices of insurance these days.
It would be of absolutely no surprise that the warranty sales were down as you’re often paying almost the same again to insure a sub-£300 appliance and, to be honest, anyone that did that I’d consider to be not quite right in the head… but to each their own.
But then I don’t have all the facts as, I would suspect, you don’t either so it is therefore only possible to guess at these things and not present them as being factual as, you don’t know.
K.
Re: Lee’s Cost Embarrassment Thread
Did I state I was writting from facts gained from D&G.
I’m at a loss as to how you concluded that.
Personnally I believe that D&G getting rid of the people who cannot complete calls to there {e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} completion rates.
Those {e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} rates may have been increased based on the change in climate, costs (please see definiton :rolls: ) etc etc.
I’m lookin at it from D&G point of view towards contractors, it should not come as a surprise that rates paid would drop, I did mention it last yr that £30 was being offered, to which you did jump on me, for some reason, why I don’t know, I’m not the one paying it, I have moved my business into a position that could sustain those rates, when we entered recession and had the doom and gloom predictions it was obvious to me that the appliance industry would get hit.
My advice in this industry is to view what is happening to those passing work to you and think as they would, act before they do, that would include work providers such as JTM, D&G to Mrs Smith down the road.
Re: Lee’s Cost Embarrassment Thread
lee8 wrote:£30 was being offered, to which you did jump on me, for some reason, why I don’t know, I’m not the one paying it, I have moved my business into a position that could sustain those rates,
I’d love to know how you did that. I’m a sole trader and I’m not getting out of bed for £30.
Chris.
Re: Lee’s Cost Embarrassment Thread
I didn’t say you stated it was fact Lee, re-read what I wrote please.
But here’s the thing for me in what you’ve now said…
If you are now magically now able to do work for £30 a call why could you not do it for that when there wasn’t a so-called recession going on? And, when did you drop your rates to suit is profound realisation that somehow you were the only one who’s costs dropped in the light of increased inflation, fuel costs and taxation? And, why is it that before this you were not able to do work at this lower rate? Does this mean that you were simply profiteering while the going was good but decided to cut the cloth as the winds changed?
I can but only wonder what your clients or customers think of this new found generosity.
Usually, in times if recession, the repairers will historically do okay. People can’t afford to or, think twice before blithely replacing product and tend to take the cheaper option. If the cheaper option is repair then, repair it is.
There’s nothing desperately complex about it.
I hav actually had a little info on what’s going on with DAG and it isn’t what you assume it is from what I can gather but that’s for the proper thread once I manage to confirm the information as best that I can.
K.
Re: Lee’s Cost Embarrassment Thread
kwatt wrote:I split the thread.
The second post you made here… are you for real? That sounds like some hooey you got in the “Self Help For Business Management” guidebook bought on Amazon for three quid, or less! Either that or you got it from a fortune cookie, I’ve not quite made my mind up yet.
K.I think that , as grammatically it is written correctly, spelling wise, no mistakes or childish text speak and no ridiculous vendetta orientated themes – not to mention absence of quotes ” when i lived in spain ” , there is very litle chance that Lee wrote that himself 😆
Re: Lee’s Cost Embarrassment Thread
It’s working for me, thats all I can say, from what I hear others are having to as well.
Hopefully it will continue to work for me.
So far the referrals I get make it worth while, I’m reaching far more clients and getting more recommendations than if I advertised in the local media.
My labour rates are based on the business I run, I reserve the right to change as and when I feel fit.
The labour charges in my area for other industries is around £40 an hour for a mobile Mechanic, my local PC repair guy also charges this.So doing calls at £30.00 is around the norm, I daily manage to complete 2 calls an hour, so earning £60 an hour is ok, not ideal, but for me, it does not make up a large part of my business and I’d rather be busy earning this than laying in bed, also keeps my skills set up, maybe I’m thick or bad at business, I’ll accept that from my accountant and Bank manager.I’ll keep on doing my thing until they tell me my company is crap and I’m loosing money, can’t pay bills etc.
I make no apologese for writting my opinions here.
As for my writting skills or lack of them, please correct me, but only after you correct your own. :rolls:
The paragraph I quoted, anybody reading that with an IQ passed their shoe size would have known I hadn’t wrote that. 🙂
I stated on my first post I heard rumours, how accurate they are time will tell.
Re: Lee’s Cost Embarrassment Thread
Lee I enjoy your stance on things, and enjoy your posts.
But could you tell me your secret in completing 2 jobs an hour. The jobs must be next door to each other and only need the filter unblocking?
I completed 33 calls this week. With booking the calls, doing the jobs, dumping old machines,banking,travelling, ordering…etc I didn’t have time to wipe my own….
And two jobs an hour isn’t the ‘large part’ of your business?
Do you wear a red cape? 😆 🙂
Tim.
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