Why are tradesmen so expensive

  • Thread starter Thread starter fez
  • Start date Start date
i recently spent £60 to get a new door hung and it was money well spent, frame not square, door needed top and bottom planed a bit, the chap spent 2.5 hours doing this and now it is perfect.

admittedly i could have done this myself but wpuld have taken twice as long and thats time i spent doing other things.
 
Molep said:
i recently spent £60 to get a new door hung and it was money well spent, frame not square, door needed top and bottom planed a bit, the chap spent 2.5 hours doing this and now it is perfect.

admittedly i could have done this myself but wpuld have taken twice as long and thats time i spent doing other things.
Click to expand...
That seems incredibly cheap to me.
 
I must admit, I've been p'eed off by most trades lately, and I've been using a lot. Everyone wants to get the job done as fast a possible, and move on - no care for the detail. It's overtly about their turnover.

I just had a single large bay window fitted, >4Ks worth, and had them back on 4 occasions to finish work properly - it took 10 days, when it should have been finished on day 1. It's no wonder people get frustrated by prices if that's the attitude many people experience.
 
rawuk said:
Sorry? Poorly paid? Good tradesmen can easily earn 35,000+ p/a. Well beyond average.

Good Plumbers and Electricians have historically earn't above the average. They may not be on the same level as a Lawyer, Doctor, IFA or highly qualified profession but they are usually a step above the service industry. If they have the drive they can easily setup a small firm and earn closer to the 100,000s more easily than other professions as there is always demand. Especially with how entire generations have been told working with your hands isn't a good career path.

Money is time and time is money. :)
Click to expand...

Oh yeah the plumber I had in once wanted cash as he was already way above the 35,000 VAT limit or whatever it is nowadays. He charged £50 for literally screwing a toilet to the floor took him less than 5 minutes and he was off. No wonder he's hitting his VAT ceiling.

Sunbed said:
It's expensive because there aren't enough people doing it unfortunately. To me it seems daft that so much of this countries wealth is tied up in property and yet society still doesn't respect these professions as we should.
Click to expand...

Aye no wonder so many were willing to hire Polish instead they work hard and do it for a fraction of the price.
 
Not sure if this has been mentioned in the six pages so far, but actually finding a good quality tradesman is very hard to do. When I have had jobs done I've looked online, through the find a tradesperson websites, even on the gas safe register. And still the people I've ended up having round have not really impressed me up front nor done a first rate job first time.

When you are willing to pay a fair rate for quality yet can't reliably find it, what happens is then you end up being concerned about paying too much and still getting a bad job.

I think I've used three electricians tradespeople in the past, and wouldn't use any of them again. I used a central heating installer who came recommended yet I wasn't happy with the work. We had a conservatory built but the brickie they hired couldnt even build a straight wall and they couldn't lay a flat floor either. My parents tried to find someone good off the gas safe register and ended up with two complete cowboys who put them at risk.

Problem is that there is no way to know until you've used them but by then the job is done and it's too late and your money is spent.

The only guy I've ever been really impressed with was a plasterer I used once and would use again. The guy was quality and I knew as soon as he visited the house to quote. 1 in a thousand chance of finding good people it seems.
 
I'm lucky that I have a few friends that are in trades, windows and doors, roofing and a bathroom/kitchen fitter.
Most jobs I do myself though. Getting a new boiler soon its the first time I've had to look for someone. I was extremely tempted to just do it myself.
 
Most tradesmen are seriously overpaid. In the past a good tradesman was quite highly skilled but now it is all push fit plumbing, plasterboard and power tools. They all think they're highly skilled but there isn't a job I haven't been able to teach myself to a satisfactory standard in half a day on the internet. They charge too much, rip off customers for over priced materials along the way, knock off after only half a days work- passing the cost of their laziness on to their customers. All the time drinking tea and listening to the radio! Meanwhile the educated middle classes get crushed by high taxes and long commutes. They think they work hard and are 'highly skilled' but they would, wouldn't they, because they haven't done a degree or dealt with real jobs with real pressures. Its a supply and demand thing. They get rich off the back of 'us' either A) being too knackered after a proper days work to board our own attics, or B) too stupid and lazy to realize that we could and should be tackling these 'highly skilled jobs ourselves more (yeah laziness isn't just a tradesman thing). The tide will turn back one day and I, for one, can't wait.

A plumber wanted to charge me 200 quid to connect five radiators WHICH WERE ALREADY HUNG... Screw that... I did it in two and a half hours- it was pretty easy and basically payed myself- what- 80 quid an hour in after tax income?? Complete jokers.
 
Last edited:
So far in the 2.5 years weve been in our new house...ive had the following work done/completed and this is the break down:

Driveway installed - Exceptional work completed by a team of 2 in a week 80sqm. £4.5k with Woburn rumble bricks. Exceptional work. Guys were in their late 50's subsequently the main guy has had to retire due to a knee injury. 8/10 for Finish and 8/10 for price/value for money

5/6 rooms plastered - Exceptional work again. Took a week. £700. Guy was in his late 50's. 8/10 for Finish and 9/10 for value for money.

Central heating for the whole house - Good work, although left a floorboard in each room loose and also what feels like a hole in one room. Took 3/4 days. £5.5k (massive mark up surely). Two guys in early 30's. Blitzed the work. Finish 7/10 as the actual outcome was good. 7/10 value for money

Complete new kitchen/extended into half the garage, walls knocked down, various other jobs and finishes around the house. £10k. A team of Polish builders. Mid/Late 30's. Exceptional work. 2 weeks. Finish 10/10 and Value for money 10/10. At least 7-10k cheaper than anywhere else, also fixed a piece of fence, shelved out our old boiler cupboard and fixed the toilet in addition for free.

Patio/Landscape Garden - 30sqm patio, sleeper borders, levelled garden, cut back hedge. £3.3k. Took just over a week. Team of 2. Finish 7/10 (not too happy with the patio as pointing is a little too wide and some slabs not level. But then I was told, when all the problems started that the slabs weren't calibrated, but that's another story). Value for Money 7-8/10. Someone wanted over £5k to do that job, jokers.

So from my experience over the past 10 years of house ownership. The young bucks want to blitz the job in a few days most of the time, the older generation want to take their time and the Europeans albeit ive only hired through word of mouth are amazing.
Anyone that says "they take our jobs" smarten up I say, you've been overcharging for years, if you haven't invested that money then youre a fool as you've had it good for too long and ripped people off.
Key is older generation and Europeans (Eastern) and you get good value. Young bucks just don't care and that I feel is portrayed in society too these days.
 
@Kingdom34 , I agree.
The chap who hung our kitchen door for £60 and spent 2.5 hours doing it to an amazingly high standard was 62 years old.
I had another young carpenter quote who supposedly was 'amazing' at what he did, anyway he wanted to bash out door frame, higher the frame etc etc....... he got sent quickly on his way.

Another chap who repaired our gutters and repaired our small flat roof with fibre glass charged us a third of what others had quoted for and he turned up on time, stuck to the quote, was tidy etc etc and did a really good job.

The older chaps seem to take more pride in their work and do it for a good price, of course, there are always exceptions to the rule.
 
Molep said:
@Kingdom34 , I agree.
The chap who hung our kitchen door for £60 and spent 2.5 hours doing it to an amazingly high standard was 62 years old.
I had another young carpenter quote who supposedly was 'amazing' at what he did, anyway he wanted to bash out door frame, higher the frame etc etc....... he got sent quickly on his way.

Another chap who repaired our gutters and repaired our small flat roof with fibre glass charged us a third of what others had quoted for and he turned up on time, stuck to the quote, was tidy etc etc and did a really good job.

The older chaps seem to take more pride in their work and do it for a good price, of course, there are always exceptions to the rule.
Click to expand...

There are always exceptions I agree. But you have to ask yourself this, when someone turns up to quote, when you see a young lad your gut instinct is, hes going to bang the job out quickly and charge more or if he charges less he will probably be substandard. That's from my own person experience and thoughts. They seem to want a quick buck.

It maybe just my area or a host of other things but my feeling is the older the better, more attention to detail as well its competitive and at the same time they have a well established reputation.

Personally though things can change, I remember seeing a proper bodge job from some Eastern Europeans at my mates flat, but then Ive seen first hand work which was exceptional. The builders we used had worked on my parents next door neighbours extension, then my sisters place, then ours. Since then they have worked on 3 of my friends places and all have said how great they've been. That's inside a year and shows word of mouth is probably the most reliable source in many ways.
 
Ricardo said:
Most tradesmen are seriously overpaid. In the past a good tradesman was quite highly skilled but now it is all push fit plumbing, plasterboard and power tools. They all think they're highly skilled but there isn't a job I haven't been able to teach myself to a satisfactory standard in half a day on the internet. They charge too much, rip off customers for over priced materials along the way, knock off after only half a days work- passing the cost of their laziness on to their customers. All the time drinking tea and listening to the radio! Meanwhile the educated middle classes get crushed by high taxes and long commutes. They think they work hard and are 'highly skilled' but they would, wouldn't they, because they haven't done a degree or dealt with real jobs with real pressures. Its a supply and demand thing. They get rich off the back of 'us' either A) being too knackered after a proper days work to board our own attics, or B) too stupid and lazy to realize that we could and should be tackling these 'highly skilled jobs ourselves more (yeah laziness isn't just a tradesman thing). The tide will turn back one day and I, for one, can't wait.

A plumber wanted to charge me 200 quid to connect five radiators WHICH WERE ALREADY HUNG... Screw that... I did it in two and a half hours- it was pretty easy and basically payed myself- what- 80 quid an hour in after tax income?? Complete jokers.
Click to expand...
You know that they don't actually pay themselves £80 an hour? Running costs, vehicles etc are all very expensive. Charging a mark up on parts is normal as they have to source them themselves, I'm not sure what your problem is to be honest.

You must be in a very important and stressful job to think so poorly or tradesmen in general.
 
Ricardo said:
Most tradesmen are seriously overpaid. In the past a good tradesman was quite highly skilled but now it is all push fit plumbing, plasterboard and power tools. They all think they're highly skilled but there isn't a job I haven't been able to teach myself to a satisfactory standard in half a day on the internet. They charge too much, rip off customers for over priced materials along the way, knock off after only half a days work- passing the cost of their laziness on to their customers. All the time drinking tea and listening to the radio! Meanwhile the educated middle classes get crushed by high taxes and long commutes. They think they work hard and are 'highly skilled' but they would, wouldn't they, because they haven't done a degree or dealt with real jobs with real pressures. Its a supply and demand thing. They get rich off the back of 'us' either A) being too knackered after a proper days work to board our own attics, or B) too stupid and lazy to realize that we could and should be tackling these 'highly skilled jobs ourselves more (yeah laziness isn't just a tradesman thing). The tide will turn back one day and I, for one, can't wait.

A plumber wanted to charge me 200 quid to connect five radiators WHICH WERE ALREADY HUNG... Screw that... I did it in two and a half hours- it was pretty easy and basically payed myself- what- 80 quid an hour in after tax income?? Complete jokers.
Click to expand...
You'll probably find in the case of those radiators the quote was so high because he had no interest in doing the job and considering your attitude he probably made the right choice.

It's like if I went into my local bike place and asked them how much to adjust my chain, it's literally a 10 minute job any chimp could do but I'd expect them to quote me £30-40 just to make me go away because it's more hassle than it's worth for them.
 
Cleisthenes said:
You know that they don't actually pay themselves £80 an hour? Running costs, vehicles etc are all very expensive. Charging a mark up on parts is normal as they have to source them themselves, I'm not sure what your problem is to be honest.

You must be in a very important and stressful job to think so poorly or tradesmen in general.
Click to expand...

Why would you place mark ups on parts? Out of interest. If it costs you £10, why charge £15? They have trade accounts that make these parts cheaper than Joe Bloggs going down the road to a DIY store anyway?

Also running costs as a plumber? Over time parts and spare parts are built up, vehicles are no more expensive than your average family car.

Ive seen labour costs for just a labourer at £100-150 per day and you can bet your bottom dollar theyre not declaring.

Don't get me wrong I don't want to have an argument here but some of the tradesmen out there really do take the biscuit, if I produced shoddy work, id be exposed in the office. Not always the case out there for tradesmen, onto the next one.
 
Kingdom34 said:
Why would you place mark ups on parts? Out of interest. If it costs you £10, why charge £15? They have trade accounts that make these parts cheaper than Joe Bloggs going down the road to a DIY store anyway?

Also running costs as a plumber? Over time parts and spare parts are built up, vehicles are no more expensive than your average family car.

Ive seen labour costs for just a labourer at £100-150 per day and you can bet your bottom dollar theyre not declaring.

Don't get me wrong I don't want to have an argument here but some of the tradesmen out there really do take the biscuit, if I produced shoddy work, id be exposed in the office. Not always the case out there for tradesmen, onto the next one.
Click to expand...
Time and fuel to pick up said parts.

Various insurances and trade body registrations, and family cars aren't free to run are they so there's still running costs.

Some will take the pee but there's plenty of costs people don't think about they just see the headline figure and then think they're paying themselves £100ph.
 
Kingdom34 said:
They have trade accounts that make these parts cheaper than Joe Bloggs going down the road to a DIY store anyway?
Click to expand...
Although this is sometimes true, I can tell you that sometimes even with trade accounts just by going on amazon or another online retailer we can pick up the same part at the same cost if not cheaper. The main advantage of a trade account is having payment terms of over a month.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom