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Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:14 pm
by doobin
lutonlagerlout wrote:as in life you get what you pay for
pay cheap pay twice
but sadly a lot of customers dont know the correct job or price until its too late
LLL :;):
You know it mate! There's also they type of customers who want a price for the job, and won't listen when you tell them it needs to be done such and such a way because of this or that. You know, the sort of things that only ten years of experience tells you.
In these situations I like to remember a simple proverb- cast not your pearls before swine! 
Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 11:41 am
by Brookie1988
Thanks everyone. I didn’t have a clue on pricing which is clear. I feel better that I haven’t been ripped off and he hasn’t made that much money, yes it isn’t great but once some furniture goes down and the space fills out hopefully it won’t look as bad as it is. Disappointed but the wife says she like it and I suppose she’s always right!!! As you say you get what you pay for
Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 10:57 am
by Tony McC
lutonlagerlout wrote:its been a Loooong time since I did a patio for les than £100 Per metres 2 plus VAT
Even up here in t'frozen North where work pays less, I don't know of any quality installer doing S&F on an Indian sandstone patio for less than 100 quid/m² plus VAT (if applicable)
I've *seen* cheaper prices, but when you look at the materials used and, in particular, the workmanship, you soon understand why they are cheaper. Using a blinding of SF2 in place of a proper Type 1 sub-base can easily save 25 quid/m², and then a bit of spot bedding, pre-filling joints with sand before topping-up with 5mm or so of a cheap polymeric, not bothering with any drainage....you usually do get precisely what you paid for!
Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 1:23 pm
by doobin
Tony- what in your eyes should the rate be for a quality job? I don't win much in posh Sussex at £130/m! But as you say you can't do it for less- and I have all my own diggers, type 1 in bulk at the yard etc.
Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 6:05 pm
by lutonlagerlout
Doobin rates are the curse of the building trade,so many things that can affect a price
i.e I have a rate to tack 1nos 8 b 4 sheet of plasterboard of £20
this works fine if there are 30 boards to tack,less so if there is 4 boards as who wants to go in for 80 quid?
Brickwork S and F you are looking at £140 a M2 on extension or garden wall stuff,and that is without the foundations
A mate of mine was bragging he turned over 500k last year and I know his pricing is way off,so I pulled him
"how much profit did you make?" he went a bit quiet,then mumbled " £20 grand"
turnover for vanity,profit for sanity :;):
LLL
Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2019 7:03 pm
by Tony McC
I can't tell you what the rate should be. I know what the quality installers are charging, and I know the f*ckwitts are charghing a slittle as half that rate. You have to determine how much you need to charge to cover costs and then a fair profit (say 15-20%).
Any jobs that are paying less than that figure are not worth pursuing - you'd be a "busy fool", and we have enough of those in the trade for now, thank you very much. You want the jobs and the clients that are prepared to pay you sufficient to cover your costs and allow you to make the profit essential to keeping any business ticking over.
Too many contractors join in the race to the bottom, always looking to compete on price. Look at the guys who walk away with the top awards, look at what they charge. They are NEVER the cheapest, but they've been around for years, decades in many cases, because the work they do pays enough to keep their business intact. Meanwhile, the "we'll beat any price" bum-wipes are either long gone or being pursued by the bailiffs everywhere they go!
