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Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:53 pm
by shaun17
does anyone no the standard hourly rate for labour only when laying block paving/flagging.iv'e been charging £12.50per hour am i miles out or about right. this is in the n.w. of england (cheshire).
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 6:00 pm
by London Stone Paving
It sounds far too cheap. £12.50 works out at £100 per day for an 8 hour shift. By the time you have paid your overheads you are not left with much. I would be thinking absolute minimum of £15 per hour and maybe more.
We used to base our labour costs on approx £15 per hour and that was in stoke, 7 years ago. There will always be cheaper competition to contend with but you should not be scared of charging a higher price if the quality of your work and service is better than the competition. its all about showing your customers that you are better, if you can do that they will generally be happier to pay a higher price
Steve
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 6:53 pm
by lutonlagerlout
I dont like hourly rates but if I am pushed to it ,i want £12 for labourers,£18 for trades and £25 for yours truly
would rather work on price
I.e £20 per metre etc etc
basically shaun get as much as you can get and keep going,we have all took the odd crap money at some point but you do not want to make a habit of it
i would rather pay blokes 10% over the going rate as it engenders good will
i see the lads working for wates and bam nuttal in luton and they all look defeated
LLL
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:17 pm
by Tony McC
The unions used to do hourly rates and then we'd pay our lads that rate plus 30% plus a bonus if they didn't get on my tits too much that week and managed to put in a whole 5 days.
Not sure what it is now....here we go....that seems a bit cheap! How is 10.46 quid/hr a going wage for a craftsman?
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:56 pm
by shaun17
thanks for replies reckon i'll put my rates up on your advice as i know i do a decent job even though i say it myself.tony that £10.46 seems cheap even to me.
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:02 pm
by gonchy
thats very cheap i know hourly rates do differ in direrent parts of the uk
but on the sites at the mo;(gone up a fare bit the last year)
carpenters £19-£25
brickies around £15
ground worker about £16
as for other trades most do price work this is around berkshire
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:38 pm
by lutonlagerlout
why would a 2 bob wood cutter get more money than a skilled wet trade like a bricklayer :;):
can you tell that we dont get on with chipies?
chipies and brickies get the same in sunny luton
LLL 
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 9:14 pm
by gonchy
used to be the other way around about 10 years ago but brickies average £120
first fix average £150
second fix, roofing £170 upwards
will prob go up for both next year as us and bricklayers are stuggling for labour or decent labour
and with other trades
dry linning bad to many foreiners
groundworks full of romainians and you only have to look at the roads over there to see what there like
???
and plumping,roof tilling,painters work on price
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 9:41 pm
by local patios and driveway
I would need £150 a day minimum i always aim to take a grand a week if possible
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 10:32 pm
by ilovesettsonmondays
the once prosperous london here goes .
bricklayers 120 a shift
chippies 120 a shift
pavers sitework 100 a shift
pavers streetwork 125 a shift
pipelayers 110 a shift
general groundworkers 9-11 pound an hour
digger drivers 13 quid an hour
labourers 6.50 an hour
tarmacers 125 a shift
soho walk up workers 30 pound for 15 mins
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 10:36 pm
by local patios and driveway
Yeah chris but thats site work for the jam rolls. Sad state of affairs isnt it.
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 10:59 pm
by lutonlagerlout
£120-150 is where its at now for most trades
bearing in mind I was getting a grand for 5 1/2 days 10 years ago and the missus was working then too
in the meantime beer has gone up a pound a pint,and diesel has about doubled
like i say better to work on price
LLL
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 11:18 pm
by henpecked
lutonlagerlout wrote:why would a 2 bob wood cutter get more money than a skilled wet trade like a bricklayer :;):
can you tell that we dont get on with chipies?
chipies and brickies get the same in sunny luton
LLL
They're more versatile on the job. To a Site Agent, the chippie is there as soon as the wall-plate is on till the end of the job, generally, we cant wait to get shot of the brickies as they're messy and arsey 
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 11:55 pm
by lutonlagerlout
i cant recall ever meeting a chipie who didnt think he was gods gift to the building trade
the only ones i have any time for are the proper shuttering chipies
the rest of them
measure
mark
cut
fix
what skill is there in that?
in wet trades,such as bricklaying,paving,plastering
you have judgement calls
I have had a lot of run ins with carpenters over the years :laugh:
LLL
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 8:05 am
by peg basher
Im with you on this LLL, a shuttering chippy is worth twice that of a finishing chippy seeing as a good one can build a hugely complex structure to within 5mm tolerance.
An old agent i worked with who was a chippy used to say "is it any wonder that brickies are daft when they spend 90% of the time with their heads lower than their arse!"