How much to install a gas cooker?

Are you Vat registered and/or issuing an invoice? How much is hose + chain? Do you have them in stock ready to go? Is gas already there and suitably sized for a cooker? Is the customer a regular who gives you a lot of work? Are you happy with £65 given answers to above...?

Who knows, but £65 probably sounds ok. Ask your friend the same questions above and see if you still think you would do it for £40.

 

Our charges are very simple for cookers

Flate rate outside central London of £50 + £10 per other item required, eg hose, chain etc.

Jacen

 

£65 ish sounds about right to me.

 

thats exactly what I charge too-

I know lets form a cartel and fix our prices so we can rip-off the public....or is that called Corgi

 

Yup I charge £65 (i'm not VAT registered coz I keep my turnover below the threshold), this includes CORGI cert, reciept and a phone call to my pet scrap-monkey to collect the old one...

 

charge £65 and get your mate to do it for £40 if that makes him happier

 

> (Its the North-East of England)


..until you said this I would say £120..in the NE they are all single mother's on state benefit

 

Had to laugh at a post on money savers.com where this bloke got a quote from a joiner to supply and fit a loft ladder. Quote was something like £250 and this bloke was on asking if this was to expensive. The joiner had told him it would take all day and so yer man comes out with this classic, if he's finished early then I have a few odd jobs to make sure I get a full day out of him. So by his logic if the job took a day and a half then he would pay the guy extra (aye sure he would). £40 pounds to fit a cooker is ridiculous, what about the cost of buying and running your van. What about the cost of your ACS assesments and Corgi registration. What about your liability insurance, your accountancy fees, your advertising etc etc.

 

gastoon,would you consider a free helper so I can gain some gas experience for my corgi?
cheers
ps i live in county durham
ben

 

I was having this debate with someone last night, he charges £60, I charge £40, he was trying to defend his price with saying he charges for an hour to cover travelling whereas I was trying to point out to him how wrong that was, no employed person gets paid for the time it takes travelling to and from work. £15-20 for the fitting kit leaves £20-25 for doing the job charging £40 and I consider that fair for the time it takes, if I charged what he does I'd feel I was ripping off the customer and I very much doubt I'd be fitting as many as I do. I'm not saying £65 is wrong to charge, everyone is free to set their own prices, but ultimately you'll know whether your prices are too high or too low by the amount of work you get, if you're fully booked you're prices are spot on, turning work away you're possibly on the cheap side, got space in the diary then you're prices are too high. The big advantage you would find from having fair prices is reduced operating costs, when your prices are fair you don't need to advertise after a while as the customer finds you rather than vice versa, you can buy in bulk, and the busier you are the less travelling time as you can plan your jobs to minimise your travelling.

 

You would think prices might have gone up in the last 10 years of this thread

 

You are right,we are all free to set our own rates. But, TT, you will not be in business long charging £20/£25. Have you seen what window cleaners charge, and they go back to the same punters every fortnight or so. Can you run your business with a clapped out van, a bucket and rag?

But, seriously, have you been in business long? have you sat down and worked out your TRUE overheads? Remember you WILL have to have time off for holidays, sickness, family funerals, training and assessments. One day, someone WILL not pay a bill. Your van WILL need replacing.

How do you buy your chain and hose? When I did that work regularly, I had stock, often bought from BES. Which involves spending YOUR cash and having it lie idle. Or buy as you go, which involves YOUR time spent at trade counters. Remember this is all WORK, and when you work out your hourly earnings, it must be taken into account.

FWIW, my "friendly" rate for a cooker is a minimum, as it happens, £65. For a random phone in punter it would be £80.

The big advantage you would find from having fair prices is reduced operating costs, when your prices are fair you don't need to advertise after a while as the customer finds you rather than vice versa, you can buy in bulk, and the busier you are the less travelling time as you can plan your jobs to minimise your travelling

How can you afford to buy in bulk when you are charging peanuts? I used to have a shop selling and fitting gas fires etc. I had two lorry containers stuffed with fires. I got SERIOUS discounts for bulk buying. I always fitted the same range of boilers, so when there was a "deal" going on, I would buy a few. I suspect you would use that discount to drop the price to sell more. I didn't. I used that discount to make more money, and to be able to ride out the tougher times. That time including over 3 months off with a major operation, which ultimately led me to closing the business and taking an easy "cards in" job. And going in your rates, I suspect I am earning as much as you, for less than 40 hours a week, and no unpaid downtime

The old adage about busy fools is so accurate. Work 20 hours at £50 per hour, rather than 40 at £25. This is not a fair question, but what are your expectations of a n annual wage?

I mean no disrespect, but no SE gas RGI should be doing ANY job for £25.

 

I hear what you're saying exbg but if I adopted your approach I'd be out of business, it may work for you, but it doesn't work for everyone, we aren't all lucky enough to be in an area with little or no competition. When a punter rings up he will usually have 3 or 4 numbers in front of him and he will generally go with the cheapest quote or the fairest quote who can fit him in soonest.

The way I view these little jobs, is they're a bonus, quick and easy, fitted in on the way to or from another job, and they get my name out there, they lead to other jobs, a punter gets a good job knowing I'm not going to rip him off so it makes me his first call for any future work and he recommends me to family and friends. For instance, today I was replacing a boiler for someone who I'd connected a cooker for in January.

 

How much did you earn fitting the boiler? The problem with recommendations via cheap jobs is that you just get more cheap customers.

Sorry, TT, you are wrong. Do BG NEVER work in your area?. they do nothing for £20. I traded in an area that was listed as "socially deprived"!. I am not a charity, so only those punters that could afford my rates hired me.

TBF, I was selling fireplaces, which tends to attract a slightly higher clientele. When I first started, I had trouble charging enough, simply because I had no experience of rates. And, critically, I believe, I never paid anyone else to do jobs for me, except car repairs. So I struggled to believe that a job was worth X amount. Eventually, I realised that the figures are the figures. If I needed to charge x amount, that was the rate. Most gas fitters are able to do their own jobs, so I suspect you are in the same position. FWIW, I charge £72 for a fire or boiler service (plus parts if required). I recall, a few years ago, a guy who wanted a fire service (I had supplied and fitted the fire), plus a boiler service. I quoted my rate less about £20, for a multiple. He was shocked, and said his mate had the same job done for £40. I said fair enough, go for it. But check he is GS reg and insured etc. He never phoned back`, and I don't care. What price would I have had to quote to compete? The idea that the punter is going to phone 3/4 people is in your own head .There ARE folk like that, but why bow to their demands?. Turn down 2 or 3 jobs at £20. Do 1 at £40/£50. Space in the diary is no problem, providing the time you do work is paying the bills. While you are scraping £20, a punter may phone with an urgent job worth x3, but you will be to busy scraping. Seriously, you CANNOT sustain a business, and provide for your future, charging peanuts.

By the same token, folk have tried to drive me down on my quoted price. I never give in. The fact that they are still talking to me tells me one thing. They want me. But they feel they have to play the game. I WILL sometimes give a small discount. But there is always a price to them. Even if it is that they will clear the light rubbish. I could easily afford to drop a ton off a boiler job, but if i gave in too easily, it would appear I was ripping them off, a la double glazing /kitchen sales people

Re: Travelling. Employed people do rarely get paid travelling time. But the SE are not employed. SE have overheads which rack every minute, whether one is driving, being technical, or sweeping the floor. SE don't always specifically charge travel time but you must factor down time in to your hourly rate.

TT, I as again, what do you expect a SE trader to earn per annum, and how long have you been SE?

I genuinely do not mean any disrespect, but can see you heading for trouble, and would love to help someone avoid pitfalls that a lot of us have fallen into.

Also re travelling: Consider this; If you were a taxi driver, in the time you spent fitting that cooker for £20, how much would your fare have been?

Finally, and this may get this post deleted, log in to DIYnot, you will find a lot more valuable info there than in here.

 

To answer your questions exbg, self employed since 2003, last years earnings 34k. For boiler fitting I charge my day rate (£200) plus parts, which is the same as most charge in my area.

 

Good morning, TT. First off, I apologise for the patronising post. One should not post after an afternoon and evening of Ale & Malbec.

I stand by most of my comments, but they could have been better presented. I know different areas attract different rates, and I was SE for over 30 years. £34K is not enough IMO, although I was guessing you did less than that, TBF. Few SE have the luxury of 8.30 - 5, and the ability to go home and straight away switch off from work. I use to work long hours, never weekends though, and no out of hours call outs, but once I woke up to what I should be charging I earned good money.

I ducked out of SE a couple of years ago, for an easy life, will retire soon and my overheads are low. My top line is a bit over £30K. 37 hours per week (early finish Fridays with 6 weeks holidays (inc BH), fantastic pension (well, would have been of I had been in it longer ) and sick pay. Van supplied etc.

Not being SE is not an option for some, and the sense of freedom as SE has a value. But IMO, aiming for £200 per day is not enough to compensate for all the risk and aggravation.

I still have personal GS registration, do a small amount of own work, but still would not do private work at your rates.

Your business is exactly that, but I bet that you could earn more for less hours by upping your rates, especially on fill in jobs.

Anyway, good luck with future.