Skirting board quote

Discussion in 'Carpenters' Talk' started by xinebessa, Jul 12, 2010.

  1. xinebessa

    xinebessa New Member

    I have just recieved a quote to fit new skirting boards (including materials) and to replace a couple of joists and floor boards.

    The room is roughly 4m x 8m with two chimney breasts that also require skirting. There is also a section of wall left from when it was two rooms to skirt round. In addition, another 8 or 9m of skirting is required in the hall.

    The skirting needs to be roughly 180 or 190mm high.

    The joists and floor boards are in one corner of the room, at most 2 x 2m lengths of joist and 3 or 4 x 2m lengths of floor board.

    The quote I have had is roughly £700.

    Please can you tell me if this price sounds about right?
     
  2. the best (probably)

    the best (probably) New Member

    without seeing job its hard to say .just get another quote and compare.
     
  3. rafter grafter

    rafter grafter New Member

    this quote does seem a bit pricey! i would have thought about £350 to £400 based on the skirting being mdf
     
  4. tph1

    tph1 Member

    £700! What's happened to the country that people honestly think £700 is a reasonable amount to pay someone for sticking some wood to a wall ?? Let's be honest, this is ONE DAYS work for 2 men AT MOST. A competent, hard-working, honest joiner (try finding one of those in Yell) could probably do it ON HIS OWN IN ONE DAY. (By day I mean starting at 8.30am and finishing at 5, not 11am to 3pm like most builders).

    Materials can't be more than £100 - leaving £300 a day (cash no doubt) per joiner... (cue the "what about his tools, van, insurance" brigade - well, most people have these "additional" costs with their jobs, drycleaning, fuel, city centre parking...)

    The industry is a joke and the quicker the double dip recession puts pay to these crazy prices the better.
     
  5. joinerjohn

    joinerjohn New Member

    Yeah but no but yeah right.. Her Maj forgot to say that this is in Buck House and Philip will be standing over you with the Corgi's and a shotgun, whilst you do a first class job.
    ;)
     
  6. gordon bennett

    gordon bennett New Member

    ON HIS OWN
    IN ONE DAY. (By day I mean starting at 8.30am and
    finishing at 5, not 11am to 3pm like most builders).


    Cheeky git,
    I work till at least 3.15pm,with only 2 hours for lunch.
     
  7. timber ninja

    timber ninja Member

    £100 materials. . . unless its primed mdf.

    at 180/190mm that stuff is priced like it was made by hand on a mountain with virgins waiting on hand.

    but yeah, a day of labour. maybe day and a half if you live somewhere crazy.
     
  8. goldenboy

    goldenboy Super Member

    It does make me laugh how people get so irate about prices( this is directed at you tph1). The nature of business is that you get prices from people and if you dont think its acceptable then dont take them. There is no dishonesty involved at all.

    Lets work this out, 45 odd metres of a non standard skirting, 169mm being the widest non special order width widely available, say its primed MDF, so you are looking at 9 lengths which are going to cost around £25+VAT each, thats around what i paid last time I had them, and I usually pay less than £10 for my 169mm, which is a very good price, so we are up to £265, add in around £20 for fixings, gripfill, and caulk. I would want a day and a half for doing the skirtings, trying to get them picked up and fitted in one day singlehandedly would be going some. A good joiner should be pricing minimum £180 these days, so we are up to £555. Joists and flooring wise lets say £35 materials and another £10 to cover fixings, hangers,bolts etc, doing the floor would fill up the other half of the day so we are up to £690. So in short a fair price in my opinion.

    Frankly if people dont want the work done then dont say yes to it, no-one holds a gun to their heads.

    The reason why people like you tph1 are so annoyed at the rates that good, reliable, honest and knowledgeable tradesmen charge is that probably you would struggle to find many satisfied customers willing to pay them to somebody who reckons you can buy all 45m of special order skirtings for £100 and who thinks that fitting skirting is just sticking it to the wall.

    Incidentally no adverts in yell for me squire, all word of mouth and a little reminder ad in a parish magazine, booked till middle october all fully quoted in advance so everyone knows the score.
     
    Jack Speller and GoodwithWood like this.
  9. russ295

    russ295 New Member

    well said gb, recently priced a kitchen for a friend of a builder i get bits of work from,
    he needed it done asap, it should have been about 1k, gave him a cash price of £745 as a favour to the builder, got a call saying it was way too expensive and someone else had quoted £500, "let them do it mate" was the answer, well can you do it for £700 then?
    i will but it will be in november if thats any good.

    i understand that money is tight for alot of people but working for yourself is about a balance of charging a fair price, but still making profit and customers that try to barter you down or go on web forums to quiz others about your price are best left well alone.
     
  10. kodama

    kodama New Member

    £700 sounds fair to me,
    'fair trade, no bargain'
    when i give a quote to a client,
    it genuinely reflects what i predict it's going to cost.
    if i get it done quicker i either do some extra details to make it a better job or tell the client it's gonna cost less. either way they're happy & got decent job.

    if i get bargained down, i either have to simplify design, do a poorer job or use worse materials...

    £180 per day is well fair price, remember that's gotta cover holidays, sick days, and any other hick-ups (& believe there are many) plus endless amounts of tools etc..

    so be carefull what you bargain for, you might just get it

    @ end of day both client & tradesman must be happy with price,
     
    GoodwithWood likes this.
  11. tph1

    tph1 Member

    Keep kidding yourselves it's a good deal. The average salary in the UK is £489 GROSS. (ie before tax for those of you who deal in cash)

    (source http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=285)

    It would take this average worker over 2 weeks to afford to pay for this job. Is this sustainable ? How about in a recession ? How about a depression ?

    Good luck converting similar quotes into jobs from 2011 onwards.
     
  12. big all

    big all Screwfix Select

    only llamelo mentions the joists this could actualy take up a whole day on its own who actualy knows whats involved
    exposing supporting cutting back treating ect ect who knows
    big all
     
  13. An alwart

    An alwart New Member

    "Good luck converting similar quotes into jobs from 2011 onwards".

    Slightly bitter and twisted mate? Average pay is £489 is it, how interesting. WTF has that got to do with an experienced, self employed tradesman?

    Everyone here has also forgotten the time taken to visit and do the quote in the first place. Nothing's free.

    £700 is a good price, anything less and the job has to suffer.
     
    GoodwithWood likes this.

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