stuarty

Responsibility! Fair enough. So where do you stand on gas fitters? They have a responsibility too, as if they get it wrong they could kill far more in one go than the single person a surgeon could. Everyone has there worth, I agree with that. Consultants deserve there pay, gas fitters probably deserve there pay as they have extra skills, responsibilities, qualifications etc. the same applies to structural engineers, pilots, etc. but for The joiner that did my laminate to charge what they did is wrong. Rephrased that for you as once again your tarring us all with the same brush Fair point, sorry!

Responsibility! Fair enough. So where do you stand on gas fitters? They have a responsibility too, as if they get it wrong they could kill far more in one go than the single person a surgeon could. Everyone has there worth, I agree with that. Consultants deserve there pay, gas fitters probably deserve there pay as they have extra skills, responsibilities, qualifications etc. the same applies to structural engineers, pilots, etc. but for a joiner to charge what they do is wrong.

Why is what I do so important. I am very well qualified to do a professional job, but I opt to do a run of the mill job, because a) I can afford too and b. I get a lot more satisfaction from it!

For sure!

Responsibility!

Why? C'mon you serious?

Lol, he said it would take around 2 days and it was a different dude that done the gutters. Don't start me on the kitchen fitter!

I've worked in the NHS for 17 years, therefore I think I'm qualified to argue this point. Qualified Nurses are educated to degree level nowadays. Nursing assistants clean patients etc all day, they are paid not much above minimum wage. Qualified nurses are paid about the same as teachers but unllike there teacher counterparts they don't take abuse from kids. They take all kinds of abuse from fully grown adults and there families. Also I have saw many a doctor getting a good telling off from a nurse. Newly qualified doctors rely heavely on the cooperation of the nursing staff, if the nurses wanted to they could make the doctors lives a living hell.

Man, my profile views has went up! Honestly, I'm not trying to offend anyone with my comments, but i feel so strongly about this subject. Everyone is complaining about how bad the economy is etc. Then when you try to spend some cash, you feel like your being ripped off. I do have a decent job, with holiday pay, sick pay etc and it is funded by the tax payers. Therefore I never abuse my position, ie throwing sickies etc. I also understand that tradesmen have no holiday pay, sick pay etc and that they need to price jobs accordingly. But to charge the same as a consultant surgeon employed by the NHS is ridiculous. It's a dog eat dog world out there, I for one won't get caught out again and I'm sure anyone with half a brain wouldn't take long to work out that there getting wripped off either.

I don't care one bit how much you pay your staff. I started this thread to highlight the fact that I personally don't think tradesmen are worth what I've been getting quoted and charged. Then you comment on how much overheads etc you have to pay, therefore justifying what you have to charge your customers. But the point of the thread isn't about what companies charge, it's about what individual tradesmen charge, and in my experience its around £300 a day. Now moving on to my cars, other folk on hear have agreed that "some" individual tradesmen, quote's are based on how affluent there customers look. Now I'm not suggesting I'm affluent but the fact you sacrifice things to have a nice car should not have an impact on it. Finally, I stand by my comment that individual tradesmen are not worth any more than £150 a day.

and to add to this - local authority Building Control WILL pursue and prosecute people who mess with gas fittings who are not gas safe registered Also, a building control officer in Scotland will earn around £27-£32k a year, that's around £115 a day, minus tax, insurance etc. also they need to study four years at uni, living of a loan they need to pay back at 11% of there salary after there first £15k, then they have to complete x amount of years working and studying for there professional exams. And a joiner wants £300 cash in hand for a days work.

My neighbour is a plumber .............. oops, I mean heating engineer..... and he has openly admitted to me that his fees have been (in the past ???) based on the house, the car, the appearance etc of the customer I knew it!

I'm saying general building trades, (not engineers) are not worth £300 a day.

Excuse me, never in this entire thread have I mentioned how much I get paid other than I'm well paid for what I do. Furthermore at no time did I suggest that I should not pay someone the going rate because of the type of car they drive. I only pointed out the fact that I thought "I " was being overcharged due to my wife and I'd cars. Also the money I used to buy my cars had nothing to do with my earnings. Trust me, on my salary I wouldn't be able to afford them!

Sorry I disagree, if the guy said £300 and would take 2 days fine. If I came home and as you said had a nightmare doing the job, I would honestly give him extra. But I expect the same in return. Then my friend you are in a very small minority and fair play to you Id just like to add not all of us are like that and i don't know about the chap you used but i have over £60k's worth of tools in my lock up which unfortunately need paying for some how £60,000 worth of tools? Are you running a workshop or are they not just joinery tools or do you have multiples? As that seems a little excessive. Granted my dad has about that in tools but £30,000 of that is a big workshop saw thing that cuts, planes, mitres, routersand all the rest of it but that's an industrial unit that runs off a 3 phase power supply. The rest of his stuff like the dewalt drills, paslode nail guns, dewalt mitre saws, dewalt table saws, laser levels, several routers etc are only worht around 30K at the most and I don't think he is missing any tools. Whilst i'm only a mere 39 years of age I directly employ other tradesmen and have the old school mentality that they should only have to supply there hand tools and a cordless so with that in mind i have multiples of the same power tools Yeah ok, you employ tradesmen but do you pay them £300 a day?

Do you pay your staff £300 a day?

Still not worth £300 a day, sorry dude! Fair point, it is expensive but surely a fast worker (who may have invested a lot in tools to do a faster job) should be rewarded for his speed, not penalised. MY mate set up his own plastering firm. He undercuts many rival firms (based on price per square metre. Yet he is super fast and does an amazing job. If the price is based on the size of the job - and it is a fair price, then surely the client is the winner if he gets it done in half the time? Yeah if it a fair price! I'm going to stick my head on the block here and say what I think most people think. Tradesmen are not worth what they charge, period. I don't care how fancy your tools are either, there only to make your job easier. £150 a day max!

Also, alhough you didn't, I hate it when plumbers call them selves heating engineers. An engineer is a very different job and in Germany it is illegal to call yourself an engineer unless you have the qualifiactions and in America it is highly frowned upon and considered a lie unless you have the qualifications and are a memeber of an engineering council. In the UK we have highly regarded engineering councils like the Institute of Mechanical Engineers of which I am a chartered member of but the IMechE does sod all to protect the engineering name. Sorry not directed at you specifically stanzed, rant over. Exactly, there not engineers. To me an Engineer is a Chartered Engineer. Infract there not even incorporated Engineer level. I would say there technician level if I'm honest and should be paid accordingly!

Sorry I disagree, if the guy said £300 and would take 2 days fine. If I came home and as you said had a nightmare doing the job, I would honestly give him extra. But I expect the same in return. Then my friend you are in a very small minority and fair play to you Id just like to add not all of us are like that and i don't know about the chap you used but i have over £60k's worth of tools in my lock up which unfortunately need paying for some how And if I stayed in England, rather than Scotland my education would cost me over £100k I agree, you and all other trades should make a good living but not £300 a day. Also my education was free because I live in Scotland but if I lived in England it would have been different. I did a 5 year apprenticeship for £27.50 a week yts money and payed for my own college courses aswell whilst being a young married man with children so paid my dues too. Not saying that what you paid was right and agree it was to expensive but just because i haven't got a degree doesn't meen im not entitled to earn a good living.

This guy turned up at my house with an auld tool box, with a hammer, saw, couple of screw drivers and a silicon gun in it. I could have bought the lot for a fiver! Most joiners wouldn't need anymore than £500 worth of tools and they can claim them back on there tax, I bet!

Sorry I disagree, if the guy said £300 and would take 2 days fine. If I came home and as you said had a nightmare doing the job, I would honestly give him extra. But I expect the same in return. Then my friend you are in a very small minority and fair play to you Id just like to add not all of us are like that and i don't know about the chap you used but i have over £60k's worth of tools in my lock up which unfortunately need paying for some how And if I stayed in England, rather than Scotland my education would cost me over £100k

Sorry I disagree, if the guy said £300 and would take 2 days fine. If I came home and as you said had a nightmare doing the job, I would honestly give him extra. But I expect the same in return.

Still not worth £300 a day, sorry dude!

Yeah mate I understand that, but when you are constantly getting quoted £300 a day and above for tradesmen to do work in your home, you start to question there integrity. Makes it worse that there a one man band. I think they ave so little work that they need to charge what they do to survive, but folk soon catch on and then it's a vicious circle for them!

It is, but again you're paying for the job, not the time taken. You got a day less hassle out of it, too! Integrity!!