Doing pricing - how do you do it?

[Octopus]

I do quite a lot of wotk with kitchen and bathroom fitters, all of which are good guys who appreciate the input from a compentent, reliable spark.

Most of the bathroom work is reasonably similar and I tend to price each job fairly accurately but I've wondering whether to reduce admin time I should use some more "average" pricing for the "services" element of the jobs.

So I was thinking along the lines of:

remove 1 x ceiling light and replace with 4 x downlights (access from unboarded loft above) = 4 hours
ditto but 6 lights = 5 hours


Thoughts chaps??

 

[Richard Burns]

If you have got used to the time it takes you to do jobs and are confident in this, and you can assess the job beforehand to make sure there are none of the usual limitations and liabilities then you can go with "standard" pricing, I would tend to say that you might need to go a bit higher so that you can balance out any unanticipated variations in job conditions, but this may be outweighed by the time saving in admin.

 

[NDG Elecs]

I tend to have some 'cast in stone' prices as it were, but with each different house there are different complications. It has taken me 5-6 years to be able to price reasonably and quickly.

I think the admin side of being self employed is fairly unavoidable, quite often I am up at 1am writing quotes etc! Not much fun!

I do try and scribble down estimated times/costs when I am at a property doing a quote. I find this saves me a lot of time when typing the quote out.

The possible problem with your idea is you could end up selling yourself short on some jobs. But I suppose it balances out in the end.

When I do work for plumbers they tend to ring at last minute and I generally do an hourly rate for them. It's also hard to give prices as bonding, RCD etc may need sorting first.

 

[rocker]

I have made a spreadsheet (like a nerd) of all the things I buy and their prices, as I know how long it takes me to do various jobs but always mess it up with my materials pricing, just adding on a few quid and ending up out of pocket. So now,i just pop in five of these, four of thhem, this much cable, the spreadsheet works it out for me, then i go 'well that's going to be half a day, so that's X amount' and bish bash bosh. easy.

I've tried pricing each job individually which takes forever, and ive tried guestimating which leaves me out of pocket, I've tried doing a 'standard amount per point', and everything in between, and the way i do it now has worked out the best for me.

Ooh ooh I also stick 25p on all items ordered t6o covers tuff like screws and washers and bits and bobs, which tends to be about right. I know it sounds dumb but all that stuff really adds up!

 

[Octopus]

I have made a spreadsheet (like a nerd) of all the things I buy and their prices, as I know how long it takes me to do various jobs but always mess it up with my materials pricing, just adding on a few quid and ending up out of pocket. So now,i just pop in five of these, four of thhem, this much cable, the spreadsheet works it out for me, then i go 'well that's going to be half a day, so that's X amount' and bish bash bosh. easy.

I've tried pricing each job individually which takes forever, and ive tried guestimating which leaves me out of pocket, I've tried doing a 'standard amount per point', and everything in between, and the way i do it now has worked out the best for me.

Ooh ooh I also stick 25p on all items ordered t6o covers tuff like screws and washers and bits and bobs, which tends to be about right. I know it sounds dumb but all that stuff really adds up!

25p per job or 25 per item?

I add a minimum of £1 to cover consumables

 

[rocker]

25p per accessory and per meter of cable.

Jesus I'm a saddo!

 

[Octopus]

25p per accessory and per meter of cable.

Jesus I'm a saddo!

Not a saddo, a sensible bloke trying to make a living. I use the TLC pricing per meter for cable!

 

[Redvanman]

I use tlc also for non standard items to do a quote after hours but never buy it from them to expensive. That way I don't have to worry about a mark up.
as for quoting I have a per point price for the normal items and I can knock out a quote damn quick that way and I have never lost out.
it all depends on how you no your work methods and timings, as I get older and slower my prices will alter