pricing of jobs.

[5544]

I have to say i am crap at pricing jobs. always have been. Anyway i have not been involved in the actual pricing of jobs for some time. i will be going self employed in a few months so would like to get this right.


Q1. does anyone have a structured pricing guide which they use to price up domestic work. I know it will vary from individual but anything helps.


Q2. i have just completed the below job for a neighbour, more as a friend rather than work ( i know, always a mistake), and i know that quoting £940.00 labour was low (there are good reasons for that which has nothing to do with the money itself), but i was wondering what others would have roughly quoted, to give me some feedback.

all below were a new extension
1. make exisiting installation safe
2. living room- 8 double sockets, 2way lighting with 2 pendants. 2 tv points.
3. utility room - 3 spotlights, 1 switch, 3 double sockets, 3 single sockets below work surface. 3 SFU's
4, cloackrook room- 1 switch 2 spotrlights
5. kitchen- 8 spots, 2 other light fittings, 2 way switching, 5 double sockets 4 singles, 4 SFU's, 3 other terminals for appliances.
6. cooker circuit, - socket and connection terminmal.
7. freezer circuit to one socket
8, bedroom 1- 3 doubles sockets, 1 single, 1 tv point, 1 pendant
9. bedrrom 2 - 3 double sockets, 1 single, 1 tv point one pendant
10. bathroom 1. - 1 Fan, 3 pole isolator, sfu, wall light power, 1 switch, 1 light fitting
11. bathroom 2. - 1 fan, 1 switch, 3 pole isolator. 1 sfu
12. batheroom 3. - 1 fan. 3 pole isolator, 1 sfu, 1 swtich, 3 spots, 1 wall light
13. hall. - 1 doulbe socket, three way lighting.
14. 4 smoke detectors all main power interconnected.
15. 8 outside lights with 2 way switching.
16 .upgrade all earthing.
17. 15 way consummer unit installed
18. new garage consumer unit, 2 double sockets, 1 light, and earhting

lots of little things but this is the crux of it.

I know there will be many who will not disclose how much they would quote. i respect that but please dont rant on this thread. for those that will give me a ball park figure i would be very gratefull. Before anyone askes i am a qualified electrician, but i have been tucked up with other things for 5 years so am a little rusty. I am not intending to undercut anyone (well i know £940.00 is daft). i am purely asking in order to learn from this. i do not inted doing jobs for silly money in the future, and to be honest i would rather not do it at all if i meant i shoud.
kindest regards.

 

[brightspark2010]

Mate thats a lot of work and would definately be seeking more for labour cost at least double even off a m8 even more if it was someone you owed nothing and were actually trying to make a living

 

[5544]

i know. it is very complicated, to explain, but if anyone has a guide on how they price jobs, it would be of great benifit. i did think that there was about 2k in labour costs here, but would be nice to have others views as well.
thanks.

 

[trev]

I reckon you've sold yourself short mate but we have all done it and learnt the lesson. I'm not sure that there's a pricing guide on here but you could knock one up yourself on Excel since the cost of living varies from region to region.
I normally do it on a materials+expected time = price to customer basis. Sometimes I score a bit, sometimes I lose a bit

 

[Marvo]

I've also seen guys on the forum use a 'per point' pricing system. I'm sure this would vary depending on the location of the work and the type or building etc but it might be a handy, quick way to check your quotation to make sure you're in the right ballpark.

 

[rfears]

So how much do you mark up materials? Labour is simple I think - x hours/day times hour/day rate - but do you do materials at trade rate, or trade rate times y percentage?

I'm in the process of qualifying but have done "pub jobs" for friends and I always find it difficult to work out material prices and mark up on them.

 

[RWJ]

Hi there
I just saw your post on looking for help on pricing and think I can probably help.
A few years ago I created a simple pricing tool that makes pricing a piece of cake and we have been using it ever since. We originally had a big software package but it had practically 100 other features we never needed or used. It took 3 days training just to use it.
Anyway,,, The tool I use will have you popping out estimates in minutes. I cant post a link or anything here as someone will think I am marketing or something but you can pm me for details.
Thanks

Is there a cost to this "tool"?

 

[a1guvner]

Hi there
I just saw your post on looking for help on pricing and think I can probably help.
A few years ago I created a simple pricing tool that makes pricing a piece of cake and we have been using it ever since. We originally had a big software package but it had practically 100 other features we never needed or used. It took 3 days training just to use it.
Anyway,,, The tool I use will have you popping out estimates in minutes. I cant post a link or anything here as someone will think I am marketing or something but you can pm me for details.
Thanks

"someone might think your marketting" of your few previous posts they all boil down to the same statement, nice

 

[timo1]

I have been trying and failing for the last two years to get a consistent method of balancing parts labour etc and have done o.k with some, very poor with others. What I do now is charge a labour rate which I know I will get free and clear. The parts I pass on my trade saving to the customer and I ask if they agree to cover all the costs and I can give them the receipts which they are usually happy with. I tend to do smaller to medium sized jobs but I find this system works for me as I don't lose out on parts I've overlooked.

 

[a1guvner]

I have been trying and failing for the last two years to get a consistent method of balancing parts labour etc and have done o.k with some, very poor with others. What I do now is charge a labour rate which I know I will get free and clear. The parts I pass on my trade saving to the customer and I ask if they agree to cover all the costs and I can give them the receipts which they are usually happy with. I tend to do smaller to medium sized jobs but I find this system works for me as I don't lose out on parts I've overlooked.

We add a % markup to the goods to cover our costs on ordering, taking delivery of goods and general management of the procurement process

 

[Octopus]

£940 for all that listed - I have to say you're daft - its at least £2000.00 and that's not including "making the existing installation safe"

Have you tried to cost the parts at all??

You don't say where you are in the UK but regional has a bearing

 

[Snapester]

I would have been at least £1650 for labour only!

 

[Dave 85]

I'd charge my own mother three times that in labour....
You're being a bit shady about why you have to do it cheap...

You got their daughter cheggers?
Ran over their cat?
They gave you a kidney?

 

[Farmelectrics]

45 per point that's every point

 

[Dave 85]

£50 for me per point and even thats not enough on some jobs. People talking about selling materials at cost price....
What you are running is not a business its a charity.

 

[D80]

Materials at cost price is madness. Got to take into account time to order it, collect it, transport it, store it if a bulk buy, and in the event of a defect replacing it free of charge.

 

[imago]

Materials at cost price is OK for some jobs, price per point is OK for some jobs, hourly rate is OK for some jobs, even pricing a job at break even is OK if it's going to bring the fat in on later work. It all depends on the job you're quoting for. If there was one simple pricing system that worked everytime, everyone would be using it.

 

[ebow72]

I know this might not be bang on the money, but it's ideal for a starting point as to what to charge.
Electrician Prices - Estimates of the cost of electrical jobs
Some of the job descriptions are way under priced, I think you can update them.
Hope this helps a little...

 

[i=p/u]

theres one in there where , six downlightts , switches and 16 socket fronts for £100

 

[i=p/u]

every job is judged on its own.. win some loose some, easy ones awkward ones.....etc

just go for it, do it right and try and make a buck

 

[cornburn]

Bloody hell, how do you guys manage? I'd ballpark about £4k-£5k for that lot incl materials without working it out accurately. That's a ton of work and you know there's going to be wasted days in there.

 

[Voltimax]

I wish people would stop posting links to that what price site.
Do you not realise that anyone can post prices there? This is why they're so far out. STOP LINKING TO IT!

 

[ebow72]

Your wish is my command Voltimax, I won't do it again....:frown2:

 

[5544]

i really appreciate all the cander over this thread. it is all valued. as it was i posted the thead to see if there was a a logical way i could work out pricing, as i intend going self employed in june after many years of working for others. I was aware that i was doing the job for nothing. i had calculated the labour at around £2,400, after i had finished.
As it was i did the fatal error of doing a job for a friend. A friend as it was who really took advantage even with the price i gave. They changed the remit daily, and i must have done more work ontop of what i wrote down here. The assessor from elecsa was a little gob smacked as well. (nice guy though)
ontop of it all they clearly never appreciated the workdone, and thast really p+++ed me off.
I have learnt a valuable lesson, but to be honest i think they will regret it in the long run. Looking forward to going on my own though.

regards

 

[Tonkatoy27]

£45 per point plus VAT usually works out ok for me, don't forget to price all 'non standard' items on their own tho. eg. downlighters, central heating controls, earthing etc. Add a bt to the 45 for 2way, 2 lights on one switch etc. You have to put a percentage on materials as you have a responsiblity to change them UG if they go wrong, If the customer wants it cheaper tell them to supply materials and then you can charge them to go back and fault find, remove, then replace offending faulty crap when it goes wrong.

 

[robsparky1975]

I think my pricing is either way over the top or generally on the money and there are people looking to work pennies,i done a quote on a 3 bed detached,if i priced per point 102 of them at £45 and adjusted to take account of 23 downlights and other non standard fixtures,then it would be in the region of £4500-£4700,sounded over the top so i worked out materials then my labour and came in at £3400,got undercut by £800.Pricing in itself i think is a learning curve and its not until we have either done jobs for next to nothing and sold ourselves short or overpriced and been beaten that we get it right,sure i will get it right soon lol.