Pricing Question..

[Swa33er]

Good evening guys,
I'm currently working for a company and plan to take flight on my own and start up a business.
Problem is, I'm pretty clueless as to how to price jobs correctly.
I'm looking for advice in this domain.
I am currently wiring a Summer House/Bar for a customer and need some help in working out a fair price to charge so that I'm getting paid what it's worth and I'm also giving them a fair price.
I have wired them a sub main from the DB in the house to the Summer House at the bottom of the garden (20m)
I have installed a small DB in the Summer House to accommodate what they require in there.
Inside the Summer House/Bar I have wired a ring main that has 8 double sockets, a light and a switch for the storage side of the structure, 6 spot lights in the main bar area with a dimmer switch, 3 low hanging 'pendant' fittings above the bar complete with switch under the bar, 3 wall lights with a switch, 5 spotlights in the soffit complete with a PIR to activate the lights on approach and an override switch to keep them on if required.
2 x External spotlights wired in SWA to come up through the porcelain paving slabs to light 2 x planters on a switch from the Summer house (10m) and finally 2 x 15w small LED flood lights installed under a custom bench wired in SWA from the summer house on a switch (20m)

Appreciate this is a bit of a waffle post, but would really appreciate any input on this anyone has.
Thanks in Advance!
James

 

[GBDamo]

At least £1800 labour in that.

How long have you been on it?

 

[telectrix]

circa £2.5K without having all details of what gear and how long it took.

 

[Swa33er]

Sorry, again being a novice at this and failing to add some important details, this is pricing for the north east of England and for labour only. I'm usually right on top of things when it comes to hours spent on a job, but I have let this one really slip away from me due to being so busy and it being a job for someone I know. I have approx spent about 29 hours on it in total
Thanks!

 

[telectrix]

a grand then.

 

[Swa33er]

Holy ----! So I was thinking of charging like £400 labour not on mates rates as such, but just someone I know through someone. Seems like I'm WAY out on how to price, thanks for the advice, any more input would be appreciated beyond belief

 

[Dustydazzler]

50 bucks an hour

 

[buzzlightyear]

Just charge 5 magic beans a cow comes after. Lol.

 

[DefyG]

Always difficult when starting out. Do you know what your current employer charges /hr.
What the local average rate is? to get some idea!
You need to work out what your overheads are running a vehicle, insurance, annual subscriptions etc etc plus a gross rate for yourself. You mentioned £400 (£13.5/hr approx) if happy with that, add 20% for tax plus overheads but that doesn’t make you any profit?

 

[ferg]

Location is everything, some parts of the NE rates are a bit lower.

I certainly wouldn't get Dusty's £50 an hour.

 

[pc1966]

Look out for the "overheads" to run a business (as above: van, insurance, professional fees like schemes & accountant, bank charges, some margin for failed part/warranty work, pension & NI contributions, etc).

It is quite normal for companies to charge 50-100% on top of the employee salary to cover those sort of things!

 

[Dustydazzler]

In the past I regularly made the mistake of underestimating the time it takes to do certain jobs / and had a low hourly rate because it had been my rate for years And not really bothered to change it.
it was only when I got chatting to a few other trades about their rates I realised mine was very cheap relative to our location.
It’s not uncommon for trades in my area to charge £50-60 per hour , even higher the closer you get to London.
but then you will also get the cash bloke for £40 an hour but you won’t get any certifications etc.