Pros and cons of screwfix

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Discuss Pros and cons of screwfix in the UK Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

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piggyitm

Recently,I had a customer that said to me" if you can get the materials cheaper than I can get myself at screw fix,go ahead!" for 6 bathroom spots and a shower install
I said they would have to incur my premium charge of £17 PH if they supplied their own materials.
After agreeing,but then after a survey, I found their was no bonding(not even main) and advised upon a 17th board with 10mm bonding.They bought the board for £100 from screwfix and I had a shag end of 10mm in the shed.
The total bill for the job in hours was £255.00 with admin for cert.They got a mains change at the price of 3 hours labour.Some of you guys charge £350 just for the CU
I know i'm shorting myself but without dragging your heels and if the guys got the catologue what do you do??
I might be better with a job on the bins!
 
i'm never happy for the customer to provide their own equipment. however some people are insistent, so i advise the correct parts ie. must be fire rated downlights etc. and make them aware that if any of the items are non-conforming i will have to charge £20 per hour for going back out to suppliers to replace what they have bought. and all items provided by themselves will not be covered by my 12 month warranty, this usually works as they don't want to pay any extra. also i use proteus consumer units for domestic properties, O.K they are not as good as hager but they are cheaper from CEF than going to screwfix and you only pay for the mcb's you want and not having 4 spares afterwards.:)
 
piggyitm said:
Recently,I had a customer that said to me" if you can get the materials cheaper than I can get myself at screw fix,go ahead!" for 6 bathroom spots and a shower install
I said they would have to incur my premium charge of £17 PH if they supplied their own materials.
After agreeing,but then after a survey, I found their was no bonding(not even main) and advised upon a 17th board with 10mm bonding.They bought the board for £100 from screwfix and I had a shag end of 10mm in the shed.
The total bill for the job in hours was £255.00 with admin for cert.They got a mains change at the price of 3 hours labour.Some of you guys charge £350 just for the CU
I know i'm shorting myself but without dragging your heels and if the guys got the catologue what do you do??
I might be better with a job on the bins!
Click to expand...
stick to your price or move on, unless you havent got any other work

i havent as yet fitted any customer supplied cu`s and you are correct i also charge £350 for a cu change
 
This is how I do it,
Materials supplied by the customer don't get any warranty from myself.
As said before, if anything is wrong or broken then either charge them an hourly rate to fix or don't fit it at all.
If they start being fussy then I tend to submit my quote and tell them that my price for the work. If they get someone else in to do it then so be it.
 
piggyitm said:
Recently,I had a customer that said to me" if you can get the materials cheaper than I can get myself at screw fix,go ahead!" for 6 bathroom spots and a shower install
I said they would have to incur my premium charge of £17 PH if they supplied their own materials.
After agreeing,but then after a survey, I found their was no bonding(not even main) and advised upon a 17th board with 10mm bonding.They bought the board for £100 from screwfix and I had a shag end of 10mm in the shed.
The total bill for the job in hours was £255.00 with admin for cert.They got a mains change at the price of 3 hours labour.Some of you guys charge £350 just for the CU
I know i'm shorting myself but without dragging your heels and if the guys got the catologue what do you do??
I might be better with a job on the bins!
Click to expand...


If customer provides their own materials they dont get any sort of warranty and get charged full rate if I have to go back to repair anything supplied.
Also if they are providing their own materials then add at least the mark up you would put onto your own material on top of their bill. This way you are not losing as much to screwfix and you would still be putting in a decent price.
At then end of the day there are still bills to pay!!!
 
I hate customers supplying materials, if they do I tell them they wont get a warranty, and should the fail I will charge them to replace them with a minimum charge of 1Hour.

As long as they bought a decent C.U I would change it, but it would need to be one that I approved of.

Ian
 
It says in my contract that whatever is customer supplied is not under any guarantee. I also insist that they run by me what they are getting first. I think I've only done one job with 'new' stuff that was customer supplied. A lot of the time, people want to supply their own but when they see that it will cost them more if they supply and decide against it.

Your local wholesaler will be cheaper than screwfix. Shop around a few and choose one. After a while, once they know your face, you will get discount also. I don't know why everyone seems to think screwfix is good or cheap, I find their products to be very similar to B&Q rubbish, and I find them wildly expensive.
 
for the same reasons I mostly use one wholesaler, They know me i know them, I occasionally put a list out to tender to other wholesalers just to make sure i'm not being had over. If you can supply it cheaper than me it's not worth fitting!

Likewise I've had a few people go on about prices, and wanting to supply their own gear. This is fine by me but all the usual terms apply with regard to no waranty, minimum charge for replacement etc etc. my only exception is consumer units, I will not customer supplied boards, unless it is what i have specd, i like hager and niglon, that's what i fit, I won't have someone slagging me off because the fuse box they supplied keeps tripping out or causing problems due to poor quality.
 
flukey said:
stick to your price or move on, unless you havent got any other work

i havent as yet fitted any customer supplied cu`s and you are correct i also charge £350 for a cu change
Click to expand...

I charge £ 190 a day labour + materials
CU change + test will take a day, I charge my RCBO's out at £ 25 a peice when I get them for £ 15 inc vat also I mark my tails and 16mm earth up, I prob make £ 260 for a days work fitting a CU

dont feel bad about marking up

everyone does it and you are providing a service

I would imagine you pay the £ 60 per hour the garage charges you come MOT time dont ya!!!

we are sparks and are top of the tree;)
 
lloyd1980 said:
I charge £ 190 a day labour + materials
CU change + test will take a day, I charge my RCBO's out at £ 25 a peice when I get them for £ 15 inc vat also I mark my tails and 16mm earth up, I prob make £ 260 for a days work fitting a CU

dont feel bad about marking up

everyone does it and you are providing a service

I would imagine you pay the £ 60 per hour the garage charges you come MOT time dont ya!!!

we are sparks and are top of the tree;)
Click to expand...
believe me, i dont ever feel bad about marking up :p
 
i have never felt bad about marking on materials as it`s my time and fuel that goes around getting them. and also my time and fuel that will return if there is a problem within the guarantee period.
 
how much have you all marked up by?
the most ive heard of is £ 300 per light when the T5 fittings were £ 100 each

what is your mark up?

I generaly do what I can
 
all depends on the job mate. i have never been to extortionate. i usually see what i can get the bits for through the discount the wholesalers give me and then i mark up to the big orange prices. if there is no mark up i have just put the labour onto the bill for the running around.
 
These all sound like good,yet reflexed responses What are the real counter measures. If the customers have catalogues as arms and the ungratefull,out of habit,who counter all final bills quoting so called whole sale prices,do you walk away?


On the side,my missus has just accused me of not really wanting to work for my self because I won't drop my prices to guarantee the work.Obviously she is envious of the sparks potential to earn,but also becomes annoyingly aware if i've over priced a job according by her own wages.She comes from a council house background and can't help her self but to drag me down to council estate prices?I try not to discriminate between customers but does anyone else look them up and down and make an instant judgment as to how much to charge? Cheers
 
Again, if they reckon they can get it cheaper than you at Screwfix, let them do it but don't guarantee. You can say to them 'Well, I can charge you 200 for labour and you'll spend 60 on materials and get no guarantee, or you can let me supply everything, do it all for 260 anyway and you get the guarantee'. You should be able to do this as, if you are using a decent wholesaler, you should be able to get materials for at least 10% less than bloody Screwfix, and if you can't then you're doing something wrong!

On the other hand, why would you? To be honest I'd be happy to eat the 10% markup (which would only go on fuel getting to and from the wholesalers anyway), to be in a position where I don't have to gurantee the rubbish materials the customer provides. If they are from Screwfix or B&Q, they are probably going to break in six months time, and at that point you can provide your materials, make your markup AND charge for the job all over again! If they think they're so clever and savvy about wholesale prices, let them stew in it, I say!

As far as different pricing for different people, it can go a tenner each way for me, but to be honest that's normally knocking a bit off for old dears or people who obviously don't have a great deal. Contractors normally get quoted quite a bit on top, because you know they're going to haggle you anyway, and even if they don't, they are going to be a pain in the rear expecting you to fix what their other trades have knackered, extras etc.
 
piggyitm said:
These all sound like good,yet reflexed responses What are the real counter measures. If the customers have catalogues as arms and the ungratefull,out of habit,who counter all final bills quoting so called whole sale prices,do you walk away?


On the side,my missus has just accused me of not really wanting to work for my self because I won't drop my prices to guarantee the work.Obviously she is envious of the sparks potential to earn,but also becomes annoyingly aware if i've over priced a job according by her own wages.She comes from a council house background and can't help her self but to drag me down to council estate prices?I try not to discriminate between customers but does anyone else look them up and down and make an instant judgment as to how much to charge? Cheers
Click to expand...


if you come accross a customer with catalogues as arms then in your price just put what you normaly charge for materials witha mark up, if they question it then just say these are my prices for supplying the materials, this is what im charging, if you want to supply then go ahead , also make sure you only give estimates for the work
when inevitably the customer gets the wrong matirials 1 way switches instead of 2, not enough cable, generally no screws or plugs,extractor fans without the ducting, LV lights without the transformers or jb's, no brown sleeving ( I could go on ) so you keep sending them out on errands as you need the stuff straight away
generally after 3rd trip they cant be bothered and send you for the rest
so you mark these up more than you would have normaly, and the wasted time you spend at the house waiting for stuff goes on the final bill as hours spent on the job
either way you make your money mate, I prefer labour only as there is NO responsibility to reapir the stuff or replace it without charge :)
 
phil7677 said:
all depends on the job mate. i have never been to extortionate. i usually see what i can get the bits for through the discount the wholesalers give me and then i mark up to the big orange prices. if there is no mark up i have just put the labour onto the bill for the running around.
Click to expand...

I normally get my price from the wholesalers then mark up to £1 less than the big orange prices this way with Screwfix and the good old orange "consumer diy" store prices the customer is still getting a better price from me and getting better quality stock

I also advise any supplied CU or cable will not be fitted as I cannot guarantee where it came from and as such I refuse to put my name to an EIC and sign it to say safe. However sockets & switches if the customer wants to pay me my minimum hourly rate and buy their own socket or switch I am happy for that as it would probably be more expensive for the customer that way anyway.
 
piggyitm said:
?I try not to discriminate between customers but does anyone else look them up and down and make an instant judgment as to how much to charge? Cheers
Click to expand...

No, They pay my rates or I will walk away, if they want an electrician pay for it, if they want a cowboy for cheapness, good luck looking!

If when confronted with the screwfix prices I say no problem to that, then go to the electricfix counter and get it cheaper as its near to home anyway.
 
Mark_Burgess said:
No, They pay my rates or I will walk away, if they want an electrician pay for it, if they want a cowboy for cheapness, good luck looking!

If when confronted with the screwfix prices I say no problem to that, then go to the electricfix counter and get it cheaper as its near to home anyway.
Click to expand...
dont find electricfix prices that much cheaper, couple of quid at best

screwfix always seem to be doing a complete 10 way wylex board for £79.99 inc vat, (same price in electricfix) now thats not bad value in my book
 
flukey said:
dont find electricfix prices that much cheaper, couple of quid at best

screwfix always seem to be doing a complete 10 way wylex board for £79.99 inc vat, (same price in electricfix) now thats not bad value in my book
Click to expand...

Plain old B&Q had a fully loaded 10 way dual RCD for £56 a couple of weeks ago :eek:

My local electricfix counter are good at matching or beating prices if for a decent order, but what they dont ever have in stock is 20mm white conduit singles or bulk, but sell all the accessories:rolleyes:
 
I had a customer who wanted some small works done plus PIR lighting put up He said a scored a bit by getting the PIR lights himself. Two weeks later got a phone call me thinks one of the PIR lights you put up is not working. I said me thinks you better take it back to the supplier as the contract is between you and them I only fitted it and if you want me to swap it over I will send you a quote. Mmmmmmmm stillwaiting for the phone call
 
i have an electricfix catalogue, some of the stuff is cheaper but for example the wylex board, its 79.99 in both electricfix and screwfix BUT with screwfix i always have an email with a voucher code for 10% off or other offers so seems you cant win!!
 
keithsims said:
i have an electricfix catalogue, some of the stuff is cheaper but for example the wylex board, its 79.99 in both electricfix and screwfix BUT with screwfix i always have an email with a voucher code for 10% off or other offers so seems you cant win!!
Click to expand...
thats exactly what i mean, im an electrifix member but 9 times out of 10 use screwfix instead as they have better offers :confused:
 
Electrifix say they will match any screwfix deal as its all on the same computer.Anyhow......Thanks for the replies,I have since concluded that i'm not as scottish as I could be! :)
 
I find problem at moment is all the mybuilder and myhammer stuff around at moment
I priced a Rewire up other day and then the lady advertised it on one of these web sites and called me back saying can get it done for £1150
Three bed house with chrome switches and 12 down lights and a alarm
Must be a cowboy getting all gear from screwfix
 
suppose if your working for someone and it`s done on a weekend with someone elses stuff it`s five and a half each for a couple of days work, usually not worth the hassle when they want it doing cheap mate, i have had one before that we did for a friend of a friend, what a nightmare, never again the cheaper the job the more hassle. learnt that very early on thankfully so not had too many like it
 
screwfix gets bad press, they do sell some good stuff at a premium price though. like a volex split load db at 50 quidish, then a crabtree or mk for 100 quidish...so what is the customer likely to think, they have no clue about 'names' unless they know you or of you, they don't give a ****.

When you get into the top end stuff (none volex) , your local wholeseller can compete, trying to explain to customers is the hard bit
 
Last edited by a moderator:
lloyd1980 said:
dont feel bad about marking up

everyone does it and you are providing a service

I would imagine you pay the £ 60 per hour the garage charges you come MOT time dont ya!!!

we are sparks and are top of the tree;)
Click to expand...

I couldn't have put it better, we are well trained at considerable expense, have legal responsibilities long after the cheque has cleared and we take a hit from the DIYers in conjunction with B&Q, Screwfix etc.
Make no apology for charging out at a fair price with decent markup on materials and labour!
 
also their electricians forum is the biggest load of rubbish around, i have never seen rubbish like is posted on there on any forum really, waste of bandwidth
 
hahaha... yeah mate it did... "however" it had a split down the plastic case and ocassionally comes loose....! lol..... dont worry though it still works..!
 

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