On 2008-06-02 01:51:32 +0100, "Arfa Daily" said:


"Andy Hall" wrote in message news:48426bb6@qaanaaq...
On 2008-06-01 09:21:41 +0100, "Arfa Daily" said:


"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
...


Andy Hall wrote:
On 2008-05-31 00:45:29 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
said:

In article 48408c85@qaanaaq,
Andy Hall wrote:
Project management can range from the sophisticated down to the
simple one of sourcing specified goods and fitting them..

Right. I project managed a 13 amp plug onto a cable today.

Hope you made a good margin :-)

Cost price 50p, mark up 100%, materials £1.00 - margin bugger all.



--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk



So how would you figure a markup of 100% to be a margin of "bugger all" ?
I'm glad I've never enganged you to do any work for me. If I marked
everything up by 100%, I wouldn't have any customers ... d;~}

Arfa

Your'e confusing markup and margin.

If I buy something for 50p and mark it up 100% it will be priced at £1.

For this case, the margin is 50%.

Had the cost of goods been £1, then the margin would have been zero,
bugger all, or in Welsh, Llareggub.


I'm not confusing anything. I know the difference between %age markup and
'margin'. The cost of the goods in the example wasn't £1, it was 50p.

Read it again What he was saying was that if the materials cost had
been £1, the margin would have been zero.


If you
marked it up by 100% to £1 your margin is, as you say, 50%. To progress this
in a logical manner, if you bought a bath for £200, and applied your 100%
markup to your customer, it's then gonna set them back £400. Still a 50%
margin, but an extortionate price to the customer ... I wouldn't call that
margin of £200, "bugger all".


That depends on context. If the fitter was simply sourcing a bath
and having it delivered and doing nothing more, then a 50% margin in
the context of £200 for a £200 would be unreasonable. 50% would be
reasonable for a £50 tap because it's likely to cost that much in time
to go and source it. For the £200 bath, in the context of a £2k
bathroom project, the customer may feel that it's reasonable to accept
£200 for sourcing of materials in order that ownership of any problems
is with the fitter.

Assumption of risk has a cost. The customer can also choose to
source the materials himself and then he assumes the risk. He has to
decide whether the saving is worth it and there needs to be a clear
understanding of what happens if things go wrong.

The problems arise when the customer has wanted to attempt to save
money by sourcing goods for himself but then expects the tradesman to
fix the problems if the goods are faulty. There is a cost associated
with that, just as there is a cost associated with the return of any
faulty goods by any purchaser.