On 02/10/2020 21:24, John Rumm wrote:
On 02/10/2020 19:38, GB wrote:
On 02/10/2020 19:23, Chris B wrote:
I have just received an estimate from a tradesman (based on
photographs to save him the time of a visit) which includes £199
Plus VAT for listed parts.


The very same parts are available from suppliers listed on amazon
(not amazon itself) for £96.98 Including VAT and delivery.


I know that part of the tradesman's profit comes from the Sale of
parts but I always thought that they bought parts from suppliers at
trade prices and then billed for them at retail prices.

Is a markup on parts of well over 100% typical in the building
industry or is this a simple indication that he doesn't want the job?


So far I only have one estimate, as I don't like wasting 3 peoples
time for jobs of less than half a day, when only one is going to get
the job.

I am wondering if its worth getting any more or is this typical.



As a professional, I charged for my time. If I bought in services for
clients, I passed them on at cost.

Which if you literally do that (i.e. sell at your buy price), means you
lose money on every part sold - since procurement takes your time, and
bites into your cash flow, warranty replacements then just increase that
loss.

Part of that is clearly time and hence billable as such. I'm not sure
about risk of faulty parts, incurred as an intermediary.


However, I got a quote from a gas fitter recently who charged a fairly
high rate for his time AND wanted to sell me a lot of parts with a
100% mark-up. This made his hourly rate of charge really high!

100% might be taking the pee, although it depends on the market and the
product.


Surely it should depend on time and risk?