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.

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.



100% is pretty well par for the course in the garage trade. My
ex-MOT-tester neighbour still does it for all the private work
he still does. And he charges VAT on the bull**** 'retail' price
and then pockets the extra 20% on the markup.