"charles" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Nick Odell wrote:
On Tue, 18 May 2021 21:39:23 +0100, wrote:

I've been talking to a rural plumbing firm about a small job that I
could do, but didn't fancy doing, and had agreed their published rate of
£90 for the first hour followed by £50/hour thereafter. I guessed the
job would take between 1 and 2 hours. Today I found out they were going
to charge more than £150 for parts that I could easily buy for £50 at
retail prices. When they wouldn't justify the mark-up I cancelled and
will do the work myself when the warmer weather arrives. I was prepared
to pay the (OTT) labour rate but they blew it by putting such a huge
mark-up on the parts. Because of greed they lost the job.
I feel sorry for people who don't have the option to do things
themselves, or who don't know anything about the time jobs take and the
cost of materials.

What's the standard mark-up for plumbing parts? And what's the
recommended retail price for that part you can buy for £50? There are
some resellers who pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap, making up in
turnover for what they lose in margin and you can't expect a tradesman
to compete with that on his trade discount. Of course if the part you
can buy for fifty quid only cost the plumber thirty then at £150 he is
taking the ****.

But, you need to actor in the time taken to go and get the part(s) and the
cost of going to the supplier. I've just taken an hour and a 20 mile
round trip to get a sack of Postcrete.

(pre Covid) most suppliers of bulk building material deliver for free