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The Natural Philosopher[_2_]

On 19/05/2021 09:53, wrote:
On 18/05/2021 22:21, newshound wrote:
On 18/05/2021 21:39, 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 Â£90 for the first hour followed by Â£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 Â£150 for parts that I could easily buy for
Â£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.

I don't know whether you have ever run your own business, but many
people who have not significantly underestimate the overheads for
firms like these. You may be right, this firm could be taking the
****. If you actually used them, you might find that they "round down"
their hours, or are scrupulous about stopping the clock during tea
breaks.

While I am pretty skeptical about TripAdvisor and the like, it is
interesting to see what reviews firms get on social media. To my mind,
there is nothing to beat a personal recommendation.
The overheads should be adequately covered by the call-out and hourly
charges - assuming 3 small jobs a day and 6 chargeable hours means
Â£420/day. Marking-up parts by more than 3x is taking the proverbial

No, its marketing.

People will pay for parts, but they dislike paying invisible overheads.

Even 'call out charges'

Remember that 'hourly rate' isn't for a man with a spade who walked
there and got paid cash, there are tools, test equipment, third party
insurance, vehicles, membership of professional organisations, stock
holding, book keeping and so on.

Marking up parts to full retail plus 40% is a way of justifying a larger
bill that people would resent if paid as 'labour'.

I have often wondered if opening a restaurant that charged like
this,would be profitable or a total disaster

Entering clean warm well lit insured premises and sitting down at table
Â£13.50
Clearing up and washing plates and cutlery used Â£3.50
13 minutes of undivided attention from hot waitress in smart clean
uniform Â£7.25
3 minutes of skilled cork extraction from the wine waiter Â£3
22 minutes of skilled cooking from qualified kitchen staff Â£22
wine Â£1.40
1 sirloin stake. Â£3.50
1 vegetables 0.75p
sauces and condiments 0.15p
1 Apple crumble 0.37p
1 cream 0.15p
1 coffee 0.25p

The bill is ~Â£50 of which actual food cost is around a fiver.

When I had a girlfriend with a pro qualification in catering back in the
70s, that was about the ratio the industry normally used. 10%.

the guy who fixed my boiler was the same. In the end parts were about
double what they should have been, so Â£80 labour + Â£120 parts turned
into Â£320 inc VAT.

And I think that there were a few parts in there that weren't strictly
necessary

BUT I never got that boiler serviced - once in 20 years I think - so in
the end the fact that nearly all the parts that *could* go, had been
replaced, was probably worth the 'service' charge.

In the end, look at the total job and work out if, in the end, it was
worth it.

--
Any fool can believe in principles - and most of them do!

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