Buy electrical goods from shop normal for electrician to charge more in labour?

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5288 posts

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#1919975 15-Dec-2017 08:08

If I were a busy sparky I would ignore lower value jobs where people supply their own product.

It reminds me of an insulation company I once tried to hire to insulate our garage, and they said they don't do that specific type of work anymore as government subsidies made other kinds of jobs more lucrative.

I was annoyed as I felt the government was pushing up prices for jobs like this. In the end, I couldn't find anyone local who would do it so I just did it myself.

kobiak

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#1919996 15-Dec-2017 08:47

sbiddle:

Electricians make money two ways - on labour and parts.

You don't go into a restaurant with your own steak and then expect the chef to cook it and give you a big discount..

What kills me the most is travel to job cost (call out fee even if the guy can't fix it, or quote ridiculous price), what the hell?

You either don't expect to see some items in the final bill, when you asked front/back-end developer to fix websites, things like:

- internet connection fee (this is call out charge for petrol time wasted)

- adobe monthly licence

- etc

However you charge back for images purchased :D

So there're some frustrations at each job, and people take advantage of customers like me, who have 0 idea about electricity/plumbing/building

helping others at evgenyk.nz

1101

3122 posts

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#1920014 15-Dec-2017 09:28

kobiak:

What kills me the most is travel to job cost (call out fee even if the guy can't fix it, or quote ridiculous price), what the hell?

So its OK if the tradesman has to spend an HOUR traveling to YOUR house , ie an hour stuck in traffic
Then to the next job or quote & another hour in traffic, then the next hour in traffic etc
So either they charge callout fee, (remember they are driving to YOUR house) , or they have to charge more to cover all the time driving
If they were spending the whole day at your house, ie a full 8 hours, then a callout fee couldnt be justified .

Ive spent 3 hours of the day , stuck in traffic going from one job to another (Im not a sparky). That time has to be made up for somehow

As to using customer supplied parts: If I was a sparky I would just say no.
They are liable for the work done & possibly liable if installing dodgy faked parts . Or they could struggle with some cheap crap that simply doesnt work or wont fit.

You know if the customer is trying to save a few $ buy buying the own parts, they are probably going to be a cheap & problematic customer
Some jobs are more trouble than they are worth, its not as if sparkies are desperate for work :-)

Fred99

13684 posts

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#1920015 15-Dec-2017 09:28

kobiak:

What kills me the most is travel to job cost (call out fee even if the guy can't fix it, or quote ridiculous price), what the hell?

Callout fees are perfectly reasonable - and needed. If service people / firms didn't charge them, then there wouldn't be a service industry - you'd be better off on the dole or working for Maccas.

Lastman

306 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1920017 15-Dec-2017 09:29

I’d love these professions to be brought into the 21st century, electrical, plumbing etc. By restricting these fields to those that have done a four year apprenticeship it is extremely inefficient in cost, time and innovation.

The electrical trade, especially in regard to house installations, is intellectually trivial. You could teach anyone the basis of it in a lazy weekend.

The problem is the safety aspect. How to ensure that the public is protected from dangerous work. There is surely ways to achieve this and open up these industries.

Dunnersfella

4086 posts

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#1920018 15-Dec-2017 09:30

You know if the customer is trying to save a few $ buy buying the own parts, they are probably going to be a cheap & problematic customer

THIS!!!

Fred99

13684 posts

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#1920025 15-Dec-2017 09:38

1101:

Ive spent 3 hours of the day , stuck in traffic going from one job to another (Im not a sparky). That time has to be made up for somehow

Yup. I spent a month running a friend's sole-trader service business while he was OS (for his first proper holiday in a decade).
Mainly small jobs, so I think on average, I charged out about 2 1/2 hours labour a day (@ $100& GST). If I didn't charge a callout fee ($80), then he wouldn't have had a business to come back to. I was beating myself up a bit thinking that I wasn't working hard enough, but turns out that's about what he'd normally charge out anyway.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek

#1920027 15-Dec-2017 09:39

Lastman:
The electrical trade, especially in regard to house installations, is intellectually trivial. You could teach anyone the basis of it in a lazy weekend.

ROFL.

sbiddle

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#1920030 15-Dec-2017 09:41

Lastman:

The electrical trade, especially in regard to house installations, is intellectually trivial. You could teach anyone the basis of it in a lazy weekend.

I haven't laughed so much in weeks.

trig42

5810 posts

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#1920032 15-Dec-2017 09:42

It is the same with car servicing.

Not all mechanics will work with parts you supply.

I needed new Pads and Rotors a month or so ago. I have a friend that can get them wholesale (so for a full set, fronts and rears for my Mazdaspeed3 it was ~$180 instead of $500 at retail).

The AA centre I usually get my services done at wouldn't do it - warranty issues. Fair enough I suppose.

I took it to Mag and Turbo up the road - happy to do it, and I think the parts are the same as they would have used anyway. I got them to align/balance/rotate at the same time. I will also go back there next time something needs doing (and will probably use them for servicing, even though AA is cheaper with an AA member discount).

Lastman

306 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1920033 15-Dec-2017 09:45

sbiddle:
Lastman:

The electrical trade, especially in regard to house installations, is intellectually trivial. You could teach anyone the basis of it in a lazy weekend.

I haven't laughed so much in weeks.

Glad to be of service!

kobiak

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#1920039 15-Dec-2017 09:53

@1101 I suggest this should be build into hourly rate (contractor should take the risk and not pass it to customer straight away, because when they do, I'm as customer think I does not worth another pay to get someone else to scope the work). You can't charge $80-100 to provide a quote for the customer. just because contractor at Te Atatu and customer is close to Albany.

And time spend in traffic - is not you work time, unless job requires to travel from one side to another to complete the task, but getting to the job - does not make sense to me. My employer does not give a darn where I live and does not sponsor me each day to come to do my work, they pay me for what I do.

In these situation customer wants a small tender - who will do best for less. And if asking 1-3 quotes would encounter $80-100 call out fee each time - this is ridiculous.

So most of the time people left without a real choice, you call one contractor and hope that he will do great job and won't charge you $$$$ too much.

helping others at evgenyk.nz

reven

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#1920046 15-Dec-2017 10:02

kobiak:

So most of the time people left without a real choice, you call one contractor and hope that he will do great job and won't charge you $$$$ too much.

this is where sites like builderscrack.co.nz can come in handy. but personally my experience with that site has been terrible, only really good person I found was a carpet layer. 2 builders were useless, concrete guy did a piss poor job, painter was rubbish. nocowboys ive had somewhat better success, but still nothing beats word of mouth recommendations.

Rikkitic

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#1920049 15-Dec-2017 10:11

Lastman: I’d love these professions to be brought into the 21st century, electrical, plumbing etc. By restricting these fields to those that have done a four year apprenticeship it is extremely inefficient in cost, time and innovation.

The electrical trade, especially in regard to house installations, is intellectually trivial. You could teach anyone the basis of it in a lazy weekend.

The problem is the safety aspect. How to ensure that the public is protected from dangerous work. There is surely ways to achieve this and open up these industries.

I agree with this. A lot of it is pretty trivial work. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to add a power point or light fitting to an existing circuit. I also agree that the hard part is ensuring common sense standards. I believe in America home-owners are allowed to do their own electrical work. I would be interested to know if the stats for electrocution or house fires are significantly higher there.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

gregmcc

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#1920063 15-Dec-2017 10:21

Stu1:
richms:

If you're calling tradies and getting quotes, they will pad them out to the extreme to cover unforseens, and their time they take to make the quotes etc.

This one was through the building company that did the plans they do the design part as well so they arranged the quote. I was going to get our local plumber who has done a bit of work for us and our normal sparky . The other thing that put me off is I installed new pdl plugs and switches a year ago and he wont reuse them have to be new even though they are from electrical direct and still have the recept

You may not realise that an electrician when they do the final sign offs for a job must state that everything is "electrically safe", when re-using plugs and switches it's makes it very difficult to sign this declaration when pre-used equipment has been installed, has the socket been overloaded, or maybe the spring tension on the socket have worn out from things been plugged and unplugged, this is a big liability to take on for the cost of a couple of brand new items. Just easier and safer to use new gear

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