Electricians Invoice - Charged for time off site

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › Electricians Invoice - Charged for time off site

Xile

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Master Geek
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#320450 16-Aug-2025 08:54

I sought a quote to have two bathroom heaters installed.

I received an estimate as follows:

EL Labour Electrician 4.00 $88.75 $355.00
CABLE TPS 2.5MM 2C + E WHITE (MT FROM 100M) 15.00 $3.76 $56.40
JUNCTION BOX 32A 4 TERMINAL 500V 544 PDL 1.00 $6.05 $6.05
SWITCH VERT 2G 20A/16AX 250V VW 382-VW 1.00 $25.12 $25.12
Napier Mileage 1.00 $30.00 $30.00
Sundries 1.00 $4.95 $4.95
$477.52 + GST

The work was completed. The electrician was onsite for around 2.5 hours. I received the following invoice:

EL Labour Electrician 3.50 $88.75 $310.63
CABLE TPS 2.5MM 2C + E WHITE (MT FROM 100M) 15.00 $3.76 $56.40
JUNCTION BOX 32A 4 TERMINAL 500V 544 PDL 1.00 $6.05 $6.05
SWITCH VERT 2G 20A/16AX 250V VW 382-VW 1.00 $25.12 $25.12
Napier Mileage 1.00 $30.00 $30.00
Sundries 1.00 $4.95 $4.95
$433.15 + GST

I queried being charged for 3.5 hours yet the electrician only being on site for around 2.5 hours. I received the following:

"In regards to your question, yes that refers to time. What your camera does not show you is job preparation time, travel time, nor the time to log job details and prepare invoicing which our Electricians do themselves for each job."

Some information to assist regarding the company is that he is self-employed. The estimate and the invoice emails had two different female names attached to them suggesting more than one person is in the office/company. Also the electrician took at least two phone calls whilst on site, both lasting a few minutes and had a vape (wasn't too worried about that but if they're going to get picky!).

I've never had a situation before where I have been charged for off site activity. Is this the new normal? If I'm being charged then should the invoice not show more detail?

What are your thoughts?

Thanks

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545 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#3403978 16-Aug-2025 09:05

Invoice is less than quote, if i was happy with the quote. I would accept and move on with my life.

The response accounts for what they consider part of the work, which is prep, travel to and from site and administration.

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#3403979 16-Aug-2025 09:09

If time is spent on the job, regardless of the location, then yes, it's to be expected.

You can supply your own parts, which may be cheaper in some cases, but even if you do you can't guarantee there won't be some small detail forgotten that requires a trip to the nearest wholesaler.

Linux

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#3403980 16-Aug-2025 09:12

Invoice is cheaper than quote you should be happy and praise them

Stu1

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#3403981 16-Aug-2025 09:13

Shouldn’t be under labour I think it should be markerd clearly under sundries as a separate line item for travel time . Prep time sounds a bit odd what does he need to prep offsite?. Here’s a recent copy of a bill for installing Downlights. Travel is broken down , it didn’t need a COC as well for the heater?

Description Price Qty Total

Travel Within Wellington $50.00 1.00 $50.00

Fixing and Sundry $15.00 1.00 $15.00

Supply Certificate of Compliance Certification $20.00 1.00 $20.00

Jase2985

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#3403982 16-Aug-2025 09:26

Time is time whether its on site or not they should be paid for the work.

And the invoice is less than the quote so win?

Xile

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Master Geek
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#3403987 16-Aug-2025 09:42

The electrician who did the work did a site visit to do the quote.

I supplied the heaters. He was on site for all the 2.5 hours.

These are new installs so CoC should be supplied I would have thought.

Yes it's cheaper than the quote but as I pointed out in my post I have never come across this situation before. If they had upped the hourly rate on the quote and invoice and recorded it as the time on site ie. 2.5 hours, I would probably have paid without hesitation. But as it stands I'm paying for an hour of who knows what.

Hence why I reached out to see what fellow Geekzoners thought of it.

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Aucklandjafa

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#3403989 16-Aug-2025 09:56

Xile:

The electrician who did the work did a site visit to do the quote.

I supplied the heaters. He was on site for all the 2.5 hours.

These are new installs so CoC should be supplied I would have thought.

Yes it's cheaper than the quote but as I pointed out in my post I have never come across this situation before. If they had upped the hourly rate on the quote and invoice and recorded it as the time on site ie. 2.5 hours, I would probably have paid without hesitation. But as it stands I'm paying for an hour of who knows what.

Hence why I reached out to see what fellow Geekzoners thought of it.

All tradies' travel time is billable, and usually at their hourly rate - they could have been more precise and added a seperate travel time line item.

As others have said, comes in cheaper than the quote, so I'd be stoked

Linux

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#3403991 16-Aug-2025 09:58

You should be paying without hesitation

Qazzy03

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#3403996 16-Aug-2025 10:12

Xile:

But as it stands I'm paying for an hour of who knows what.

This is an example of "missing the forest for the trees".
You were quoted an amount for the job, you accepted the job, job done, invoice less than quote, win.
Instead of enjoying the win, you appear to be putting both time and energy into making sure the trees are adding up and getting your bang for buck.

In this case, your forest is the job, and it was cheaper than quoted for/budgeted, take the win.

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#3404009 16-Aug-2025 10:27

I feel sorry for the tradie to be honest

tweake

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#3404020 16-Aug-2025 11:46

Xile:

I sought a quote to have two bathroom heaters installed.

I queried being charged for 3.5 hours yet the electrician only being on site for around 2.5 hours. I received the following:

"In regards to your question, yes that refers to time. What your camera does not show you is job preparation time, travel time, nor the time to log job details and prepare invoicing which our Electricians do themselves for each job."

ex tradie here. not sure on current law but quotes are a maximum price. if the job was less then thats what you pay. you pay a reasonable price. in practice customer pays whatever the job cost up to the maximum price listed in the quote.

prep time, travel time (unless billed separately), admin/paperwork time etc is all built into the labor and part markup (and sparkies is the highest in the building industry). that is not done as a separate cost. so they are blatantly lying. in this case what they are saying is your paying for that twice and it was not itemized in the quote.

so overall its a scam. you should have paid the 2.5 hrs time, not 3.5hrs. they basically overquoted to give you a "discount" while overcharging you. just how legal it is you would have to ask a lawyer.

i'm not surprised, given current trading conditions.

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#3404021 16-Aug-2025 12:13

tweake:

…

so overall its a scam. you should have paid the 2.5 hrs time, not 3.5hrs. they basically overquoted to give you a "discount" while overcharging you. just how legal it is you would have to ask a lawyer.

i'm not surprised, given current trading conditions.

What do you suggest the OP should do?

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

Xile

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Master Geek
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#3404022 16-Aug-2025 12:24

tweake:

Xile:

I sought a quote to have two bathroom heaters installed.

I queried being charged for 3.5 hours yet the electrician only being on site for around 2.5 hours. I received the following:

"In regards to your question, yes that refers to time. What your camera does not show you is job preparation time, travel time, nor the time to log job details and prepare invoicing which our Electricians do themselves for each job."

ex tradie here. not sure on current law but quotes are a maximum price. if the job was less then thats what you pay. you pay a reasonable price. in practice customer pays whatever the job cost up to the maximum price listed in the quote.

prep time, travel time (unless billed separately), admin/paperwork time etc is all built into the labor and part markup (and sparkies is the highest in the building industry). that is not done as a separate cost. so they are blatantly lying. in this case what they are saying is your paying for that twice and it was not itemized in the quote.

so overall its a scam. you should have paid the 2.5 hrs time, not 3.5hrs. they basically overquoted to give you a "discount" while overcharging you. just how legal it is you would have to ask a lawyer.

i'm not surprised, given current trading conditions.

Thanks, that was my gut feeling. I have to say I was surprised by the responses to the contrary.

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#3404023 16-Aug-2025 12:25

tweake:

ex tradie here. not sure on current law but quotes are a maximum price. if the job was less then thats what you pay. you pay a reasonable price. in practice customer pays whatever the job cost up to the maximum price listed in the quote.

The post clearly indicates this is an estimate, so it is not capped per se. There are, however, rules around charging a reasonable rate and mark-up on supplied goods.

An electrician may get away with billing $100 per hour (although I personally think that is on the high side), but $500 per hour would clearly be excessive unless it was some sort of specialist work. Likewise, a 20% mark-up on goods they supply may be reasonable, but 100% wouldn't be. That's the biggest rort of all in my opinion, with some contractors charging 'list price' for goods they supply, despite getting discounts greater than 50% in some instances and Joe Bloggs being able walk in off the street to any wholesaler and get at least 20% off the list price.

I do agree there should be more transparency around costs. One thing that annoys me is being charged for compliance documents which are legally required and which electricians are explicitly allowed to bill for. Bundling that into the labour cost likely saves them having to deal with people complaining about them charging for that 'necessary' service.

tweake

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#3404025 16-Aug-2025 12:34

SirHumphreyAppleby:

tweake:

ex tradie here. not sure on current law but quotes are a maximum price. if the job was less then thats what you pay. you pay a reasonable price. in practice customer pays whatever the job cost up to the maximum price listed in the quote.

The post clearly indicates this is an estimate,

good point, i missed that. however price was under so no real difference. if anything it makes it worse because estimates you always pay for the job done including if its over, ie if they work 2.5 hrs you pay for 2.5 hrs.

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