I'm in the wrong job

[flh801978]

What do people think of this

after the recent winds a slight leak appeared in out upstairs hall..
at a company i work for ( as self employed) a lady said he hubby was a roofer and he wasnt busy
i sent him a pic of the hole around a light pipe on the roof ( drone shot)
he said yes i 'll have to strip back the roof and reflash it and new tiles etc etc.
£250
i said yes ok
about 4 days later he came....himself and lad to hold ladder in 25 mins hed done
asking for £250 with no reciept

I'm in the wrong job

 

[Terry - Somerset]

You had a problem. You agreed a price. Assuming he has fixed it properly what is the problem?

£250 for 25 minutes work = £500 per hour? I can understand the sentiment - but:

• add in travel time and the lad
• he may have estimated 2 hours for the job - on arrival found a much quicker solution
• yours may be the only job he had that day - £250 a day income is not so grand

TBH I would feel as exploited as you do - but reflect - (a) would you personally go up a ladder to fix a roof on a ladder held by a lad (I wouldn't), and (b) you are paying for his accumulated knowledge and expertise, not his time (the expensive lawyer argument)

 

[Spectric]

The best job you will ever have only happens in later life and is called retirement !!

 

[flh801978]

In my day job i go to companys and repair their very expensive machinery ( > £1,000,000 in many cases) generally get there within a couple of hours.. fix it or at least diagnose and repair later with parts..then invoice them for later payment sometimes 3 months credit all at £40 per hour

 

[Mickjay]

The best job you will ever have only happens in later life and is called retirement !!

Agreed, the money isn't great but the hours are brilliant

 

[pgrbff]

A neighbour recently asked me to look at her TV as it had stopped working. As far as I could see the TV end seemed OK. She called a local aerial fitter who said the resistance of the old aerial had deteriorated, threw the perfectly good aerial down into the garden, fitted a new one and charged her €300.

 

[sawdust1]

Had a chap, last week, put a camera down our septic tank to soak away pipe, 1/4 hour tops, £180 was the total !
Due to new regulations, need to replace a perfectly good working system for one that is compliant before selling,
only £13,000 !

 

[Keith Cocker]

Had a chap, last week, put a camera down our septic tank to soak away pipe, 1/4 hour tops, £180 was the total !
Due to new regulations, need to replace a perfectly good working system for one that is compliant before selling,
only £13,000 !

 

[Mikebart]

Had a chap, last week, put a camera down our septic tank to soak away pipe, 1/4 hour tops, £180 was the total !
Due to new regulations, need to replace a perfectly good working system for one that is compliant before selling,
only £13,000 !

Feel your pain,
We moved couple of years ago and had a shared septic tank with our neighbours house rented out by the local farmer who as most farmers do suggested we install a new tank in our garden unfortunately his waste pipe ran through the bottom of our garden and the shared tank was in his field, eventually he fitted a new tank in the neighbours garden and when we sold our house we left £10,000 with the solicitors so the new owner could have one fitted at their convenience.

 

[AJB Temple]

It's not the hourly rate, it's the years it takes to learn how to do jobs professionally. For some professions or trades, that can be thousands of hours, training costs, professional body fees, liability insurance and possibly significant investment in vehicles and equipment. If the price is more than people think is reasonable they are always at liberty to do it themselves or go without.

 

[Lons]

Agreed, the money isn't great but the hours are brilliant

Yebbut you don't get holiday or sick pay either.

 

[Spectric]

Agreed, the money isn't great but the hours are brilliant

Money cannot buy time so no mater how much you have, you cannot buy even an extra minute so don't leave retiring to late and just adjust lifestyle to suit instead.

 

[Lons]

TBH I would feel as exploited as you do - but reflect - (a) would you personally go up a ladder to fix a roof on a ladder held by a lad (I wouldn't), and (b) you are paying for his accumulated knowledge and expertise, not his time (the expensive lawyer argument)

When I had my business I also lectured in a local college on Fridays, 17 - 20 year old constuction workers mostly on day release and one of the questions I asked was "A potential customer has a couple of slates broken on her roof, 2 storey Victorian house with typical steep pitch. calculate the equipment, tools and materials required, include an overhead and profit element and give a quote." The quotes always ranged from £20 for cash in hand to over £1000. When the question was asked "how much to risk your life clambering on a roof at that height" their replies were somewhat different.
To do the job properly and within health and safety guidelines with the correct safety equipment (which that roofer clearly didn't have) would have cost a great deal more than £250

 

[niall Y]

When you employ a tradesman to do a job for you, the money you give him, divided by the time he took, does not give you what he earns per hour. For most of my working life, I received roughly a third of what I charged the customer. with a third generally going to materials and a third to overheads.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It's not the hourly rate, it's the years it takes to learn how to do jobs professionally. For some professions or trades, that can be thousands of hours, training costs, professional body fees, liability insurance and possibly significant investment in vehicles and equipment. If the price is more than people think is reasonable they are always at liberty to do it themselves or go without.

... Holker asked Whistler how long it took for him to “knock off” one of his paintings. When Whistler responded that it took just two days, Holker asked if two days’ labor was worth 200 guineas. “No,” Whistler responded, “I ask it for the knowledge I have gained in the work of a lifetime.”

 

[Superduner]

Feel your pain,
We moved couple of years ago and had a shared septic tank with our neighbours house rented out by the local farmer who as most farmers do suggested we install a new tank in our garden unfortunately his waste pipe ran through the bottom of our garden and the shared tank was in his field, eventually he fitted a new tank in the neighbours garden and when we sold our house we left £10,000 with the solicitors so the new owner could have one fitted at their convenience.

To their convenience, surely

 

[Mikebart]

 

[MikeJhn]

Had a chap, last week, put a camera down our septic tank to soak away pipe, 1/4 hour tops, £180 was the total !
Due to new regulations, need to replace a perfectly good working system for one that is compliant before selling,
only £13,000 !

Is this in the UK or EU?

 

[Superduner]

Sounds like the way it's done in France. We had 2 years to replace the sand drain system with a compliant micro station when we bought our house. Some of the cost (about 10k€ if I remember right) was taken off the cost of the house.

 

[sawdust1]

Mike, uk, new rules, soak away must be 10 Meters from a water course and 50 Meters from
your water source.