Well said winterheart, very balanced I thought
ttman wrote:I don't know and DON'T CARE how many electricians and plumbers (or their relations) on this forum, I stand by my opinion that they charge far too much than they deserve. Tell me baseless accusations, a reverse cycle air-cond may cost you $500, the sparky will charge you $800 to install. How ridiculous is this ?My suggestion is that if you don't think $800 is good value to have an airconditioner installed, try installing one yourself.
Its funny how some people here think tradies dont charge to much, all of my mates are tradies and i envy their new cars boats houses and their large LCD tv's. Not to mention their wife and girlfriends.
Dom
Do they "own" those things Dom?
You can have them too, its called debt, anyone can do it if they choose to live that way.Remember, beware of the C.U.B.'s (Cashed Up Bogans).
Also remember, CUB's can only rip you off if you're stupid or naive enough to pay them, so the onus is on you to do your homework and weed out the CUB's.
A case in point, I just had my old driveway removed. One guy quoted me $3,500. But after some legwork, I eventually got it done for $850. I rest my case.
m.pulley wrote:jfiori,
How many major renovations have yuo done?I seriously hope it's more than the one you are claiming before saying you are qualified to make such bold assertions.
No I am not a tradie, but I do know quite a number of excellent tradies.
One of them doesn't even bother to quote if when he is played off against other tradesmen.
Just remember 1 hour of one tradesman's work could be four hours of another's.
Word of mouth is the most reliable form of advertising.
But if you have a beef with your tradie? Try to take it up with them peaceably first!
You'll be surprised at how people are willing to listen when you speak respectfully.
Ths is my sixth reno, so does that meet with your royal approval?
Do you think I'd stupid enough to actaully tell them that I'm trialling them? The trials are for my benefit – not theirs.
And thanks for stating the frigging obvious, of course any sane person would first try and resolve a dispute peacefully.
I also did say that I have a list of reliable tradies that I use exclusively all the time.
The cashed up bogan bit.
It that someone who does manual labour for a living?
Making them lower class because they don't have a 9-5 office job?Is the guy who quoted $3500 the cashed up bogan and the other guy what is he?
I never mentioned anything about a bogan being lower class or only being a labourer – you did diclem. You see, there are a lot of bogans with 9-5 jobs as well, and there are a lot of 'refined' tradies, for lack of a better word.
In my book, a bogan is a person who doesn't give a crap about most things, including trying to rip off people and provding a sub-standard service. This is how they live their lives also, some get cashed up with their rip off money, hence CUB's.
The guy who charged me $850 was a decent person, certainly not a bogan. The other bogan tried to grossly overcharge me in the hope that I would be a naive enough idiot to accept.
Ok, we have a different interpretation of a bogan.
To me a bogan is more of a stereotypical dole-bludger type.
Doesn't want to work, lives off handouts, never plans to improve themselves and if they do work, its the basic manual labour jobs that they do.
I agree that they don't give a crap about anything though.
Now that's clearer……I reckon the guy who quoted $3500 had a classic case of: I have plenty of work, I don't really want this job so I'll quote high.
Or he is inexperienced and doesn't know what he's doing.i think a bit of both.
Also, i think he wanted to do as little a possible and get paid as much a possible, another bogan trait.
If you don't want to wade in S#@T or die for an electric shock then pay these licensed people … this is going side ways why keep it alive … how much is too much … If u had to drive to Penrith from Sydney at 6pm then go back home again after fixing a broken air conditioner how much would you charge if u got home at 10pm ?? and only spent 1.5 hours on the job ??
D
Winterheart…….
Hit the nail on the head!
Check out this link.
I have placed info on todays blog about a cheap renovation deal on TV.
People did a Vendor finance deal.
No deposit home sale in exchange for a completed renovation in 6 weeks – the handover day!
Enjoy!
Good evening,
The topic (correct me if i am wrong) is do trades people charge to much for their services.Yes or no.
I would like to see a moderator put up a simple poll relating to this question please.
You can see where my vote is.
Dom
Dom, I imagine any one who is not a tradie will say yes, and anyone who is will say no!
How do you decide or know what's too much?it's a bit like asking if interest rates are too high….
Those of us around in the late eighties will probably say no,
Those who have only had loans in the last 10 years or so will probably say yesWhat is the clear advice of this blog?
Try trading feedback such as a Tradesman Testimonial for a better deal at the end of the job!
This sort of advertising is the cheapest and the best .
you have no idea on what your talking about if u think theres not much to learn in plumbing and electrical..
ive worked on site for 4 years now with all trades, and theres heaps that you dont know about.
first up minus 30% of the bill, because its 10% super 10% workcover 10% gst..so that $250 bill just turned into $175 that actually goes to the tradesmen..now rock up and change sum1's toilet for that crap wage.. expect to pay $50 an hour for either on the books if u can find one… then provide the work car, all the tools and a license to back it all up.. most plumbers are lucky to clear $25 an hour after tax.. and thats pushing it in the early years..
the problem i see it is supply and demand, its not hard to do a plumbing apprenticeship, yet its still in demand, specially for emergency once off stuff… wait for the invasion of foreign tradesmen IMO… that will shake the industry up even more than it is now..
dollarman wrote:you have no idea on what your talking about if u think theres not much to learn in plumbing and electrical..ive worked on site for 4 years now with all trades, and theres heaps that you dont know about.
first up minus 30% of the bill, because its 10% super 10% workcover 10% gst..so that $250 bill just turned into $175 that actually goes to the tradesmen..now rock up and change sum1's toilet for that crap wage.. expect to pay $50 an hour for either on the books if u can find one… then provide the work car, all the tools and a license to back it all up.. most plumbers are lucky to clear $25 an hour after tax.. and thats pushing it in the early years..
Hi Dollarman.
With respect, none of those expenses are specific to being a tradie. I own a company and have to pay gst, workcover and super (and super *is* money going to the tradie, just not straight away). I have to pay for transport to work (train ticket), buy a laptop and upgrade it periodically (tools). The tradie probably pays more for transport, but he gets to write it all off on tax.
I reckon if you left a message with 10 tradies, randomly picked from the Yellow Pages, to call back to quote for a project (for example fitting a new bathroom suite you are supplying), of the 10 you’d get at least 3 or 4 not bothering to call you back,. Of the remaining 6 or7, two or 3 would commit to getting around to quoting, promise to call back but would not, despite repeated reminders.
Of the 3 or 4 that are left you’d probably get a sensible quote out of one or two. And of course there will always be the one or two that take you for a mug and try and rip you off with an exorbitant quote.
That’s not picking figures out of the air, that’s based upon regular experiences. There are good tradies, but even the good ones pick and chose and can lack basic customer relationship skills.
I’ve got a list of tradies that have let me down (one who even ran away from a job after the first ½ a day because it was all a bit too hard for him). When there is a recession and these guys are desperate for work, I’ll include one or two of them in my list to quote for work. Of course they won’t get it, but I may as well waste their time the same way they wasted mine.
They say “It’s hard to find a good trades person” – now how you think that maxim came about? Is it because there are loads of you doing a great job? Phooey!
And BTW, plumbing is not rocket science. The only reason many people do not tackle it themselves is because it’s illegal.
Badgers_R_Us wrote:.
They say “It’s hard to find a good trades person” – now how you think that maxim came about? Is it because there are loads of you doing a great job? Phooey!
Or is that a policeman?
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