Why plumbers won't get out of bed for less than €120 an hour

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noelf

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Found this interesting article, would love to hear others views on trade rates in general, my mechanic charged me €55.00 per hour have to say he is good, but main dealer charges €75.00 and one wanted €150.00 told him he would need good eye sight as he would be looking for a long time.

Any way here is the article;

Why plumbers won't get out of bed for less than €120 an hour

IF you're a plumber, then the chances are you won't get out of bed for less than €120 an hour. That's the minimum call-out charge we found on doing a quick ring-around of various tradespeople yesterday.
Perhaps led by our terror of leaking water, plumbing emergencies led the way in commanding a premium price for getting someone in your door to sort out a problem.
We got three quotes for a visit to repair a leaking pipe -- they were all remarkably close at €120, €136.20 and €130 for the visit (including VAT) and up to an hour's labour, with any spare parts costing extra.
Two of the three plumbers contacted said they would be able to arrive within an hour and a half of the call-out, and the other said a next-day visit was the earliest they could manage.
Electrical problems won't hit you quite as hard in the wallet -- our quotes for a visit to fix a broken immersion started at €85 for the labour to fix a simple problem, parts extra. though if you had a broken element you could quadruple that.
Other starting quotes for the same electrical job ranged from €113.50 and €120, but again you'd be looking at a much higher figure for more serious problems.
When it came to fixing a broken boiler the quotes started at around €60 for a call-out charge, with parts extra, while the starting quote for carrying out an annual service along with the repair was €80.
Bord Gais charges €80 plus VAT for their call-out fee, which includes the first half an hour's labour, while every extra 15 minutes will cost you €25.
For a service the semi-state charges €99 plus VAT, while a repair and service together is €125.
All these prices suggest tradespeople can earn sizable sums for their time.
However in the public sector wages are a lot lower than some of those quote, for example craftworkers in the ESB earn between €30,626 and €39,955, although overtime and allowances would bump this up considerably.
Industrial workers in the public service -- mainly in the Office of Public Works and Department of Environment earn an average of €37,000, according to CSO figures, but the figures are not broken down by trade and include other areas such as cooking.
 
Link to original article?
Edit:
this it?

It's from Aug 2007, I'm guessing prices have come down since then...
 
whats your point in comparing the public sector trades??

they would have no overheads as plumbers and servicemen do.

what would consider a 'reasonable' callout fee for a boiler repair?
 
Paid €30 to get a leak fixed (took about 10 minutes).

Wasn't an emergency calls out , but was out first thing the morning after I called at 3pm.
 
noelf said:
what do you recon is fair????
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For what?

Are you trying to compare trades or compare an employee to a self employed man.

If I was a plumber and someone asked me to drop everything and race to their house to fix something, what would I need for it?

A van
P.L. insurance
Motor Insurance
Advertising
Tools (Lots of)
Years of experience

I'm sure DaveyJones would have more to add.

What do you think is fair?
 
Last time I asked for a plumber (who'd dropped his flyer through my door) and told me he lived less than 1 mile away and then proceeded to tell me that his call out charge was €80 even though there was no urgency whatsoever in the situation, then it would be whatever labour and materials cost on top - would have ended up with a €500 bill at least. Needless to say, I cancelled him before he got out of bed..
 
I had to get a plumber twice recently. Once to take two radiators off two walls in order to get them skimmed. A couple of weeks later I needed him to repair a problem with the washing machine / outflow under the sink in a rented property. Both times he charged me E40. Both times he arrived the day after calling him.
 
New water tank supplied and fitted + new pump for boiler supplied and fitted: €300 for the lot. And he arrived when he said he would.

Thought that wasn't bad.
 
A fair price is what your willing to pay,if they charge exhorbitant rates dont use em,move on to a guy who has a reasonable rate,just remember he has to travel and he works an 8 hour day.
 
sparkeee said:
A fair price is what your willing to pay,if they charge exhorbitant rates dont use em,move on to a guy who has a reasonable rate,just remember he has to travel and he works an 8 hour day.
Click to expand...

This is where the problem arises how do you know what an exhorbitant price is?
 
S.L.F said:
This is where the problem arises how do you know what an exhorbitant price is?
Click to expand...

I agree with alot of what Sparkee & SLF say.
If some one needs to travel, then this must be paid for unless he lives next door, very rare having a trades person next door..
PL & EL, Van additional courses imposed after they have already served 4 years apprenticeship etc advertising too,. more expense
People will argue that trades men providing an emergency service dont need Big ad's I disagree, I think the do for ease of access for the public they need to be prominant.
I do not agree with the rates the G.Pages Charge as this needs to be passed on. They are crazy with their pricing.

What is a fair price for calling out an electrician or plumber, during the day,expecting him to call that same day.?

Should they pass on trade discounts or keep them and add on profit?

As I have been away for a few years working in central europe, I am interested on what Irish people actually expect from service providers.

In slovakia road diesel went up to €1.40 per/L last Oct & Nov, yet I head very few complaints there in comparison, all I heard here was moaning about the lot.
The average wage there is far les than here generally a 1/3 of here and white goods are as dear as here also.

Have we turned into a race of begrudgers?

So what is fair?
 
noelf said:
Should they pass on trade discounts or keep them and add on profit?
Click to expand...

A trade discount is for someone who goes and gets the stuff for a customer if the customer decides he or she want the discount then they should go and get what ever themselves.

So in a word "NO"

noelf said:
Have we turned into a race of begrudgers?
Click to expand...

Do you mean the moaners who whinge about hard working tradesmen or do you mean the bad tradesmen who moan and whinge about hardworking tradesmen (like me).
 
Location is a very important factor. things in Dublin will be more expensive.

I don't charge a call out fee and every job is different

for example, An old lady called me out a few sundays ago because her heating had stopped working. It was a 40 minute trip there and then 40 back again. Probably spent 50 mins there and fixed heating with no parts.

I charged €45 inc VAT.

Got called out at 19.30 last sunday to a heating problem in a commercial building. arrived on site 20 min after call and was told a play was starting in 30 minutes and the heating had to be on, no pressure then! Got heating working and supplied parts. This cost will be considerably higher than the first example.

When I worked in London things were far more expensive than the rest of the UK and the same applies in Dublin. I would doubt firms outside Dublin are getting away with charging very high call out fees and charges.

If you do find a good honest plumber, hold on to them and besure and make them tea when they are around.

BTW, I would not pass on a trade discount, i would not expect any business I deal with privately to pass on their trade discount to me.
 
Well Davey have to say €45.00 for a sunday call is very reasonable, did you feel sorry for her? That was a very fair price.
You are not in the inchicore area by any chance?
 
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