Does This Price Sound Okay (Combi Boiler Replacement)?

[picasso]

£2900 minus

vat £580

boiler £1000

flue and clock £100

rf stat £100

filter £100

leaves £1020

not forgetting that pegler valve aint cheap, a combi swop takes me about three days on my own so the price aint far out, maybe a little on the heavy side but not unreasonable, if the company have a good reputation you have to ask your self is the extra worth it for peace of mind ? or would you prefer £500 cheaper and installers that have changed ther mobile number?

 

[sooey]

The VAT would be £480...but you could easy add a least another 100 quid in for pipe and fittings + sundries.

 

[Dan Robinson]

£483.33 actually

 

[sooey]

Alright then, add £103.33 for pipe and stuff.

 

[Axe]

Thanks for all the latest replies everyone! I was surprised to see so many pages!

I do take the point made about the engineer's overheads, but I think that these can only be so much before it becomes adding on extras for the sake of it.

I was worried that I had done the company an injustice with my guesswork on the prices, so I did look up the additional items, and as some of you have pointed out, my estimate for the extras was inaccurate.

However, I came up with a total of just over £1320 (not including VAT) for the parts, which included a Vaillant flue kit, the wireless thermostat set-up, the magnetic sludge filter, the Pegler valve and the fused switch. This, I acknowledge, doesn't include odds and ends like pipe fittings, length of wire, and rust inhibitor etc, so I will account for that below.

Working backwards from the original quote (not including VAT again), I came up with a total of £1088 for the fitting. So, let's take off the £88 for the odds and ends. Surely that's enough for bits and pieces isn't it? So, that leaves £1000 (not including VAT) for the actual labour charge.

We were told it was a one-day job, so if they take eight hours I make that £125 (+VAT) per hour, or if it takes them twelve hours then that's just over £83 (+VAT) per hour. Having read around online, I have found figures of £30 - £40 per hour as being considered a good price for this kind of work, and a lot of people were saying they work for a lot less. So, I don't think that I was too unfair in my estimate of a good pay rate for these people as being £40 per hour.

£200 for a day's work, as mentioned in this thread, is only £25 per hour, assuming an eight-hour day, so comparing that with my estimate above for the quoted job, an eight-hour day at their rate is FIVE TIMES the £25 per hour for a £200-a-day job.

Honestly, I am really pleased for anyone who can charge their customers £80 - £125 per hour and come away at the end of the day feeling that they have been adequately compensated for their expertise, and also given the customer value for money. But, having looked into this quote in a little more detail I just can't see how it is even getting close to a fair price.

If the other quotes that I am going to get come in at a similar price then that must be the going rate, and we may end up having to pay it, but I'm not happy with the idea of paying someone in excess of £80 per hour to change a boiler!

 

[Dan Robinson]

Thing is we have no idea, and neither do you of how much ancillary materials are needed.

You are also assuming the job starts and stops with the 8 or 12 hours they are on site.

I see you didn't make a calculation for the back office stuff.


Can you answer my question on what is a reasonable % profit margin?

 

[Axe]

Yes, I agree with you on the additional items, so that was an estimate, but I did add up the main bits mentioned, then allowed that odd £88 for bits and pieces. There is a finite number of pipes involved with this job, plus one electrical wire, so I can't see that there's much scope for fittings to come to some unexpectedly-enormous extra amount.

Yes, I am assuming the job starts and stops within the day, but they did say it was a day's job, so what else is there to assume?

The back office stuff, and any other overhead you care to mention, should all be accounted for in the hourly rate. It's the same for any business doing whatever job you care to imagine, so I don't see how I have to make special allowances for this particular trade.

Regarding your question about a reasonable profit margin (sorry, I didn't know this question was for me), I have no idea about a percentage, but what I can say is that I think that £40 per hour sounds plenty to me. I don't think I'm unfair in saying that.

If the hourly rate was £40 per hour then the job would have been a lot closer to what I was expecting (around £2000). If it was £25 per hour, which I have since learned that some people will charge, then the price will be even better.

 

[Dan Robinson]

The question I posed was for everyone. And one I have asked before. And no one has the front to post up a figure. Although Mr 90 shot himself in the foot somewhat with his 70% profit off £50 per hour.

The back office stuff, and any other overhead you care to mention, should all be accounted for in the hourly rate. It's the same for any business doing whatever job you care to imagine, so I don't see how I have to make special allowances for this particular trade.

But that is exactly my point. You say their hourly rate is too much. Itemise what you think stuff costs, but stop short of costs that are not materials. Of course those are factored into and hourly rate.


In actually fact I am not saying either way if the job is priced too high. We have done combi swaps with prices ranging from £2500 all the way up to £7000. There are a huge number variables.

They have said it was a days job. But non material costs will include the survey, the estimating (assuming it was done somewhere other than your house) and then there is paperwork after the job and general running of the company - as I listed.

 

[Axe]

Yes, I do believe that what appears to be their hourly rate is too much. As I have said, I have no idea about any aspect of their overheads, but I would imagine that anyone running a business properly would ensure that their overheads are accounted for, and dictate an hourly rate that doesn't cause the recipient of their quote to fall of his chair in surprise.

I do appreciate what you're saying with the number of variables. I did detail what was on the quote, so it should give a pretty accurate impression of the work. It's basically a straight swap, but incorporating a switched fused spur for the power lead. The plug socket they are taking the spur from is about four inches from the side of the boiler, so no complicated cable runs or anything.

Again, I do take your point regarding the various overheads, but the fact remains that the labour element of this quote (as far as I can determine) equates to £1000, or possibly slightly more, so it will always prompt the question, is £1000 for a day's work good value? I suggest not, although I have acknowledged that if it turns out to be what everyone else is quoting then we'll have to pay it.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Well, good luck with it.

 

[Axe]

Thanks! I'll post again if there are any notable developments. I'm hoping to get this job done for about £2000, but in the end, maybe that just won't happen.

 

[AdamCH]

If plumbers earn £1000 per day I can feel a change of career coming on

I had mine changed a few years ago for around £400 (+ the boiler which I sourced myself).

 

[RickMoore]

The question I posed was for everyone. And one I have asked before. And no one has the front to post up a figure.

Well except me

Dan's point is being completely missed, margin is a very important factor to a business. When I look at my figures, the first one I look at isn't turnover or even profit, its GPM followed closely by NPM. The only way to judge if a price is fair is to look at margin. That's not to say you can't beat a fair price by shopping around, my advice would be to compare more than just the price difference, look at the whole package.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Indeed you did sorry

No civilian or regular poster on here has though. Largely, no doubt because they have no idea or realise it will nullify their argument (see Joe-90 for foot-in-mouth cock up )

 

[joe-90]

If you go to ebay and enter "combi boiler fitting" you'll find no end of boilers fitted by Gas Safe companies at less that £2K.

Just keep getting quotes until you get what you want.

There are endless Gas Safe vans sitting on driveways because there is an oversupply of gas fitters.

Every squaddie that re-trains becomes a gas fitter.