how to price/quote for p&d jobs - support for a newbie p

I think your charging far too little. Your already a good trades person, because your worried about work/time/quality and what it means to your customer. Your cost should represent the cost of being self employed.

Check out the post on 'what it costs to a trades person'

Or look at the blog (link below) i started.. it will give you an idea how much its costing YOU! Before you've even started work.

http://selfemployed360.blogspot.co.uk/
 
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Who is going to pay £1200 to get a living room decorated?? cmon guys get real.
 
cajar said:
Who is going to pay £1200 to get a living room decorated?? cmon guys get real.
Click to expand...

150-200 per day ?? If your not chargeing that maybe you need to take your own advise. Livingrooms come in all shapes an sizes I'm giving a figure on a forum to help out this isn't a set in stone figure
 
think maybe you need to work out what sort of money per hour you want to work for?
then x that by 8 hrs.then add the expenses etc and there your total.

personally i think youve got to be charging £10-£15 p/hr.as a trades person anything less is demeaning your trade.and as others have said you will always be busy because people know your cheap and will take advantage of you.

DONT FORGET you have to add in any holidays your thinking of taking.
only you can answer how long it takes you to do certain jobs.but if the emulsion is drying on a small wall before youve finished.

THEN PULL YOUR BLOODY FINGER OUT AND WORK FASTER :LOL:
 
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being a female will help tremendously,
running my own business has been hard to start with and taking the time to build it up, iv learnt what kind of prices to be charging (or well my missus has)

my missus also works in the trade with me and we have found that people (general domestic customers) are more accepting to have trades in their property with being female, and we have had a few jobs where the customer was only willing to have the job done because having a female!

the van at b&q idea is a good one, perhaps not so much of getting a pink van, but perhaps a white van and pink signwriting with a catchy slogan, something that will catch peoples eyes! (if you would like signwriting in pink i can put u in contact with someone who can help you with exceptional pricing on this) drop me a pm, ill pass over a phone number for you :)

Good luck in your future and i hope it works out for u
 
chapeau said:
£50 per day is a good deal if you are as good as you say. I pay a lad what works out to be £80 per day cash. I'm happy, he's happy, and he's a decent joiner too so does all the woodwork for same price. However the economy is stuffed so the only way rates are going is down and only you know what is competitive in your area.
Click to expand...

If everybody reduces rates, we're all out of business! Petrol, heating, electricity, food...there all going up!
Why on earth do the trades..(the back bone of this bloody country).not charge the rate set by the cost of living! When the rest of the country get there yearly pay rise.

When was the last time you put the daily rate by inflation?
 
SAMRANHAM said:
If everybody reduces rates, we're all out of business! Petrol, heating, electricity, food...there all going up! Why on earth do the trades..(the back bone of this bloody country).not charge the rate set by the cost of living! When the rest of the country get there yearly pay rise.

When was the last time you put the daily rate by inflation?
Click to expand...

If you want the work, your price has to be competitive. That will vary by location.

My charges for repeat customers and recommended customers is higher than what I might quote for a new customer. They are willing to pay the going rate for the quality of work they know they will get.

"There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man's lawful prey."
John Ruskin (1819-1900)
 
Your best bet pet, is this.

Get the people to like you before you discuss the costs.

DONT get into doing a job on day rate-- you will never make money that way. You will get lots of pats on your back for sure- but you will never make money .

People (customers ) like a 'bottom line' £££s.
It's easy to give a '££bottom line ££'. Roughly estimate how long it will take you -- Xs it by what you want to charge per day -and then add 50%.(ALL jobs usually take longer than you thought)
Pricing done .
Most importantly- DO NOT be afraid to tell them to price . If they like you- the job is yours for sure .
Good luck.
 
This getting too complicated for the OP original question.
The quotation price needs to be the price at which you can get the job--if you want it.
How long it takes, the hourly rate and your overheads are your problem; the customer is interested in the final price.
Of course, if you are slow and learning, your hourly rate will be lower than an experienced contractor--so what.
The real interest to the OP is to see some alternative quotes and that was what was asked.
 
You need to get this day rate thing out of your head.

Charging £50 a day says to me you dont rate yourself, charging £300 for a bedroom that will take you five days now and three in the future is fine, but you are falling into a trap that you will never get out of. If you suddenly up your charges in two years time you can pretty much write off your whole customer base because they use you because your cheap.
Play the female card, old people feel a lot more comfortable with female decs so attract them in with a 10% OAP discount.

Geography plays a part as well, if your area is one thats demands low prices work another area even if it means travelling an hour.

Insurance and terms and conditions are vital, and maybe not important to some but i hate it when decs or any tradesman works out of a car.

Those prices you've quoted are laughable and yes i'm having a dig to try and knock some sense into you.

Oh and by the way two of the best decs i've known were female
 
Painting & decorating is not my trade so I've no idea on how long a job should take although I'm guessing your far too cheap.

I would warn against building a business by being cheap. You'll get the s**t end of the work and find it hard to get paid the going rates.
 
If your slow you cant realy charge based on days on the job/hourly rate. The prices are about right considering you have no trade.

The problem is you are taking more than twice as long as it should to do a job. Meaning you are makine 1/2 as much as you should in a week.

You cant realy do anything about it apart from try to speed the jobs up.
 
Maybe if you've been doing it a year and are still taking double the time a painter would take, it's not for you.
 
Hi All, I am a time served decorator, female, a few yrs ago I was warned by a crew of male painters that I would not be using my gender to gain work. I have been spoken to like crap, totally dsmissed, interrupted, and ridiculed, by other tradesmen. I can take the banter and the ribbing no sweat. Shame of it is, I'm a pretty good laugh when you get to know me. A handful of boys from other trades have discovered this and now are part of my crew occasionally, which is great for them, leads to more work. just saying, lol
Sue
 
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