New business

[coolcatkelso]

Hiya guys

Thinking of starting my own now, but not sure 100% how to base quotes on price per meter for labour?

obviously don't wanna go bust so really need advice on working it out.. Normally its only wee jobs so its hourly based anyway.. but been offered a strip n reslate job but he wants per m2

Normal hourly rate is £17.00
Labour only for Slated Roof? (Guide Price) per square Meter?

Any other advice would be welcome lol

Cheers

 

[Nige F]

Haven`t got a scooby doo M8 but I wish you were in Sussex - you could do my roof @ that reasonable rate

 

[^woody^]

If you think this roof will take you say a week to do, then you obviously want a weeks wages, and so just divide the weekly wage by the area

The problem with just m2 rates is that if you are held up for any reason, then you are losing out, so always include a daywork rate in the quote for such times

Also, if you are refixing fascias, gutters, flashings, insulation etc then you need to agree rates for this.

Basically anything else other than just stripping and relaying is chargeable - otherwise you may end up doing things for free or not making any money

BTW, your hourly rate seems very low. Have you included for vehicle, tools, plant, insurance and admin time etc? Your £17 seems to be just for a bloke on site and takes no account of the other costs of being self-employed

 

[coolcatkelso]

Hiya

Cheers for the reply

I take on board what you mean by losing money, basically, charge m2 rates for stripping and reslating plus 1 day at hourly rate for protection, anything else is should be charged per hour?

As for the £17 hourly.. I only have a small escort van at the moment which is only £30 per month to insurance, I pay myself £9.00 per hour and do all my own admin etc, based at £17 I am making a small profit on jobs. I know my old employer used to charge customers £35 an hour for me and £22.50 for the apprentice, but right now I want to get as many jobs as I can, making a little profit on each job is better than making a bigger profit but having less jobs?

I want to try and stay away from too cheap "Cowboy Rates" but stay away from the larger established businesses

Do you think I'm waaaay to cheap? Anything else you would suggest?

Thanks again for the reply

 

[^woody^]

If you keep charging £17/h then you will never upgrade that old Escort for a new Transit

Lets say that you have to nip across town for 1/2 hours work which in reality has taken you time to visit and price, get materials, and then tied you up for half a day. Would you still charge £8.50?

Every time you go up on that roof you risk your life and are doing something which the customer is unable or unwilling to do. Think about that.

Obviously a customer will be more than happy to give you a tenner for clambering up the roof for 15 minutes, but I would suggest that they would also think that £30 would not be too much to pay

IMO, you should think in time slots of 1/2 or 1/3 of a day and charge accordingly .... even if the work only takes an hour or two

Obviously for bigger jobs you need to price it differently .... ie price for a weeks work and finish it in three days and move on to the next job!

The one saying which I will always remember is "Don't be a busy fool".

 

[xfr]

Strip and re-slate say using a 16x8 £22 m2