The cost of labour

[watertight]

Guys,

Yet another post.......

Wonder if some of you professionals could offer me some advice.

I'm a plumber in Leeds, who (on a regular basis) will pop to customer's homes at short notice.

Tonight (Saturday 5pm) I was called to a house to fix a leak coming through the ceiling. I arrived at the property within 20 mins of the call.

When the woman asked what my charge was I said £50 for the first hour. She was a bit taken a back and tried to barter the price upon which I started to walk away, she soon gave in. When it turned out that I couldn't solve the problem at that stage and said I'd have to be back on Monday (after purchasing the relevant parts) she expected to only be paying £50 for the labour, I told her that no plumber would charge £50 for two visits to carry out a job.

My question is how much do you think is reasonable to charge on a Saturday/Sunday/Bank Holiday?

Your opinions would be appreciated.

Mark


mod

please see item 9

 

[keego]

I'de say £50 was more than reasonable, the only thing I would suggest is to make it clear when they ring what you charges will be.

 

[watertight]

Yeah I should have done, to be honest I susppected that I'd be bartered with when I took the call

 

[PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN]

Getting fed up of posting this, the emergency guys round here in the midlands charge £75.00 callout and £55.00 per hour plus vat plus materials,
your £50.00 is more than reasonable, I have recently just started to stipulate a minimum of £65.00 for the first hour regardless due to all the increases in legislation waste disposal etc, there is a minimum of £40.00 to empty my tranny van at the local tip whether it is full or just one bag, so if I replace a toilet a as fire or whatever it's gonna cost £40.00 plus my travelling to the tip just to dispose of it, it's not our fault everything is so expensive.

mod

please see item 9