W/B 26CDI XTRA, Hurrendous noise, air flow fault.

[Ti]

Was given a rough estimate of 2k. Thought it sounded a little steep.
Just been looking at suitable replacements and prices online and the 25si is ~ £870 including flue, VAT and delivery; would my current programmable digistat work or would it need a new one? Do they not come with any form of programmer or timer as standard?
What should a reasonable price be for something like that fitted?

 

[Dan Robinson]

About £2K.

 

[Ti]

About £2K.

£100 an hour?

 

[Dan Robinson]

And you base that on?

 

[Dan Robinson]

And while you try and think about it a little.

Consider that you are not paying him just for his time there. Neither is what he charges all ending up in his pocket.

For example. I have just spent the last 8 hours in my office doing Februaries paper work. I still have a 2" pile for March. Plus I haven't done any invoicing or estimates yet - what was done was paper IN.

Where does the money for that time come from?

Who is going to be paying me to spend 5 or 6 hours tomorrow evening doing the remaining paper work?

We don't fit boilers purely for the love you know.

 

[Ti]

And you base that on?

Mathematics.

 

[Dan Robinson]

 

[Ti]

And while you try and think about it a little.

Consider that you are not paying him just for his time there. Neither is what he charges all ending up in his pocket.

For example. I have just spent the last 8 hours in my office doing Februaries paper work. I still have a 2" pile for March. Plus I haven't done any invoicing or estimates yet - what was done was paper IN.

Where does the money for that time come from?

Who is going to be paying me to spend 5 or 6 hours tomorrow evening doing the remaining paper work?

We don't fit boilers purely for the love you know.

Look I understand it's a skilled job that requires expensive certs but it sounds like you're running your own business to be swamped in that much paperwork which isn't my problem.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I didn't say it was your problem.

I explained... in simple terms I thought, but obviously not...


That you might think you are paying someone £100 an hour. But you are ignoring - as most people who begrudge paying what they perceive more an hour than they earn - the fact that there is more to fitting a boiler than turning up to someone's house and sticking a new box on the wall.

Yes I do run my own business. And my rates reflect that fact. As does the rates of larger companies that have their overheads to pay for.

 

[boilerdoktor]

did a conversion today, took out a classic and fitted a wb 29 cdi classic. started at 0730 and finished at 1915, powerflushed, fitted spirotech, all done to a high standard, £ 900 clear profit!


however i have 9 lads working for me, 9 lads who have to be gas safe reg, six vans, all the assoc costs, tools, uniform etc etc etc

so dont give it the big one! oh and my accountant charges big too!

 

[Ti]

I didn't say it was your problem.

I explained... in simple terms I thought, but obviously not...


That you might think you are paying someone £100 an hour. But you are ignoring - as most people who begrudge paying what they perceive more an hour than they earn - the fact that there is more to fitting a boiler than turning up to someone's house and sticking a new box on the wall.

Yes I do run my own business. And my rates reflect that fact. As does the rates of larger companies that have their overheads to pay for.

I'll admit I worded that badly, what I should of said was; when thinking about the overall cost of a service one doesn't care about what the guy has to do to maintain their business, one thinks about the cost.

We don't pay Ford twice as much as they sell their car for just because of what goes into designing, testing, constructing, transporting, and marketing it.

From your point of view it may seem naive or even ignorant. Consider though....

Due to the constantly rising cost of living and the fact both me and my mother are currently earning very little, tied up with debt and struggling to maintain a house that's falling apart; I can no longer afford to run a vehicle. I walk roughly 4 miles a day for peanuts and I'm qualified to be earning ~ £15ph. I'm underweight and probably unhealthy being forced to eat "whatever's cheap". Recently I get to live with an average room temp of 11c and bath with water heated in pans. Fun!

Do you think if I went and explained what I have to go through to my boss he'd take pity and pay me more? No; I'd get told "like it or leave".
He takes home over 5 times what I do per annum, that's before bonus, pension, insurance, company Merc etc.

So while you did explain in simple terms, perhaps your response was more of a personal struggle (as mine above) than a more rounded "here's why it's so much"

 

[Ti]

This is more like a reply I was looking for....

did a conversion today, took out a classic and fitted a wb 29 cdi classic. started at 0730 and finished at 1915, powerflushed, fitted spirotech, all done to a high standard, £ 900 clear profit!


however i have 9 lads working for me, 9 lads who have to be gas safe reg, six vans, all the assoc costs, tools, uniform etc etc etc

so dont give it the big one! oh and my accountant charges big too!

What was the overall price if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Ti]

Reconsidering the W/B fixed price repair as I don't believe this to be a "system requires cleansing" type fault.

The local engineer said the flue was shot which had led to further corrosion.

Lets say to fix this fault the flue and fan need replacing; would this be covered by the fixed priced repair and if they then found another fault what would happen?

(Flue is standard horizontal and looks okay when inspected from outside)

 

[Ti]

The fan refuses to spin up making a loud noise from the motor, possibly the source of the original noise. One of the blades is broken off somewhere inside along with a lot of other debris.

This obviously needs replacing and is the cause of the air flow fault but could the broken blade be the cause of the original problem of intermittent sparking ignition and flame lift followed by explosive ignition?

 

[Dan Robinson]

The broken blade is the least of your worries.