Is my quote a good price?

A question about : Is my quote a good price?

Ive been quoted a total Ј470 including VAT to buy and install a double panel radiator in my studio flat including connecting 2 pipes from behind the cooker to other side of room, to be completed in a day. I wont have to pay until the job is complete and approved by me. They are corgi registered. Is this too high or acceptable? Any advice is much appreciated. :confused:

Best answers:

• If it's just an additional radiator a regular plumber will be able to install, There's no reason to pay Corgi Rates unless you have any work on the boiler itself required.
  £400 + vat sounds like a London price to me and at the top end, if you're elsewhere in the country get an alternative from a regualr non corgi plumber, after all corgi means He's gas fitter.
• I think this is too much, materials won't exceed Ј100 I don't think, so basically this guy is on Ј370 a day! No way!
  You should supply the materials yourself, as he will probably be charging you at least a third more for the radiator that it has cost him to buy. Ask for labour only, for one day. For one man this should not be more than Ј200 (although personally I wouldn't pay more than Ј120 a day per man)
• Ј470 Yikes.
  Go to wickes and purchase the radiator yourself and get some other quotes for the labour. That's way too much money to install one rad!
• Go to wickes and purchase the radiator yourself and get the valves, tubing, bends, solder and flux. and pay him a days money + vat.
  Now does his day include a mate? because he just cant lay him off for a day...if he is vat registered he probally is established and pays for advertising and vehicles an accountant stationary etc etc I`m not disputing his price nor other posts prices but I would definatly get other quotes of similar sized plumbers and their availibility first.
  [QUOTE][/ For one man this should not be more than £200 (although personally I wouldn't pay more than £120 a day per man)QUOTE] I would not pay one man less than £150 per day its asking for trouble.
• Ј120 a day. Now i know why i stick to plastering
• Good afternoon: A bit harsh that last post! My husband has no A levels and I have 2 degrees: does this make my work more valuable than his? I trained and worked as a teacher and he is a plumbing and heating engineer. I don't begrudge the fact that he or any other skilled tradesperson ( including plasterers) can earn more than me.
  To the original poster: always get 3 quotes and ask friends, family, colleagues for recommendations - this is how OH gets his work.
  Hubby says quote depends on run of pipework, size of rad and inclusion of thermostatic valve.
  Good luck
• Well miss_ensington in answer to your post,yes i do earn more then £120 day alot more,and yes i did leave school with Gcse's and yes i have been to college and yes i have done an apprenticeship.If you think plastering is easy i'd love for you to come along with me and help me plaster 2 rooms+ceiling on ya jacx in 1 day.You dont need a brain,oh really so why is there a shortage then,everyone must be really brainy now then.Makes me laugh 2 day course and bang your a prof plasterer.So covings and cornices and rendering and pebble dashing never come into it then?
• Also what is the obsession with Corgi registered fitters for general plumbing work?
  Why do you need a gas fitter to move a radiator? It's like asking a structural engineer to come and remove a stud partition wall.
• God there are some serious idiots on this board, do you honestly think £120 a day is a fair wage MissK, how much does a Corgi course cost ?, how much does it cost to run a van ?, how much is the congestion charge in London ? how much do accountants cost ? how much are the overheads for premisis ? and that's before you pay our freindly taxman and possibly VAT man.
  So our expensive plumber would be on about £50 a day after all his expenses. Is this a fair wage for someone who's trained for a number of years in his trade MissK
• Alan and tom,I totally agree with you 110% .
• 1) Work vehicle- more than likely on HP and therefore tax deductable. 2) Premises? Why would a plasterer/joiner/painter need premises? 3) Of course someone who has paid for membership to an association/training courses will have to recover those costs but many tradesman have not been on such courses they were taught as an apprentice after leaving school.
  No I can't plaster and render 2 rooms on my own, but then I have only had a couple of hours tuition. I can plaster a chimney breast, part of a wall probably up to 2-3 square metres. However I'm sure with a few days training I could do a lot more.
  There is also the tax issue- I would said at LEAST 50% of all tradesman will entertain "foreigners" for cash, and put that cash in their back pocket without paying tax on it. I think Ј500 gross a week is a very reasonable salary for one's labour. A graduate only starts on Ј15,000 a year on average after 2 years of A levels and 3 years at uni (and will also have to repay around Ј8,000 of student loans from their salary).
  Tradesman are getting greedy, an honest days work should be around Ј100 (not including materials, as I always provide these myself). I am also not taking into account Congestion Charges as I live up North and cannot comment on what these costs, but aren't London prices are already notoriously higher than Northern prices so doesn't that already incorporate the higher cost of living?
• We're discussing legitimate businesses, if you want to use Mr Zobolofsky from the pub to come and work on your property, that's your free choice and you take the rsiks along with the saving and the tax fraud (oh did you realise that you were equally liable for the tax fraud as the person taking the money - no I didn't think so).
  Other than that, you haven't even got a basic grasp of how a business operates so making broad generalisations on what you consider reasonable is not only an utter waste of time it's actually bordering on ignorance.
• I think....no,i know if you offered a spreader £100 a day to work for you,that he would laugh at you and tell you not to take the p***.And also for you infomation,i never get someone else to do my work.All the work i do is carried out by myself.And another thing my van is not on HP,its bought and paid for.It maybe a bit old,but its reliable.So please missk_ensington,do me a favour and take your head from out of your backside and stop talking shyte.
• I think they should make a program called "Rouge Householders." maybe MissK would like to play a part.
  Sometimes tradesmen need some help to steer clear of some customers.