No, why would I be?
I'd better call the fire brigade 'cos this will cause a stir :o)
I reckon that my wife could be considered profitable. She works in Customs & Excise as a VAT inspector and last year brought in over £1,200,000 in unpaid VAT - well worth her £24,000 I think.
John.
The 'right' price is what people are prepared to pay. It's as simple as that.
If he overcharges he doesn't get the work and will go bankrupt.
doesn't even
holidays etc.
But she created NOTHING. Although it may be a necessary job, and she may be excellent at it, it is only a cost attached to the actual wealth producers. Take low value raw materials, add your value by making them into something useful, sell them and you have created wealth. The non producers in society in one way or another live off that wealth. The government then taxes you, and the person who buys the goods, and squanders the majority of what they take from you to pay an enormous army of paper pushers who may be conscientious, but contribute very little to society's well being and have an over inflated idea of their own importance. When was the last time a civil servant was actually civil or servile unless to their bosses?
AWEM
Including materials? As for the garden wall, brickies don't have to pay registration fees, buy test equipment, etc.
Cloud cuckoo land is the phrase that comes to mind. Or tight git!
Andy suggesting that inflationary pressures are a good thing!
Neither cloud cuckoo land, nor tight. I didn't tell them that that is what they were going to be paid. The sums of money mentioned above are what the respective tradesmen charged for the jobs they did - I'll even show you the bills if you don't believe me!
John.
I'm not arguing with those figures at all, just with your perception that 250/day is too much for a sparkie including materials. The jobs are different and IMHO the sparkie warrants more anyway (well, than the brickie).
Now I do agree that Wayne Rooney is paid far too much...!
In some circumstances they are.
And whoever employs you has to buy & run your vehicle, probably provide you with tools & clothing, pay for staff to do your admin support, pay for staff to collect the money.
In the real world Johns sparky mate has to pay for all that himself, so he doesn't get to keep that £60K - assuming he could actually earn it. He van only charge £250 a day when hes working, not when he's on holiday, off sick, collecting materials, doing estimates etc etc.
Never been self employed have you John?
The pricing is up to him. It's not an issue of whether or not his customers think that he is doing OK, doing more than OK or anything else.
As a customer, this should not be a criterion for whether or not you want to do business with him. The important factors are:
- Is he going to show up when you want?
- Will he do an excellent job?
- What is the price?
If he chooses to price high and have eco holidays in Mongolia that's really for him.
The customer decision is whether or not he wants to pay £250/day or less. If the guy can fill his time and get £250 per day then there is no reason why he shouldn't charge high prices. He may also choose to do so because it will eliminate customers who want to bitch and moan about pricing and haggle at the end. OTOH, if he's charging £250 and everyone else is charging £150 and he can't fill his time or make his desired income, then the free market is telling him something.
Then I would say that she's underselling her potential.
If she's that good, she could earn considerably more in the private sector.
And what's your address John? A few of us could come round & say hello :-)
I don't believe encouraging long term credit is though, hence why the BofE (and HMG before them) use interest rates as a means to control inflationary pressures.
But it does, a mate owns two classic motor cars, a Mk2 Jag, and a Morris Minor van, he found that if he used the Jag whilst estimating for work many of the estimates were turned down, if he used the Morris the estimates were accepted - if the customer doesn't understand the costs involved (trade/job wise) a perception of wealth ("doing OK") or the need to fund high overheads does enter the equation for some.
Yep. I think that a good dose of high interest rates would be great.
OTOH, somehow in people's minds they separate money borrowed to buy a house over 20-30 years from money borrowed for other purchases. I've always found that curious.
Yes I do take your point.
Actually, I have seen this from the other perspective of supplying products and services to people. Very occasionally one does come across people who think in this way and it is either obvious or something is said or noticed. For some people that I go and see, a good quality suit and tie are the appropriate dress and if I were to show up in jeans and trainers they wouldn't take me seriously. For others, the suit would be overdress and they wouldn't trust me. For the vast majority, something in between is appropriate.
Cars used to be a sensitive issue when there was much more of a market for fleet cars because of favourable tax treatment. Hence the 16 different models of Ford Cortina with different levels of trim. There was a great deal of rivalry in companies about that. Nowadays it's car allowances and nobody really cares.
I can think of two customers out of many thousands of people that I've met over the years where the mentality of what the supplier is wearing or driving in was an issue and actions were taken to address it (i.e. showing up in a cheap car and dressing down). However, to be honest, this was a warning sign of other issues. High and unreasonable expectations of service, low expectations of price and little actually purchased - in short a PITA. This would have been a good metre stick and warning to have walked away early on.
The message from Andy Hall contains these words:
Speculate to accumulate v. wasting money on shoddy consumer goods that lose half their value almost as soon as the wrappers are off and last only as long as it takes for the next generation of pseudo-useful accessories to hit the marketplace.
The sparky does not "earn" £250/day, his business charges £250/man day - very different things.
Anyway, just how many days of his time do you need to buy? Chances are you can have most of the year to save up!
Which comes full circle to one of my other main truisms that people speak from both sides of their mouths on these matters.
On the one hand, they want to have a nice standard of living, safe employment (whatever that is), that they are in some way "owed" a living.
On the other, they buy on price and believe that shoddy consumer goods are as good once one takes into account longevity, service and quality.
Do not try to get divorced. Solicitors charge 250 an hour.
Adam
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