Hi Guys, Fitting a new Kitchen and have had the electrician in to fit new sockets, 8 doubles and 2 supplies for the cabinet lights.Also had him remove the old strip light and fit a 4 way spot unit.Having a new 10 way consumer unit fitted as well.He was able to tap into the kitchen ring from the room above which did mean lifting a few floorboards..He has channelled down from above for some of the sockets.We were a little taken aback when he quoted £1900 for this but as we need it done ASAP we have let him press on.Does this sound pricey or has Part P shoved all prices up.We are in the East midlands.
So £50 per socket is a reasonable price. No wonder people are so pissed at PartP A friend who is very competant at electrics & electronics is just about to do his kitchen. Hes loking to get 4 double power points put into the ring/existing ones moved, a couple spirs for appliances and a couple fused feed for the under cupboard lighting and the extraction fan. This would equate to a good £300/£400+ or he could spend a weekend doing it himself, costing
got a quote to rewire the whole house, well just lights actually and came out at 2.5k i was competant doing it myself but just couldn't really be bother. But the 2.5k quote made my mind up, took me two days solid work but its all done and signed off, there was just one cable for the earth bonding from the mains water supply to the CU that I didn't connect up which the elec picked up.
Well, that was the typical pre-Part P price. I don't know if it's changed significantly since. Can also depend on how much making good is done afterwards. Time-wise (labour cost), that can swamp the electrical work.
Crikey. I recently changed my CU to a 12 way split load. Electricity off to on again was about 6 hours. And I'm a slow worker. ;-)
Took me longer to wire the alarm panel back up again.
They were all mounted on nasty meter boards at the top of the cellar stairs. So I removed the lot and dry lined the wall so there's now no cable showing. Whole job about 2.5 days.
You have to make a living, don't you? There can be *some* economy of scale, but adding sockets isn't usually a case of just tacking a spur on the back of an existing socket, clipping it 3ft across the wall and screwing on another socket.
Lifting floorboards was mentioned, as was replacing a CU. This all takes time, and can take a *lot* of time. While the parts cost may only be a few tens of pounds (fully populated Volex CU from Screwfix now under £60), if it's going to take three or four hours to fit, and then another couple of hours to test it all adds up.
My wife is a teacher with an in-demand specialism so she gets a couple of "points" on top of normal pay spine. This makes her daily (supply) rate up to something like £180 before tax. For a 6 hour working day (she can often be longer) this is £30 per hour. I'd reckon this as a reasonable rate for a teacher with 15 years experience in the classroom, several difficut-to-obtain additional qualifications and a particular skill-set that is so rare that jobs in that area often have to be advertised more than once.
IMO it's also a reasonable rate for a knowledgeable, self-certifying electrician with all the right test gear and tools. Note how there's no little additional bit on the bottom of the bill for insurances, test gear depreciation, contribution towards calibration costs, costs of running a business bank account, limited company, training, travel to-and-from site and so on and so forth.
So at £50 per socket you're probably looking at an estimate of 90 minutes work (£45) per socket plus cost of parts. By my reckoning that's pretty good going. Certainly doesn't allow time for standing around with cups of tea chatting to the client ;-)
NOT a fair price by a fairly long shot, I am not an electrician but did about the same amount of work or possibly more when I moved in and it took me less than two days of relatively easy work - including making good any chases and around any new socket outlets, plus materials, (good value from Screwfix). The sooner the general public stop being ripped off by electricians, plumbers and mechanics the better for us all. As I see it - the reason for the new legislation (part P, Corgi) etc, is that people who see no need to be ripped off for any work at home attempt to have a go themselves to save a few quid - this is ok providing that they are reasonably competant but the problems arise when they are not, and have accidents thus forcing the government to push for legislation which then enables the said trades to feel a bit more special than they really are and to start charging through the nose for their services. If I was you, I would visit the library and read up on circuit diagrams, layouts, earthing specs etc. and then have a go yourself - IF YOU ARE CONFIDENT, and don't give this bloke more money to fuel his Bentley with!
Since you've accepted it and let him do the work as time was of the essence - it's fair. A *rough* guess would be 300 quid for materials, so say 1300 ish for labour after removing the VAT.
If a one man band, I'd expect it to pay for perhaps 4 days work.
How long did it take, and how many men on the job? And is it a good job?
'Cause if he's done the job well and within time, and you've accepted the quote, why grumble?
I'm not an electrician, but I'd caution against advising a novice taking on this work - sockets, lighting circuits and a CU change - if he has to read up about the basics and time is of the essence.
Well at electrician rates thats about 700 quid inc bits.
Its easy enough to simply aswap out a CU, BUT if it involves little bits of chasing and cutting and new circuits etc etc.
Believe me, Ive done a little netowrk wiring commerciully, and nothing is ever simple., Just to lay a wire to a socket can take a couple of hours - more if its not surface trunking...OK some you win some you lose, but 50 quid a point is accpeted as being not far off the mark.
I think its on the high side, but not unreasonable. Ask him how he calculated it.
If the unspoken answer is 'because generally people will pay that, and I have plenty that will, so if you don't want it, f*ck off' then you have a choice don't you?
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.