100 quid for 8 double sockets, backing boxes and cable. Two supplies for cabinet lights. A four way spot unit. A 10 way consumer unit.
Where do you shop? And without the make of the sockets? Many could cost
100 quid on their own...
Yes, I have met one.... He spent the bulk of the ten mins of our conversation obsessed with getting a small fly out of his pint! Probably a fair impression of the profession ;-)
We came to the same conclusion. All quotes for said work go out with a note telling the client that any work undertaken will be carried out with due care and skill, but ultimate responsibility for the building rests with them!
Mate of mine did some work in London flat...nightmare.
Nowhere to park the van, so every tool he needed that he hadn't brought in was a quarter of an hour walk to the expensive car park. To buy anything was a 2 hour trip across town to the nearest BM....neighours complained about the noise so he could only work 9-5...no chance of a skip so he had to manuallay cart rubish in van to tip..and congestion charging added a huge amount either in cost or length to his day..
He reckoned it all DOUBLED the normal time he would have taken and wiped out all profits.
Screwfix, one-off quantities:
Marbo 2G SP socket £1.25
2G 35mm galv. box £0.47 2.5mm2 T&E £0.22/m Volex 6+6 split CU, populated £59.99 Cabinet supplies as SFUs? SFU: £2.70 (no neon) 1G 35mm galv. box £0.35 4-spot GU10 bar £19.99Sockets: 8*£1.25: £10.00 Boxes: 8*£0.47: £ 3.76
Say 20m of cable: £ 4.44
SFUs: 2*£2.70: £ 5.40 Boxes: 2*£0.35: £ 0.70
4-spot bar : £19.99Volex CU : £59.99
Total : £104.28
Screwfix 6% discount for order over £100 (not strictly true as doesn't include cable, but we've only bought 1/5th of a reel...)
Total : £ 98.02
Do-able :-)
Hwyl!
M.
Heh heh. I'm sure some would be happy with 1.25 quid sockets in their brand new fitted kitchen. Perhaps.
They are functional and built to British Standards. It rather depends what you mean. We have similar sockets in our brand new kitchen and they look quite good alongside the white cabinets and white tiling (worktops and paint add variety!)
Screwfix's most expensive 2G socket is a polished brass low profile fix/fit thing from Crabtree (31296). Would look hideous in our kitchen, but imagine for a moment we had bought them. That's 5*£15.99 instead of
5*£1.25 or £79.95 instead of £6.25. £73.70 can go a long way when you are fitting out a new kitchen. It'd probably pay for the tiling and the paint we used together, and may even cover the window blinds. If you swap the light switches, 20A switches, SFUs and cooker switch for a similar style that's even more saving.Not everyone is going to specify the most expensive equipment on a refurbishment; we *couldn't*. Items such as sockets are also fairly easy to change after the event, unless you have cut tiles to fit.
The fact that the OP felt the need to query his electrician's bill strongly suggests to me that he doesn't have pots of cash to throw about.
Someone suggested the parts cost could come in under £100. You doubted it, I proved that any old T, D or H with a Screwfix catalogue could do just that, and very easily. As usual, the bulk of the cost in these jobs is labour.
Hwyl!
M.
TBH I really don't think Joe Public would have a clue about the difference in quality between those and top-of-the-range MK sockets... if flashy chrome ones had been specified, then sure, Joe would be pissed off with these, but no more or less than if MK ones were fitted.
David
OK. I'm not going to comment on taste. ;-)
Things like that have a long life. I'm happy to pay extra for the ones I fancy the look of.
Sockets IMHO should be fitted on top of the tiles, so they are easily changed. But for somewhere where looks matter, I'd want what I like, rather than buying on price alone. YMMV.
[Cough]. If he was worried about cost, he'd have DIY'd it. But having accepted the quote - and time being the essence - now wants to query it. That seems unfair to me - and I don't earn my living by electrical installation, etc. But do have problems with people who agree a price for my services and then argue afterwards. It's taking the p**s. If the work is satisfactory.Yes. But the limited information from the OP said that time was of the essence. So that probably excludes the contractor using mail order to get the cheapest parts. And you've left out all the other consumables like sleeving, grommets, screws, plaster, etc. You get my drift.
And without assessing the job, I've got no more idea than you have at this distance. Because I'm not a pro - but then only wankers like IMM etc would give a firm cost for a job without actually seeing it - or of course doing it.
We've also had no reply from the OP about how long the men were on the job, despite being asked. It could well be that the cost was too high if a simple job. But it could equally be cheap if there were problems.
As everyone who does any DIY will be only too familiar with.
It looks very nice IMO. Certainly in keeping with the style of the house. But then I would say that as I had some choice in the decision to buy and fitted the darned thing myself.
Fair enough. I expect that even the cheap ones should last into double-figure years under normal use, but (environmental concerns aside) if we did decide to "upgrade" the look of the kitchen, we'd hardly be throwing away stuff with a large value.
[...]
Well, Part P aside, there is also the issue (as you state) of time. Perhaps the OP is doing all the other work and got in some help to save a bit of time. I completely agree about people who accept one price and then quibble.
Well no. Apart from the CU, the rest of the kit is just exactly the sort of thing I'd expect most contractors to have "on the van". Especially if buying from Screwfix it makes sense to buy these cheap fittings by the box as the discounts add up. I've probably got 10 cheap double sockets in the van at the moment with no job specified for them. They're so cheap that it doesn't make any sense to buy just the number needed for a job; the postage (or mileage to collect) will add a considerable %age!
Aside: I've got a CU on the van too, because of a cancelled job :-(
And just how much of a rush was the job? Assuming a couple of days on site, a Screwfix (or most other MO suppliers) order on the morning of the first day would deliver any required goods ready for the second.
As for the rest of the bits, if Screwfix is the source, because anyone can check the prices, the standard trick is to order with discount and charge the customer the 1-off price. For the £1.25 sockets that brings the price down to £1.175 (10 to 100) and with 6% off (£100 order) down to £1.11, a total 9%(ish) profit margin. Might not cover the plaster, but certainly covers the other bits.
The £15.99 sockets come down to £15.19/£14.28 = 9.3%
Absolutely.
Ooh, don't go there, please!
Hwyl!
M.
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