Its easy enough to get a trade account with Travis perkins, Jewsons, Denmans, CEF etc etc if you are say a landlord with buy to let property and you have to undertake property maintenance on said properties.
Toolstation ansd Screwfix are better value than the DIY sheds like B&Q or Wickes.
S.
I had a rasiator installed in February. A big bugger. Too heavy for DIY. I found some plumbers, not vat registered, who quoted £180, which I thought was reasonable. They (two of them) were here about three hours and did a tidy job. But when they turned the water on they found that the header tank float valve wasn't working. They had to go out for their own purposes so agreed to get a new one and fit it when then came back to tidy up, which they did. The valve, which would have cost about £5, and fitting it (about
15mins) cost me £85, which i thought was taking advantage, and has put me off wanting to use them again.
A painter and decorator was working in a house opposite me. One day a small lorry turned up, signwritten in the logo and decals of a Paint supplier based 10 miles away and handed over three tins of paint. I assume the decorator had a trade account with them so they just delivered to where the guy was working. Customer just ends up paying.
When I was doing domestic work, installing/repairing aerials and dishes, I was well aware that the customer who was charged £100 would probably assume that the materials were £80 and the labour etc was £20, and he'd be happy in his delusion. Of course the real figures were the other way round.
In that industry customers have always tried to beat the system by buying the parts from a DIY shed then ringing up and wanting the stuff installed. "I'd do it myself, I mean, it isn't rocket science is it, but I've broken my leg My wife won't let me I'm far too busy because I'm very important I haven't got a ladder If I climb up a ladder it bothers the dog." These guys always expect you to quote about £20 max. So we get to this: "What? I paid £100 for the parts at B & Wicked!" It can go in various directions after that.
Bill
Most stuff comes from the wholesalers. Other stuff that's off the net you can have delivered to the wholesaler or to your mam's house. The latter has worked even better since you've been able to tell her she must never go out on pain of a covid death.
Bill
It's quite efficient. It's the model used by auto parts suppliers. They can do a delivery round to a dozen garages and not cover many miles.
Bill
For large one off items (like boilers and rads) you're likely to find them cheaper on Ebay than a plumber pays locally.
Peter Johnson submitted this idea :
Quote cheap for the original job and make it up on the extras.
It's really useful for garages, because you can have the vehicle in bits on the lift, discover you really need a part, and they'll put one on the van for delivery in time for you to complete the job in time for the customer pickup at the end of the day.
That's the service the customer is paying for. I presume there's a fleet of vans delivering stuff to local garages in early afternoon that was ordered in the morning.
Theo
Sundays customers were stars.
They were given my number as a recommendation. The job sounded easy (it was) but I really did not fancy an hours round trip to look at the job so I quoted an hourly price plus parts.
They were happy with that plus they wanted extra stuff such as light fittings swapping and not all light fittings are equal.
All went well for the first 10 minutes until they went to Screwfix to buy a new light fitting and locked the door on their way out leaving me in the house and most of what I needed in the van.
I'm sure they care
You could have had "Breaking and exiting" added to your record Adam ;-)
no need for that, just open a window and climb through......
Its not just plumbers, its drain unblockers Locksmiths etc as well. Its getting so bad many local authorities seem to be giving lists of good ones that don't have hidden charges or rip off prices.
Brian
What? Not on Amazon Prime?
Did they put the alarm on?
And if locked, but internally beaded, just remove a DG unit from the frame ...
And as his tools were in his van, he could have raided the kitchen draw for a knife and the kitchen cupboard for the meat tenderising mallet to extract the DG beading!
All it needs is a bit of lateral thinking! :-)
When I worked for Crown, nearly 20 years ago now, we'd often deliver to a decorator's worksite. There was no extra charge for it. And often the decs were getting a good trade rate, too. Some of them had us deliver to their home addresses. If there was no one in we'd leave the paint inside the side gate or behind a bush.
IME not
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