Plumbers perks?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Right - you've got him there. Demand he comes back to remove the old pump. Or pays you the value of the tank and other scrap.

[Toby]

The OP supplied the cylinder and pump, as it says in the rest of the paragraph you snipped!

Toby...

[R]

So lets get this right, You conned him into doing additional work within the price for the original job and *then* want to whine about the alleged £17 you have lost out on. Personally if I were the plumber I'd have charged you a damn sight more than that to do the extra work.

[Toby]

lets....

I fail to see where the OP says he "conned" the plumber into doing this for free!?!!

I took it as he got the plumber in as there were a number to jobs to do, so that made it worthwhile for his visit!

Toby..

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember David J saying something like:

One should always ask when it comes to the large items. Many times I've been offered suchlike. Small bits of pipe and old fittings, the householder is only too glad to see the back of.

[R]

So you missed the "While here was at it I also got him to replace the CH pump and realign the adjacent pipework. "

The plumber quoted for a job. Extra work not associated with that job was requested. In this case out of "Goodwill" the work was performed for nothing, something the OP missed when whining about losing a potential £17.

If on an hourly rate the plumber would have earned more and charged more.

[David J]

Please learn to read properly, and not to jump to stupid conclusions.

The plumber was told that I wanted a leaking cylinder replaced plus other associated work. While he was here I also took the opportunity to have the 10 y/o pump changed and Fernox added to the water. He quoted for the complete job, which was all labour as I provided the materials, including most fittings.

There was no extra work, as you have impuned.

If you want to discuss hourly rates, he charged me £200 for about 8 hrs work. which is £25/hr. That's 30% above the going rate in this area, so he wasn't being exploited by me!

DJ

>

[The Medway Handyman]

Its about 30% less than the going rate in this area...

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Good greif. By the time you add in travelling time, van and tools etc, you've got a bargain - especially since you supplied the materials so no mark up there.

[Man at B&Q]

Stupid boy!

MBQ

[David J]

Aah, ... I'm talking about rural Norfolk - not the affluent (soon to be impoverished) Home Counties!

By the way, the plumber said that if he could get enough work like mine on domestics at £200/day, he would give up his current main job on new builds....

DJ

[David J]

Van & tools, OK. But no travelling time, as he lives a few hundred yards way from me.

Regarding his time, he agreed to a 8 am start, but showed up at midday. I thought he might work on into the evening to get the job finished but at 4.30 pm he said he had a 'hair appointment' and vanished!

He returned the following morning and 'finished off' the job by 12.00. I spent the afternoon rebalancing the radiators as some were now cold.

He was paid in readies, and gave no VAT receipt. However, his plumbing work was spot on.

DJ

[John Rumm]

So all in all you got a decent job at a fair price it seems. In the circumstances is it really worth worrying about the scrap values of a cylinder?

As to VAT receipts, he would only need issue one if VAT registered.

[David J]

John - if I had been truly 'worried' about the £17, I would have pursued the matter with this local plumber directly at the time. My post was merely to establish what is the normal procedure these days.

In the situation of a complete central heating system piping changeout, the value of scrap copper pipe & fittings could be over £100.

Following this thread, I would now establish before the start of any similar job who the scrap belongs to. And also check if the plumber has any outstanding hair appointments...

DJ

[The Medway Handyman]

Why are we soon to be impoverished? We is part of the Thames Gateway regeneration project innit.