Someone I work with in my part-time other job asked me how much to fit an outside tap (he's already bought a kit). I said at a guess £100. He said he'd do it himself. I said I didn't entirely blame him.
But it got me thinking. How much is a fair price? I suspect £100 was a lot to him because he'd be happy with a cheap job that I wouldn't personally be happy putting my name to. In fairness, I think I deliberately threw a high price at it because I got the impression he wanted a cheap job and I didn't want it, and because the words 'I've got a kit from B&M...' seemed like the start of a nightmare.
But to do it properly gets me thinking what's involved. Get to the house, clear space to work as customer has inevitably left all manner of rubbish under sink, drill through wall, fit sleeving of 22 through wall and mortar around it, fit backplate to wall and fabricate pipe run in 15 (or use an outside tap backplate with pipe already connected and then connect check valve and isolator and connect to existing pipework, hoping that the stopcock works and that the pipe drains down okay. Then clean brick debris mixed with washing machine detergent residue from insides of kitchen cupboard, seal between the pipe and sleeve, put everything back and leave site tidy, put tools away etc, and get home, or on to the next job.
I can't see it taking much less than 2 hours, so it makes me think that although £100 labour may be too much, it isn't much too much. I reckon £75 would be perfectly reasonable.
What are your thoughts?
Apologies for lack of contact recently - I've been a month without internet.
But it got me thinking. How much is a fair price? I suspect £100 was a lot to him because he'd be happy with a cheap job that I wouldn't personally be happy putting my name to. In fairness, I think I deliberately threw a high price at it because I got the impression he wanted a cheap job and I didn't want it, and because the words 'I've got a kit from B&M...' seemed like the start of a nightmare.
But to do it properly gets me thinking what's involved. Get to the house, clear space to work as customer has inevitably left all manner of rubbish under sink, drill through wall, fit sleeving of 22 through wall and mortar around it, fit backplate to wall and fabricate pipe run in 15 (or use an outside tap backplate with pipe already connected and then connect check valve and isolator and connect to existing pipework, hoping that the stopcock works and that the pipe drains down okay. Then clean brick debris mixed with washing machine detergent residue from insides of kitchen cupboard, seal between the pipe and sleeve, put everything back and leave site tidy, put tools away etc, and get home, or on to the next job.
I can't see it taking much less than 2 hours, so it makes me think that although £100 labour may be too much, it isn't much too much. I reckon £75 would be perfectly reasonable.
What are your thoughts?
Apologies for lack of contact recently - I've been a month without internet.
