How much does installation cost?

[desperate]

Well I,ve taken the plunge and ordered 1 lot of adverts in the local directory saying Install and supply from £3k for solar thermal. The ads come out late sept so we will see what happens and I will report back.

Desperate

[Justme]

The ads come out late sept so we will see what happens and I will report back.

Desperate

If it was me I would time the adds to a better time of year. So people as super impressed with the system when it goes in & not seeing the system perform worse each day as winter comes.

[desperate]

The ads come out late sept so we will see what happens and I will report back.

Desperate

If it was me I would time the adds to a better time of year. So people as super impressed with the system when it goes in & not seeing the system perform worse each day as winter comes.

I agree, but I cant do much about the directories publication time, it,s a once a year type blue page thingy.

Desp

[sleepybubble]

Don't have to install them this winter, every good plumber has a six month waiting list anyways 

For my two pennorth on this thread, as usual I reckon I'm not charging enough. Bearing in mind its a dead thread and not really that relevent anymore but I've done retrofit kits for £1600 all in. I thought I was on a winner with £600 in my back pocket for three and a half days work.

[billi]

hen I am back home my friends ten to moan about how much more expensive building is in Ireland as compared to the UK

 Sure was crazy here and changing dramatically   Sad enough that the strength of the so called "Celtic Tiger"  was not utilized to prepare for a more fair/civilised  and sustainable ideas  here in Ireland


Billi

[martin W]

sleepy.... I recon you should charge 2k (or more) for the retro fit.... but as always its what the market will take/ demand, and also how desperate you are for work....

[desperate]

I have just got back from a customer that wants a complete bathroom refurb and a new boiler and ch update, this lot will work out at about 14k which they seemed quite happy with, then I mentioned that they could fit solar heating at a later date if they wanted, they asked how much extra? when I quoted 3750, they nearly bit my arm off, they haven,t given the go ahead yet, but I think that sort of price is what people are prepared to pay, the customer seemed surprised and Mr G said everybody will want it at that price. So here,s hoping, all based on Navitron gear of course.

Desperate

[daftlad]

My experience is that people are prepared to pay big bucks for something shiney (kitchen, bathroom) but for things that are not seen (electrics) they don't like to pay. I am not sure where solar and central heating fit in, Probably not too well?
ta ta (a bitter formerly self employed sparkey)

[kristen]

My Father-in law paid £3,500 (I think, might have been £3,750) for a 30 x 58mm panel, a new Newark cylinder, and a heat dump circuit (to run his boiler pump), all installed.

He had previously been quoted about £7,000 I think an ex-double glazing salesman type outfit.

They are shower-rather-than-bath type people, and he hasn't had to light his boiler yet, so he's well chuffed

[desperate]

hi daftlad
totally agree with your comment, that is why I gave up heating/plumbing and steered towards kit/bathroom refurbs, never looked back. and I,ve got hair on my knees again. As Kristen mentioned there are people out there that are prepared to pay 3-4k for solar hw right now, in fact I am convinced that the market is about to take off as people recover from the financial scare and panic about energy prices.  Maybe

Desp

[leethomas]

Re reading the thread it seems that there is a little reluctance to spell the situation out to the customer. Perhaps understandably as each job is unique and instalations can vary between

myself, Id appreciate free site visit,  £x design fee,  £y materials inc x% fair markup. And say £x00 day rate per person with estimate of 1,2,3 or 4 days work incl some hours for travel maybe.
+ explained contingency "if this goes wrong (eg the immersion heater breaks the tank boss on a retrofit job) or that takes longer because of a specific build or plumbing route problem....

Grand total - £z  plus or minus(if we finish early)
End product is
Itemised quote 
Customer fully appraised
installer compensated for expertise, and labour and mark up
Everyone happy?
thoughts?

[desperate]

Hi leethomas

Everyone happy? sort of, I nearly always visit the job and produce a few days later a written QUOTE that is a total all in supply and fix price for the following reasons. first, the customer knows how much the job is going to cost without adding up various sub totals, second, I am taking the risk if the job takes a little longer than expected, third, there is no discussion about how much discount we get, how much gear is left over etc, fourth, there is no bad feelings about a smoke/tea break eating into your day rate. It relies on supplying a detailed quote that lays out exactly what is and more importantly what isn,t included in the price. It may seem a bit petty, but in my experience, getting a firm understanding about the cost to the customer, and what is being done is THE most important aspect of succesful trading and avoiding disputes. I put up a big sign in my office(spare bedroom) that says "you make your profit in here", it has made me thousands over the years.

Desperate

[daftlad]

Hi leethomas

Everyone happy? sort of, I nearly always visit the job and produce a few days later a written QUOTE that is a total all in supply and fix price for the following reasons. first, the customer knows how much the job is going to cost without adding up various sub totals, second, I am taking the risk if the job takes a little longer than expected, third, there is no discussion about how much discount we get, how much gear is left over etc, fourth, there is no bad feelings about a smoke/tea break eating into your day rate. It relies on supplying a detailed quote that lays out exactly what is and more importantly what isn,t included in the price. It may seem a bit petty, but in my experience, getting a firm understanding about the cost to the customer, and what is being done is THE most important aspect of succesful trading and avoiding disputes. I put up a big sign in my office(spare bedroom) that says "you make your profit in here", it has made me thousands over the years.

Desperate

IF
the job goes well and you manage to finish the job in double quick time suddenly the client thinks that the quote was only an estimate and wants to pay you an hourly rate.
So you loose when the job takes longer than expected and you have to fight for your money when the job goes well.
Lots of love, a bitter ex self employed sparkey.
ta ta

[sleepybubble]

I'm with Desperate on this one, I too prefer the fixed price quote. However I tend to Quote on labour and estimate on materials. My basis being that I price on materials at day of preparing the quotation, however by the time the work can be done in three months time etc the price of materials may have changed.

The act of preparing a quote properly means you have to plan the job properly, and so you will know how long it is going to take. There are occasionally unforseen problems. e.g. this week I needed to put four 150mm cores through a wall which when I quoted for the job in February I had assumed was a stud, its actually reinforced concrete, its cost me an extra afternoon and £50 quid to hire a decent core cutter from HSS, however thats what the (profit) or contingencies covers within the labour element of the quote.

If on the rare occurance, its happened about twice in the past eight years I do overestimate too much on how long it is going to take to do something, I have offered to reduce to bill. On both occasions the customer was so surprised that they refused and insisted on paying the full quoted amount.

I think with a quote the customer knows where they are and how much they are spending, they accepted the quote and presumably compared it against other quotes. I would take a very dim view on a customer quibbling a price halfway through a job. That's getting into tidy up and walk away territory.

I also don't work for retired engineers or people who are going to watch over my shoulder all day. If somebody sells me a problem, let me deal with it my way. The time for customer contribution is in the design phase. Always check the blokes shed when doing a quote, if it has a peg board full of shiny tools, and vernier calipers, a vice and a tap and die set on the workbench then give the job a swerve.

[desperate]

Hello all

Daftlad, I know what you mean but if you both have a signed copy of the quote, the punter is on dodgy ground if they try to alter the T&C,s

SleepyB You mean you would tidy up before you walked away? I think I would just foxtrot oscar. To be fair though cowboy punters like builders are few and far between.


CU
Desp