Hello all fellow OZ bargainers.
I know that we are all here to find outstanding prices to keep more money in our pockets and laugh in the face of big business prices. My topic is about charge out rates and fair pricing for plumbing/gas fitting in Adelaide, south Australia.
let me start this topic off by telling you all that i am a Plumber based in the northern suburbs of Adelaide and about a year ago i decided to put my house deposit on the line and go into business for myself. Its been an interesting journey so far trying to build up a client base and build some exposure and make some money. It seems to me that Adelaide is full of people like myself and it is a competitive market for a small one man business. on one hand we have a few big companies that flood the state with advertising and have huge charge out rates to go along with it, on the other hand us small business' with low overheads and great rates are still having to fight it out with each other to win jobs.
my questions to the people of Adelaide, especially the bargain hunters out there are as follows.
-Why does anyone choose to go for the big companies with the huge call out fee's and expensive hourly rates ? is it just convenience? can you not be bothered ringing your local plumber and try get him to fit you in ? is it because you have their catchy radio songs stuck in your head?
-Do you believe you have been ripped off by a plumber you have used in the past? if so what was the job and how much ?
-What would you consider a fair call out fee? (I don't charge one, free quotes and call outs)
-What would you consider a fair hourly rate ?
-Where do you look to find your trades ? do you do a google search, the messenger, Facebook, trade seeking sites?
I would also like to be very upfront and honest about my pricing as i believe they are very fair and competitive.
- i do not have a charge out rate if you are within 40mins of driving distance of my area.
- outside of 40 mins its only a $30 charge depending on distance.
- my hourly rate is $90 per hour and $45 per half hour. most jobs don't take less then an hour but i do say that there is a minimum of one hour charge depending on how far away the job is.
- i give free quotes on the bigger jobs and free over the phone quotes for the smaller jobs.
these rates have been calculated based on overheads and profit margins but i would like to hear from a customers point of view
I am treating this as a bit of marketing research to see where i should be spending my money and what people expect. I will be great-full for any feedback that this community can give me.
Hi. I am in NSW, but my recent experience may provide insights in the way some businesses operate.
I suspected something wrong with my Solar Hot Water System. It looked like the gas boost was not heating to the preset temp.
Could not see a pilot light and was not successful in restarting it. Google search suggested the thermo-couple.
Anyway I contacted the firm that most recently left a fridge magnet in the letterbox with special offers.
The guy came out looked for pilot light and then checked the pressure relief outlet.
without even attempting any further repair, he suggested replacement with an instantaneous unit.
Reason being the Solar unit was 10 years old and most of them had been replaced. He was upbeat about the Instantaneous suggesting how good it would be etc. etc. and was very convincing.
I agreed and he began writing out a quote. I expected the instantaneous would be less expensive than a Solar and was surprised at the price.
Anyway, the letterbox drop included a deal of $250 off for system upgrade. So that was taken off and the price seemed reasonable, but the GST got added on and the price was back to where it started!
I was just interested in getting proper hot water and agreed to installation in following days.
This was done and old unit removed and all is fine.
So it appears the way to operate:
1.Promote your business with photos and special offers.
2. Specialise in uncomplicated installs.
3.Avoid time consuming fiddly repairs.
4. Upsell the client with major upgrade.
5. Start with inflated price to allow for deducting special offers to end up with a profitable end price.
In my case the gas boost had probably not worked for around 6 months or more. Since we had long sunny spells we had probably enjoyed free Solar for several months. A thermocouple replacement might have fixed the unit, but would have been labour intensive and not worthwhile.
Hopefully, the Instantaneous unit delivers savings as claimed. It is a much simpler installation.