Self-employed joiners - hourly rate.
 

The recession has bitten, and a couple of weeks ago I found myself without regular employment. Since then, I've been offered jobs, but I'm not sure what I ought to be charging per hour for labour. I'm a trained, experienced carpenter/joiner, in my forties. I have no reputation as a self-employed tradesman yet so I understand I might have to start at the lower end until I've built it up somewhat. I intend to work on domestic repair/maintenance, door fitting etc. for private customers.

Any thoughts? :)

Minimum £15per hour

Is that generally or in London? I don't want to work the sites (if there are any, lol).

If your in London,then £35 minimum:D

LOL. That's a lot. :D Though I happen to know that when I was Employed I was sometimes charged out at something similar, whilst actually earning closer to a third of that. :mad:

I would say £15ish is the going rate in the Midlands, reduced to £10ish if your in a permanent position.
Our bench hands are on around £8 per hour.

I do know a few joiners that charge around £17/£20 per hour

I also know a cowboy who charges about £20 for four hours work:cuckoo:

Right, thanks everybody. I don't want to kill off my embryonic employment by charging too much, that's all, because my initial work will be coming from friends, friends of friends, friends of relatives etc. :thumb:

What's his name, Trigger? :D

Decent Carpenter in Welwyn Garden City that I use charges £175 for an 8 hour day.
Mind you - that WAS 8 Hours SOLID work.

If you look at prices from about 8 years ago, thats what the going rate is now. Some of the prices I have are similar to ones I was getting 10 years ago!

What area are you in?

10 - 15ph although you may want to set some set rates for hanging doors, frames etc.

Cheers, that's what I suspected. :)

Bubba

A friend of mine is in a similar trade, he will do all sorts of work for example fitting doors, painting/decorating, kitchens, bathrooms etc. He charges £150 a day on average. If he doesn't fancy a job he'll over quote (and sometimes get it). Generally he'll have around 6 weeks business lined up as people don't want to wait any more than that and will go elsewhere.

He advertises in the local free magazine but most of his work will be word of mouth. If you can do kitchens, the advent of Wickes and B&Q is great.

Remember his quotes are unpaid work though.

Swindon based for geographical pointers.

My 56 year old Father-inlaw (top joiner with years of experience) charges £100 a day, and works for 8 hours minus lunch and break times. That makes £12.50 per hour. That's all they pay a self-employed joiner in North Wales. He gets booked 6 months in advance.

mate of mine is much the same,charges 100 for mates rates per day and 125 for newbie's but if you want fixed prices say for a door hanging he does that as well.

Booked 6 months in advance :o Put your price up :)

Hello! :cool:

Why are you going red over someone being booked 6 months in adavance?? He might be getting advance bookings becuase he is undercutting his rivals? May be, his customers think that they have a fool going on cheap, so why not! :D

Not my price, not my business. We can only suggest, but the guy knows the market. We know that he is worth more than what he is paid. He does my jobs for nothing, that does me :thumb:

If he is getting booke dup that far in advance he has the right business plan, he may be working a little cheaper but if he is getting constant work he will probably be doing better than the others who may be having gaps in working.

Good on him :-)

The redness is scoobynet's silly icon for shock...lol

Six months is a long time to be booked up for. Still if he is happy with his rates then so be it :thumb:

Pricing for "can you just, will you just" jobs.
 

Evenin' all

Has anyone any thoughts on what would be a fair price for easing 2 internal doors to clear the new carpet?/ Only a bit of a job but I don't want to start turning jobs down that might lead to summat else as I'm only just starting up. All opinions appreciated.

Many thanks

I pay my guy £30 per door to fit from scratch, so I suppose £10 a door to remove and plane? :confused:

Just seen how old this thread is, how did the work go Bubba?

£15-£20 as it should take no more than an hour max. Although that is down here in poor old Cornwall.

Re: Easing door prices
 

Yeah I was thinking around £15 as I know the customer anyway. Like you said, should be an hour max to do the job so no point being greedy.
Thanks guys

Is it worth setting your tools up for £15 ?? I would charge £30 minimun for a small job even if it was only going to take me an hour.

I had a quote recently from a joiner to do a few bits and pieces that would probably take a morning to do, he said the work would be £120 plus materials as £120 is his daily rate.

Re: hourly rates
 

Yeah I take your point Stevebt but with it being someone I know and all I thought it was fair as he has some pretty good contacts that might bring me more work, however I know I have to avoid charging too little or it will be harder to put prices up in future and also I don't want to get thought of as a cowboy who will work for nowt!

And thanks for the info RobImpreza, but, are you gonna pay this guy £120 for a 'morning's work' just because he says that's his daily rate? I know what I'd be telling him!

Cheers all!

Sod charging by the hour:nono: just give a price always works for me:)

I was quoted £80 by the carpet fitter to do 4 doors, I did all 4 in just over an hour for nowt all it took was to knock 3 pins out and plane the edge. Had the carpet fitter had been more reasonable and quoted 30 or 40 for what was essentially an hours work, I would have let him get on with it.

And good luck mcjoiner on your new venture :)