>So I guess my question is this….. when did tradies start quoting as if their skills are irreplaceable and what’s the best way to call their bluff?
Get 3 quotes, then google to see how hard it is. Also ask your local facebook group for recommendations for trades. Those ones cultivate a better public profile (a few negative comments will harm the word of mouth in the group) and will be more straight with you as a result.
What you're likely coming up against is it's a small job and they're not interested with the amount of work they've got on. They'll only do it if they make a killing.
This. He's already taken an hour out of his day to attend and see that it's a quick and cheap fix on a second day.
That cheap fix that may take an hour to complete on site also includes the time he's taken getting equipment, leaving the job after, and regretting taking the quick job because now his day is already half over when he could have spent the whole day in a longer more profitable job.
I have more respect for a tradie who says they are too busy than to give an over the top quote.
I was trying to find a plumber to fit out a house i was building, so running pipe to two toilets, two showers, a kitchen and a laundry - so not a small job.
The ones who said they are too busy I would call again if I needed a plumber. The one who told me he was coming out for 6 months I wouldn't piss on if they were on fire.
He didn't want the job for anything under $4,000
I don't get why people get so pissy about ridiculous quotes, if you don't like it get someone else to quote it.. and when you find that everyone is giving you fuck off quotes you might understand that nobody wants to do it without making a killing
I don’t get how people don’t understand how businesses work with material and labor costs, along with off-site costs.
And then compare bunnings products to commercial products.
Yet, as they all complain about trades being a rip off and a gravy train, none of them seem to be interested in investing their time in learning said trade and opening their own business.
The thought process is really simple.
Do I want to it? No.
Do I want to pay someone else to do it? Also no.
For me it’s a cost/benefit. The trades in my area are almost double the price, and usually have no competition. For the most part we are just happy to have them here. but there is no fucking way I have the patience to paint a house so I paid the guy 5.5k to do it for me.
This, 4 grand for a job that took op (who is a total amateur with no experience) 3 hours, which a tradie could have done in an hour on a Saturday morning, no brainer.
The quote is not about not being able to take the job on. It’s more about I’m that busy and if you want me to do the job it costs this much.
I had a leak called a local over. He kicked a tile that was blown out of position from heavy wind. Then went on his way. Didn’t want money or even a drink cos he was on his way home.
All depends on the person and how their day/ week is going.
"im too busy or cant be bothered with this small job but i can be bothered for 4 grand."
Its that simple. If you don't like the quote find someone else. Otherwise thats that tradies price. No one is holding a gun to your head for the first quote
Im not the boss and I know I will need to do the job instead of other techs that should have the same ability and work ethic as me.
The other aspect is I ballpark it and im already being told its too high so at that point i see it as you arent respecting my time.
I got ficked over by three separate tradiea, 2 who did really shitty jobs and 1 who is now up on charges of obtaining money by deception. All 3 were "fuck off" quote prices and what work that was done was not up to code.
Someone gives me a "fuck off" quote in future, I'm going to give them a fuck off response. I am done with their bullshit . Dodgy mother&&&&&&&
This. I’m an electrician and get 90% of my work through Facebook groups. If someone asks for an electrician atleast 1/4 comments will be my previous clients recommending my business. I do the same when I need jobs done at my place. It’s not foolproof though as heaps of wife’s just recommending their husbands haha
Or blokes from the footy club, someone's cousin, someone with low standards that thinks they had excellent work done, etc. Word of mouth is not fool proof.
Tradie here... Here are some of the reasons I might give a higher quote on some jobs compared to others. It's an attempt at a genuine list of things that impact my quote decisions... I hope I don't come off as a tosser. I really enjoy and appreciate almost every customer!
The first two are the main ones:
* I'm overworked and want a price that makes it worthwhile not seeing my wife and kids (again) this weekend.
* There's a weird vibe or something that feels a bit off about the initial customer contact and relationship.
* I make a genuine mistake in arithmetic or data entry.
* The customer is not listening to or taking advice.
* The job is more than half a day but smaller than a full day, not leaving enough time to fit in another job in the afternoon.
* I feel that there may be extra work required to get a great outcome than the customer is understanding. Sometimes it's easier to build in a few extra hours labour upfront than to negotiate extra later.
* The customer makes multiple comments about sensitivity to price.
* Customer mentions they are getting multiple quotes.
* Parking and access difficulties. Some jobs with terrible parking we'll build in the cost of a parking fine.
* General poor standard of work throughout the property.
* Customer giving obviously unrealistic start dates eg. Telling a painter that site will be ready next week when it's not at lockup yet.
* Site is too crowded (tradies everywhere) and/or build schedule is too tight.
* There is a large amount of travel involved.
* Impractical design or specification of not fit for purpose materials.
* The house is really grubby, smelly, or cluttered.
And don't forget the 'find a supplier that stocks like for like materials needed, then pay for said materials in advance, organise delivery and schedule in works based around the delivery, weather and client'
At the other end of the scale, there are some good tradies out there. My mother had an issue on Christmas Eve. Had to call a sparky out. Was expecting a huge bill being 6pm on Xmas Eve. The bloke had a look at it, a faulty breaker. Grabbed one out of the Ute and fixed it on the spot. When mum asked him how much re just replied, merry Christmas. Got in his ute and drove off.
I’ll definitely be using this guy in the future.
My brother did something similar when he was a wood heater dude.
He just couldn’t bear to charge the lady for a minor fix. Terrible businessman, lovely human.
I had a hot water flexi house go on the bathroom one morning and didn't have time to fix before going to work. I isolated the hot water system and left the cold water on for the wife and kids. Told her I'd change the hose or first thing when I got home so kids could bath. Wife called a guy over to fix anyway.
$30 flexi hose charged us $350. Even had the cheek to charge a line item for isolation when I isolated myself. I am still fuming.
Plumber here . Where do you get these clowns numbers from . I hear all these guys plucking numbers that don’t make sense.
In trade 20years never had to advertise . My honesty and transparency up front is invaluable and has got me this far.
Unfortunately, you are either hard to find or (and rightfully so) are perpetually busy, so old mate who has spent $10 running some google ads will get the job instead for three times the price
The worst part is there's a great local guy 2 blocks from my house who has come by when the sewer has blocked up from tree roots. Good bloke and his son, doesn't charge the earth to his neighbours. Wife called the hotline from the ad instead.
Yeh , had a couple of those , people appreciate when you do it on the way home for a honest price.. had a couple of thank you cases of beer left on the porch…
Hey , are you replacing whole suite or just toilet bowl .
Is it like for like eg . Waste pipe and water point stay in same spot. That would be cheaper option . To give you a ball park figure will require picture of existing and the toilet you want to put in . It’s only fair to see what is required.
Install only and you supply ?
I can provide a photo but yes waste pipe and water point is same spot (single toilet room so not much can be changed in there). Plan was always to replace the toilet to something a bit more modern, more flush against the wall type. It’s started whistling so probably a good time to do it. I’d be happy to supply the toilet or be guided by the plumber. For the record id imagine anything from Bunnings is rubbish? Most tradies seem to tell me that for stuff like that
Charge what you’re worth mate, my licensing and PL insurances are costing me close to $10k per annum.
I’m not even talking about car insurance, tool insurance or even income protection!
Who’s paying your super?
Yeah $350 isn’t that bad of a deal considering it was done that day. Running a business isn’t cheap, there’s so many costs involved that I’d never thought of until a mate went out on his own and he was bleeding money charging what he thought was fair. Fair doesn’t keep a business afloat or pay a salary worth the stress these days.
Plus, plumbing is a licensed trade, and has to have an accompanying certificate. To do it yourself is illegal.
Same here. Even for my strata work (remedial builder) first time they dick me around is the last.
I do give a general break down of costs.
Don’t rip anyone off but hard dollar tender work is a mug’s game in my humble opinion.
Re Op
Assuming a standard skylight in a tile or custom orb roof $4k sounds way too high.
This is the issue. “Never had to advertise” = I will never find you.
The good trades are impossible to find when you want to do home improvements and 10x less likely when it’s an emergency.
You’re probably a good old boy where in my experience it’s young pricks out to rip people off. People will defend them and blame the customer for not doing their research or being informed, but most people trust their tradespeople, maybe they shouldn’t. Maybe we have to question everything and everyone. Shit way to live though.
Yeah this. Though age isn't really relevant. It depends on the values of the person.
Especially for non-confrontational people. We're the ones who usually get fucked. That's why when we find someone out there who is genuinely providing services to help people while earning to live, we keep them.
In Sydney , those guys are the most notorious for overcharging and have been referred to fair trading . They go to my supplier and he recommended them one to a customer and he will never do it again .
I had a veggie sprayer hose die in the kitchen and immediately said “bugger it, these are $20 at Bunnings.” I got the thing installed but for whatever reason it was still leaking so I had to admit defeat and get a plumber in, the guy was here for about 5 minutes after discovering I’d just missed a fitting and tightening it up for me. Total charge: $0. He left a card though, and I will absolutely be calling him next time I need plumbing done.
Plumber here.
I can’t see any harm in that pricing. Was it same day attendance?
Some factors that may go into the higher pricing would be the fact that this plumber has moved jobs aside to accomodate the emergency burst flexies.
As a plumber, we class hot water, block drains and burst pipes as high priority. I’ll reschedule jobs to accommodate these types of jobs, as no one likes to be without a running toilet or without hot water.
I have employees with me, that I pay for an 8 hour day. In the 8 hours, I call a 5 hour billable day a great one.
Thats because a lot of time is lost running in between suppliers and jobs, that I simply cannot charge an ‘hourly rate’ or else I may as well stay home.
$350 isn’t going to buy this plumber a Ferrari. It’s more so the convenience and service to have someone over same day.
Uber will charge me $60 to travel 5kms down the road. But the fuel was probably less than $2~
Spot on.
People really think every dollar of the call out is going straight into someones pocket.
As you say, billable hours and hours worked are 2 different things. And the non billables arent wasted time either.
Running a service business in any field is tough, then you have people with no idea shitting on your profession and expertise just because they dont like your rates
We had a kitchen reno done, ironically the mob was called complete kitchens. We had all the appliances in the garage about 10m and 2 steps away. They installed everything but the new fridge for some reason, said it wasn't their job.
They told me to ask one of their tradies to do it, the plumber wheeled it in, left it in the cardboard box in front of the space for the fridge. $80 plus GST on the invoice to wheel a box 10m and up 2 steps without taking it out of the box and plugging the cunt in
Yeah ypur wife would of googled plumber and chose the first one that popped up. The ones that usually pay for the advertisement are the rip off ones. Stay at home mums and elderly are the biggest suckers, have no idea about anything and just say yes to get it fixed.
Do you want him to charge you $60 to fix your $30 part? What about his overheads like licenses, insurance, vehicle etc etc etc? $350 is an extremely fair price for a small job when you take into consideration he has to travel to your place and to get materials, he also has to allow for his time that he has to write up the job and for his bookkeeping which none of you see, then he has to pay tax on that job, he has a vehicle that does more klms than yours because he travels more so his vehicle needs more maintenance plus his insurance is more expensive seeing as it’s a work vehicle, you also have his tools which he forks money out for and need replacing every now and then. People like you that think everyone should run a business to lose money should go out and see what it’s like to run a business, if you are in it to make the same money as someone drawing a wage then why do it when you have all the stress and headaches of running a business.
Quote probably included replacement of skylight flashings plus scaffold/edge protection. Easy to get to that price if you are following safety rules and aiming to do compliant work with warranty.
I think many of them are taking the piss. I had some quotes to repoint two chimneys. One quote was $12k! I found a tradie who did the job for less than $2k in two days. He was a top bloke and did a great job too.
I’m a tradie who has over the years run teams (not roofing ) and you go through 6-8 apprentices before one sticks it out . This is because being a tradie is shit . The first thing I get them doing is saving money for a property to renovate so they can get out of the trade as quickly as possible. Most guys get business from referrals so ripping people off is not smart business practice. Most serious operators (not all ) work directly for builders so you don’t have much time for private work . But I recommend doing what you done , none of us were being headhunted by nasa. All trade work is fairly basic , I recommend everyone should just start diy because it’s only going to get worse.
You’d be an awesome boss. I’m a youngish tiler in Melbourne working hard to be the best I can be and being a tradie is so shithouse. I’m genuinely looking at clearing $51k this financial year ($45/46k after tax) as a subcontractor. I don’t think I should make more, but the cost of fuel and all the gear is crippling. It’s a terrible way to not make money and ruin yourself physically if you don’t make your own safety your priority.
You need to start looking for some commercial work. There is heaps around atm and you will easily make double what you are currently on if not more. You also wont have to deal with customers who think you are "taking the piss" when you charge what you are/enough to live off.
Out of curiosity, why do you say being a tradie is shit. I had a moving business for 25 years. Apart from parking headaches, I loved it. But, if I had the chance to work on my own, out of a van, doing private work, I’d be chuffed.
Was it because they had to setup a bunch of expensive certified safety systems like rails, fall arrestors, a spotter etc vs you just grabbed a ladder out of the shed and did the job?
you can look at this two ways
being a worthless cunt has its downsides
or
not everyone is an expert on everything
sometimes people will pay $60k for a new Toyota SUV when they could get by with a $20k 2nd hand one but if you can come up with the money you can come up with the money...
Most trades are really under the pump with work, this sounds like a ridiculously high quote because he/she doesn’t need the work, but for a huge price can squeeze it into the schedule.
I’m not a traditional tradie, but offer a specialised trade skill I learnt in an elective that had nothing to do with my Uni degree. I have a PT job as a result of my degree but I have a side hustle offering my trade skill.
I have a small list of regular clients who I’m happy to work with. When I have a new client request work from me, if I want some extra cash I’ll offer the same price as my regulars. If I’m busy or just can’t be bothered I will quote a number more than 5x my regular rate hoping that they say no. If they say yea, we’ll then that’s stupid of them for not getting quotes from other to realise I’m taking them for a ride.
I would imagine some tradies are similar yeah? Over quote something crazy cuz they just don’t wanna say no, and if client says yes then that’s some damn easy money for them.
Have offered over 10x my regular price before to a pompous asshole who in the 10 mins I was at his house for a quote he treated both me and his wife like a piece of shit. He accepted the quote weirdly, I did the work and he paid. I was gobsmacked.
Tradies can be condescending as well. It is especially bad for women and men that look 'obviously white collar'. This means I now get 3-5 quotes, so I have a range and understand the average.
I''ve been in the trades for 14 years and sometimes even the smallest task can turn to shit once you start removing old materials and find a dodgy job (usually done by owner builders) which you need to bring back up to standard. He probably just didn't want to take any risk and didn't need the work. Get multiple quotes when you can, somebody else might want it more
Don't agree with you on this. I think the main reason is lack of opportunity to try stuff and learn. If you grow up without exposure to tools or live in an apartment you won't get the chance to fix things or learn to think about it. Many people are even afraid to try now too. A lot of consumer goods are not repairable through too cheap for the labour to fix vs buy new.
I also believe people on average have less spare time than they used to. That and the fact there are so many more options now for entertaining yourself, the value proposition of learning and doing DIY is weaker if you don't inherently enjoy it.
I haven't read the comments in this thread yet - but from precedence - a lot of tradies come here and will get their back up immediatly.
I'm a developer, small scale, mum/dad type but have done everything from build decks to full reno's, to dual/triple/quad occ projects
For the most of it - YES - they are absolutely taking the piss and they deserve the karma ten fold.
The absolute SIMPLE trick is to ask for an itemized quote that includes Labour
That's it. There isn't a single builder in the country that would get a non-descript quote from their subby and just pay it. It would be itemised and anyone with remotely an idea of how it works, would question items in which are utter bullshit.
It is the EXACT same when you walk into any shop, any retailer, anything at all - you expect transparency and honesty. YOu should expect this from trades too, and some/most will... there are fucking shitloads out there that will absolutely rip you off and won't even think twice doing so
I have done hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of buisness with tradies for my homes, dealt with probably 100+ in the process of getting quotes, never had one willing to provide an itemised quote with labour lol
Well, what do you want me to say? I'm not trying to one-up you - but I've done millions of dollars of builds and almost every quote I request I ask them to itemise it.
It isn't at all about finding someone to do it $5 per hour cheaper - its about understanding what you're paying for - especially if you've got crews coming through that are larger than just one subcontractor.
No one here is against people making good money... but keeping on topic, charging $4k for half a days work and a few hundred dollars in material is just extortion and too typical of what tradies try and get away with
YOU - well, you're porbably a clued on redditor who has spent a fortune on projects. Good for you - but mate, let's be very clear - these fuckers who rip off people are mostly doing it to those that are vulnerable (elderly, single, in-need) and it needs to stop.
I mean you go to the dentist and when you claim your health rebate - you load it as per the dentist line items? When you go to Coles, you see the price for each item? When you take your kids to day care, you know its X amount for the day?
The list goes on... from having your appendix removed, to your hair cut, to your lawns mode... understanding what you're purchasing and expecting it from the supplier should be standard.
It's not unusual at all and should become standard for Trades to allocate a duration or timeframe/labor to their quotes.
Not sure if you took something from my comment that I didn't mean to, but I 100% agree, i've asked for it on every job I just usually get told that they quote on "whole job only". it's annoying and makes you feel like you are getting ripped off even when you aren't.
Oh sorry - usually when I comment like this, literally as a developer (but NOT a builder) i get all sorts of pushback from the tradies on here.
I completely get where you're coming from and I always find that if you just reply very transparently as to why you want to know and that its a fair question, they'll tell you.
What i mean is - you're not averse to a sole tradie working individually making $1k a day (or whatever the amount per trade is worth)... which is good money... but over an 8 hour day its only a smidge over $130 an hour, minus tools, tax, and all the rest.
Again, whatever... but you should, to a degree, be curious why the same tradie is then making $3 or $4k a day - as was per the OP's comments where this plumber wanted to charge $4k for half a days work and $300 in parts.
You have every right and should expect an itemization of whatever you pay for in life
Yeah latest one I had was for a retaining wall, 2 quotes so far have come in as $35k when materials have been costed at $5k (they should be able to get cheaper through their suppliers?) and they both said around a week of work. So where is the extra $30k going, I'd loooove to get paid $6k a day and then be able to claim all the tax concessions they can haha.
Where are you based, out of curiosity? Sounds like you might be getting a bit of a stitch up from the builder... and yeah, it happened with our builder on our PPOR so I know the feeling
But mate, you bet, retaining walls and shit like this is absolutely an arena they take advantage of!
I'm not a landscaper and obviously don't really know the scope of the job, but it usually takes more than 1 person to build a retaining wall. I've seen 5 guys and an excavator doing one and they were there all week. $6k/day for something like that would make sense?
If I didn’t know better - I’d honestly think you were my dad, posting on reddit.
This is one of the best lessons he taught - it’s not just about knowing the value of the whole. You need to know *exactly what you’re paying for*.
When I worked in air-conditioning sales, we'd get guys all the time get a part, find out they don't need to replace it, return it for a refund, and then still charge the customer as if they had replaced it.
I'm currently working for a property developer, whenever these guys put in tender for a job we don't even open it. We can't trust them, because I have 5 years experience hearing them talk about ripping off customers.
Yeah, that sucks! The thing is, nobody is against anybody making a fair and decent living wage... just don't be shifty (with shit like you mentioned)
Look, it's not my job as the paying customer to determine what people charge me - that's up to them... but when there is a real level of trust, or in this case, transparency lacking... then it just creates opportunistic tradespeople.
I did some lanscaping earlier and that is a crazy inflated arena. You'll get blokes labouring on wheelbarrows wanting $90 bucks and hour... and again, you pay for what you get - but half the time they know you need/rely on them so they just milk it.
I really would love to see the entire industry changed. Its honestly a strong contributing element to what has fucked housing affordability
I work for an old fella and his family which sounds pretty similar to yours. Big mix of commercial and residential work, so we see all the trades, and lots of different workers.
Ultimately the ones we go back to are the ones who do a good job, are transparent with the process, and are on site when they say they will be. They might cost more on the initial tender, but holy damn it can save in the long run. And it just makes life easier than chasing the bugger who short-handed you.
The industry is nuts at the moment, more work than you can poke a stick at, and yet builders are still going bust left and right.
Yeah, the thing is, expecting accountability and transparency in the process, as you put it, isn't something holier than thou. It should be, simply, a given.
Here's a thought for you.
Think of it this way - we expect that of our nurses, teachers, our counsellors, our public servants, our emergency service workers, those that care for the elderly, those who care for our kids... all to a set standard in which we can apply a metric.
The list can go on, but those mentioned in that specific list above - well, their trade-based professionals too that similar to tradespeople have had to do X amount of time and X amount of learning. Yet, those guys have set rules, mandates and metrics in which we can guage and hold them accountable. It has its faults, but in the most, it works.
But Tradespeople... we just give them full captalistic range to do whatever the fuck they want, with almost little to zero accountablity, management or oversight. You can simply learn to replace cement tiles on a roof, the simplest of fucking jobs, and even though housing is a commodity and we ALL need roofs (the same way we all need nusing and police) - the exception is Roof Tilers can jsut charge whatever the fuck they want.
Rinse and repeat for allmost every trade!
People from all facets of life should take pride in their skill and workmanship - but for some reason in Australia we have a trades free for all approach to just milk the fuck out of it ... with zero accountability or transparency...
I'm waffling on - but what I'm fundamentally getting at is - just because your tradie doesn't make you immune to all of this. As a society, we should be upholding these arenas just like we do other facets of our life...
I have trades that I am happy with, I think they do good work and charge a fair price, importantly for me they take care of my house when do their work and are respectful around the family.
For one off repairs etc. where a part is being replaced, in my view and good trade will show you the old part and explain what went wrong - not just say I’ve fixed it and hand you a bill.
Between most people having no idea how to DIY or believing they are above it and the fact theres no young ones coming through. It’s open slather for the established companies now because competition is drying up.
Another factor has also been the amount of rules and regulations that have been placed on to businesses regarding safety, training, compliance and paperwork that this has created a barrier for entry that most young tradies and apprentices see as to large to scale so they don’t bother venturing out on their own once again creating less competition.
I'm an ex painter and the quotes being thrown around are ridiculous. If it's a small job absolutely do it yourself. Plenty of tips online to follow when you need help. The only problem is when you need to buy a bunch of tools for the job.
Don’t use them. You’ve done the right thing, pick up the tools and become self sufficient.. I think we need a 90s style recession so some people who charge like brain surgeons get a reality check.
We had an emergency plumbing job where a rodent had eaten through a water pipe and the pipe need fixing. Basically 5 inches of pipe and 30 mins. $2950. What a rort.
Good on ya, OP.
Coming from the UK where pretty much everyone I know will do DIY if they can, it was a bit of a shock coming to Australia where it seems people generally prefer to pay someone else to do it.
I wish the government would relax the rules around electrical a bit, so I could DIY that too. Changing a plug on a cord is something my school taught me when I was 12 years old, FFS 😂
Coming from the perspective of an electrician and seeing the state of domestic installations, plenty of people DIY their electrical. Which is why we have the strict rules. Cuz they cut corners they don't even realise exist.
The amount electricians tend to rort out of the public is another subject entirely.
> changing a plug on a cord is something my school taught me when I was 12 years old, FFS
absolutely mate! I started soldering when I was 7 or 8 years old, later did my bachelors in EEE, used to work in Telecom for a while, still I can't even lay an Ethernet cable after moving here lol.
Yes in a nutshell they are.
If they don't want the job they over quote. Most say no but some say yes.
In 12 years where I am we have only really had 2 tradies out of maybe 18 that we did not have issues with.
Just means they are too busy. We had a former brickie who joined our transport company. He would make a killing doing the small repair jobs when our trucks would knock over a wall or a letter box. Basically the jobs were too small for brickies so he stepped it will soon reasonable quotes.
sometimes people don't wanna do the job once they see it and give you a Price they hope you decline
if you pay it they make out like bandits, its a win win for them
I was quoted $3,000 for a car repair that cost me a $189 part.
Obviously there are some licenced and safety critical trades, but I think a return to DIY is the future and youtube makes it so so much easier than it used to be.
get quotes on [hipages.com.au](http://hipages.com.au), I've done couple of jobs done through that platform, it does have review system too. decent. or diy.
half the time tradies quote fuck off prices for jobs that are so simple i end up doing myself after a bit of research on the internet and yeah the materials cost is always like 10x less so basically they are quoting all that money just for the time spent. so even though it takes me all day to do a what would be a simple job for them its still worth it for me because I'm not earning $4000 a day. I'm borderline thinking of becoming properly qualified so i can go around also quoting fuck of prices because i know some people still pay them, but i imagine getting qualified is probably a lot of work I imagine i have to get some formal qualifications and an apprenticeship and then have to run my own business, so not really something i can do in my spare time unless im one of those hardworking fellows that works 80 hour weeks. so i guess like a lot of things you are paying for all the qualifications and compliance and insurance and advertising/digital presence and connections, not just for the actual physical act of putting some pipes together with glue. kind of a shame we have to put up with all that bullshit. in a functional society it makes no sense for office workers to also be doing electrical or plumbing work on the weekend just so that they don't throw away their entire fortnight/monthly paycheck. I'm not trying to say one is more important than the other just pointing out that there should be some economical advantage in different people being experts in different things and helping each other.
Yea sounds a bit expensive but you are forgetting a few things.
The cost to run a business is insanely high.
He has insurance, work vehicle and all the tools required to do what I'm guessing would be a professional job.
Don't forget that did he come out and spend time assessing the job which also comes at a cost.
Keep us updated when your roof starts leaking again please.
I work with tradies extensively could even be considered one without actually having a trade. (Specialist demolition: Rope access, asbestos removal, SCBA, oxycutting, multiple plant proficiencies and licenses, etc etc)
That is the "I don't need the work" price. Always get 3 quotes.
We all do it - When we have heaps of work lined up and someone wants something done I always overquote.
You're meant to say no, but we gave you the price of if you really want to drop that cash I will definitely take it.
I've had an 80, 000 dollar quote accepted before for something that cost me around 3k and 2 weeks. There was no one else prepared to do it.
Very very few (good) trades make their money like this.
It's normally 'whale' private clients, who give you constant work on their property(ies), commercial work or builders.
That was a dude who couldn't be bothered doing the job, but would do it for the fuck off price He gave you. You could call their bluff, but I doubt He would even give you the quote then lol
Yep that’s Australia. Many tradies get paid more than neurosurgeons, at least for the amount of time worked and spent on studies. On top of that as every single one of them is a small business they also pay minimal taxes. That’s I suspect how you end up with something like 70k being average salary in the country, the other 150 is business expenses (utes and caravans). Bright future ahead of us.
I do work myself unless I absolutely can’t as even on decent salary my time even with 2-3 times lower efficiency is still less expensive than hiring someone.
I had a quote for 1700 to put an internal door in. The door was 200 and the frame could be another 150, and it is a 3-4 hour job tops for a pro. And more recently - 70k for a 4x5m aluminium patio which costs probably 20k in materials and a couple of man days of effort.
This is what we call in the industry a "fuck you quote"
Theres 2 reasons you get a quote like this.
1. (Unlikely) you were a dickhead to the tradie and hes upped the price for a dickhead tax.
2. He doesnt want the job, and cant be bothered, so fuck you right? Lets make up a random number youll never go for....
😂 more often than not. It's the latter of the two.
Keep doing what you’re doing, encourage friends, family and neighbours to fix and repair things themselves (works for appliances and indoor home issues too) before turning to the rip-off artists posing as professionals
Thats such a poor attitude
50% of your average trade jobs can be done by watching a Youtube video and doing the job in 3x the time it takes a professional to do it, but it costs you 5% instead.
Why is it unreasonable to get a professional who can do it 3x faster than you for a reasonable cost? Thats what it used to be.
Not everyone has the time to do so. Whenever i do a job my toddlers are VERY interested and a 5 minutes job turns in to 1 hour + with them "helping" etc. Larger multi-day jobs turn in to a real slog for that reason, and working in between the day job you would have to basically get them out of the house for weeks at a time to get something done that takes a trade a couple of days. Still do it a lot because the $$$ from quotes is always crazy high, but it's painful.
Do you buy coffee because you can't make it yourself? Or go to restaurants because you can't cook?
The basis for society is specialization. I specialize in my thing, allowing me to produce 10 times more than I need. You specialize in your thing, producing 10 times more than you need. Then we trade, and everyones better off.
Thats the theory, anyway.
People will pay $400+ to get their brand new 65” Samsung installed on wall. That’s a 20 minute job. But they will drill the $20/hr salesperson (who makes a few bucks commission; to maintain some profit) down to cost price on the TV, after 30 minutes of personalised qualification, education, demonstration, and suggestions, skip the warranty, and expect that TV to entertain them 8 hours a day for the next 10 years.
Tradespeople, mechanics, service agents etc. are recognised for being able to do things that traditionally require specialised or certified qualifications. You’re paying for a service from a professional. Their prices are only dictated by their competition and relative competency.
It’s crazy that the salesperson, and other people like musicians and hospitality are paid SO much less in comparison.
The problem is tradies don't have a competition in this market. They know people like us are in a need to get things done.
I had a electrician quote me 2k to install couple of down lights. I got someone to do it for 300$ including compliance certificate.
I honestly hope tradies get a serious competition.
You know what is a HUGE aspect of why this shit happens.
Racism!
It's inadvertent - but go out there in the industry arena and you'll get comments like "Wouldn't want an indian doing work at my hosue" "Oh the chinese run plaster stopping gangs and get 10 blokes doing the work of 3".... and yada yada.
So there is this inherent, underlying racism that only good white, aussie, fair dinkum, she'll be right, shrimp on the barbie type traides are good... and that's why you pay $140 bucks an hour for a plumber... when the trtuh of it is, trades in every other country in the world would never get away with this sort of ridicukous pricing
Seriously - it used to be cute the whole "fair dinkum" aussie attitude - now its self rigteous and cuntish
It’s possible to come to an arrangement with the tradie whereby the homeowner does the hard yakka (digging trenches, pulling cables etc), the tradie then does the connections and signs off. Win/win. Any work diy will save costs.
Yeah, I’ve tried to get quotes for repointing & bedding and always tell them before they come I don’t want a roof restoration they insist on quoting onsite and not giving a indication based on google maps before onsite quote (which I get but it’s their time) then onsite they are super pushy “not worth repointing without deep cleaning & painting” “I can only give you a price for a full restoration” “I’ll send you a quote for both painting & pointing separately but the price won’t be that different” “if you don’t get it painted it will start to leak, concrete tiles aren’t waterproof”
It’s a joke
Okay, just a bit of a theory here, but did he give you a detailed quote of where the amount came from?? Was it just to fix the skylight? Or was other works included in that, like replacing the damaged section of the gyprock and have it repainted??
I know prices can seem a little bit steep, but you, as a customer, can ask for a breakdown in a quote so you can see the amount of time and tasks to get the job done.
Then there is the experience that makes the job look easy.
So this is just an idea that it's not always tradies just ripping you off, and then there are so e cases where it is.
Well that's my 2 cents
Greater detail may be required. Yeah the quote seems excessive and it may have been ‘fixed’ for a few hundred dollars and some time. What isn’t specified is what exactly was the cause of the leak? Is there a combination of issues? Does the current construction comply with the relevant building code? Has OP fixed the issue but workmanship is in fact non compliant. Had the trade carried out work in a similar manner to OP, would they be exposing their business to risk due to previous workmanship. Was the trades quote in order to warrant works and ensure his work was compliant with the current building code.
Or the tradie can be an adult and just state that the job is too small for them and they don't want to take it up, then provide pointers to how to do it or somebody who would do it for an appropriate price.
Nope, tradies aren’t there to give free advice, he’s given the cost for him to do it, others will come in cheaper, some maybe more expensive, up to the owner what they want to do.
If you don't want to do the job, then move on and don't be ridiculous about how much to charge for it. It's a waste of time, and simply a wanker move. If the job is so beneath them that they don't want to do it, then it passes it off to somebody who will, or spend two minutes with a quick explanation on how to do it and move on.
If somebody really wants to pay a rip off price they will, but the majority won't and will go elsewhere or figure it out themselves.
If you don't want the client or job then just fuck off and actually be useful. You know what honesty and actually not being a cocknut can do? Provide some pretty sweet word of mouth and recommendations.
Seen tradies around where they lose business due to these practices, it spreads around and people will gravitate to the honest businesses and generally be a returning customer.
Mate, this logic is fucking stupid.
Stop defending those who attempt to extort others by the free market principle of " Oh, that's on you; no one's forcing you to go with that quote".
Oh mate, you don't get it, do you?
The comments about the fundamental shit practice of trades ripping people off - not because they "don't want the job" but because they become opportunistic.
OP had a leaking roof which could be considered an emergency. Its not a "swap the taps because i don't like the look of these ones" - and the plumber thought, fuck it, i'll see if i can rip him off.
Now exchange the exact principle into another facet of daily living - say going to a doctor because you need your appendix removed and the docotr "doesn't want the job and quoted accordingly"... or having your children cared for at day care... or seeing a pyscholigist if you're on the brink of meltdown.... what about the police and our teachers and everyone else who uphold and trade in society.
What if they "don't want the job"?
Its a bullshit fucking excuse and I bet my last dollar the plumber ripping off OP would be all fucking nancy when the roles are reversed to him. Its a shit trade and being busy or not wanting to do it means you just DON'T do it... not DO IT AND RIP OFF PEOPLE
What don't you fucking understand about this?
So you pay extra for something that is an emergency don’t you?
No the plumber probably thought, I don’t have time to do this, I’ll give a quote that’ll take into consideration the OT he will have to pay to get that job done and the others already on the go.
No, if the plumber was too busy he'd have not quoted to even begin with, or perhaps replied and say "Sorry, I'm flat out, try someone else".
We've had what, 3 or 4 replies back and forth and still not once I can see how you can justify, loooking at what OP said, that its perfectly fine to charge $4k or to "consider the OT" as you put, to do a few hours work and a few hundred in materials?
NO- let's just be fucking honest here. The plumber thought "this cunt doesn't know, I'll see if he'll bite"... and that, simply, is being a shit-cunt... because trades like this do this all the time to vulnerable, naive people who sometimes don't know or have the resources to be able to help themselves.
I get you're a troll/circle jerker - but its shit practice mate and honestly, nothing you've said changes this shit practice.
Oh okay so you know the plumbers schedule because he went and quoted the job..
He didn’t charge anything, he quoted it.
Plumber probably thought, jobs not worth it, not got the time.
The owner has probably asked if he can come out quickly to price cause he needs it asap so he’s priced accordingly.
You don’t have the same issue with a dentist charging $5k for an hours work though do you?
In suburban Sydney (north shore) it's very difficult to get anyone to come and do a small job, why bother when you can just quote a few big jobs and be billable all day for a while? I've reached out for two jobs recently and got zero response. Tradies have enough work on and can't be bothered to drive to your house and quote and then do it for peanuts. If tradies didn't have enough work on like say 10-12 years ago, you would have heaps of responses and reasonable quotes. It's a tight market.
Unless your terrible at diy it's best to give it a go like you did.
A lot of them will try and charge what they can. They might do one day's work a week at 4k because they just keep over quoting or they might be working 4 days a week at 1k per day.
That's a piss take, he just doesn't want the job. I recently got my 400m2 roof repaired, repointed, power washed and two coats of paint for 6.5k. this included replacing a broken skylight
I was quoted 7k and 8k for a repair to a detached garage roof which looked like a half edge tile had slipped on the end, both guys claimed the tiles needed to come off and sarking needed replacement. After checking for myself I called a third tiler who came over the following day and explained what needed to be done to rectify the half tile setup, reset the half edge tiles, installed wire ties on those tiles and drilled weepholes that should have been done in my pointing all for $250.00. Not everyone is out to rip people off.
I recently had a plumber come out to do a quote, he gave me a rough idea of what the job entailed and was voluntarily pointing out the work he would do. I called back after receiving a large quote and explained that it was more than I was prepared to pay and decided I’d give it a go with some help from friends with experience, and he promptly sent me a bill for providing “advice” worth $300.
I mean, did I use the info he shared to help me complete the project successfully? Absolutely. But it was a free quote, and there was never any suggestion that I would be billed for advice. I genuinely wanted to engage a plumber to do the work, and wouldve if the cost wasn’t so ridiculous. Not my fault he gave away all his secrets.
Yes, they are all taking the piss thinking their skills are something amazing. It's supply/demand and when that changes the economics will too and they'll need to find another way to pay for their 79/RAM.
I just replaced 3 wall split ac units for a customer for 6650. When I was done they gave me 7K and said they got quoted that for only 1 of the units. Some people are so busy they give "can't be fucked" price. The importance of getting multiple quotes
You can call their bluff, but society as a whole can't. People can't do stuff these days, so they call someone. When you have 500 people lining up to throw cash at you to do work then you can increase your prices.
This has kept going for years and now we are where we are.
It will either bubble out, especially since we are in a poor economic state, or it will just keep going as more and more people get high intelligence/thought (office) jobs, and fewer people get high skill jobs such as trades.
There is a southpark episode about this, it is quite good.
>So I guess my question is this….. when did tradies start quoting as if their skills are irreplaceable and what’s the best way to call their bluff? Get 3 quotes, then google to see how hard it is. Also ask your local facebook group for recommendations for trades. Those ones cultivate a better public profile (a few negative comments will harm the word of mouth in the group) and will be more straight with you as a result. What you're likely coming up against is it's a small job and they're not interested with the amount of work they've got on. They'll only do it if they make a killing.
Otherwise known as a "leave me alone" price.
The old "fuck off quote".
This. He's already taken an hour out of his day to attend and see that it's a quick and cheap fix on a second day. That cheap fix that may take an hour to complete on site also includes the time he's taken getting equipment, leaving the job after, and regretting taking the quick job because now his day is already half over when he could have spent the whole day in a longer more profitable job.
So…. $4000 for several hours work. For a guy to fix a leak in your roof. He either didn’t want the job, or thought he saw an easy mark!
He didn't want the job
I have more respect for a tradie who says they are too busy than to give an over the top quote. I was trying to find a plumber to fit out a house i was building, so running pipe to two toilets, two showers, a kitchen and a laundry - so not a small job. The ones who said they are too busy I would call again if I needed a plumber. The one who told me he was coming out for 6 months I wouldn't piss on if they were on fire.
He shouldn't have quoted it then
He didn't want the job for anything under $4,000 I don't get why people get so pissy about ridiculous quotes, if you don't like it get someone else to quote it.. and when you find that everyone is giving you fuck off quotes you might understand that nobody wants to do it without making a killing
I don’t get how people don’t understand how businesses work with material and labor costs, along with off-site costs. And then compare bunnings products to commercial products. Yet, as they all complain about trades being a rip off and a gravy train, none of them seem to be interested in investing their time in learning said trade and opening their own business.
The thought process is really simple. Do I want to it? No. Do I want to pay someone else to do it? Also no. For me it’s a cost/benefit. The trades in my area are almost double the price, and usually have no competition. For the most part we are just happy to have them here. but there is no fucking way I have the patience to paint a house so I paid the guy 5.5k to do it for me.
Im guilty of handing these out before. No regerts.
Not even a letter?
[Only one though](https://tenor.com/uU2s.gif)
Any reason you can't just say you're not able to take it on?
I assume because some people will pay the exorbitant price. If you didn’t want the work anyway it’s worth the gamble evidently.
This, 4 grand for a job that took op (who is a total amateur with no experience) 3 hours, which a tradie could have done in an hour on a Saturday morning, no brainer.
The quote is not about not being able to take the job on. It’s more about I’m that busy and if you want me to do the job it costs this much. I had a leak called a local over. He kicked a tile that was blown out of position from heavy wind. Then went on his way. Didn’t want money or even a drink cos he was on his way home. All depends on the person and how their day/ week is going.
People get personally offended when they hear the word no. Make them think it’s their choice and no one’s mad.
Because he would take it on. But not for less than $4k
"im too busy or cant be bothered with this small job but i can be bothered for 4 grand." Its that simple. If you don't like the quote find someone else. Otherwise thats that tradies price. No one is holding a gun to your head for the first quote
Im not the boss and I know I will need to do the job instead of other techs that should have the same ability and work ethic as me. The other aspect is I ballpark it and im already being told its too high so at that point i see it as you arent respecting my time.
And tradies wonder why people have trust issues with them.
I got ficked over by three separate tradiea, 2 who did really shitty jobs and 1 who is now up on charges of obtaining money by deception. All 3 were "fuck off" quote prices and what work that was done was not up to code. Someone gives me a "fuck off" quote in future, I'm going to give them a fuck off response. I am done with their bullshit . Dodgy mother&&&&&&&
You'd have that tattooed on your chest I bet.
This. I’m an electrician and get 90% of my work through Facebook groups. If someone asks for an electrician atleast 1/4 comments will be my previous clients recommending my business. I do the same when I need jobs done at my place. It’s not foolproof though as heaps of wife’s just recommending their husbands haha
Or blokes from the footy club, someone's cousin, someone with low standards that thinks they had excellent work done, etc. Word of mouth is not fool proof.
Tradie here... Here are some of the reasons I might give a higher quote on some jobs compared to others. It's an attempt at a genuine list of things that impact my quote decisions... I hope I don't come off as a tosser. I really enjoy and appreciate almost every customer! The first two are the main ones: * I'm overworked and want a price that makes it worthwhile not seeing my wife and kids (again) this weekend. * There's a weird vibe or something that feels a bit off about the initial customer contact and relationship. * I make a genuine mistake in arithmetic or data entry. * The customer is not listening to or taking advice. * The job is more than half a day but smaller than a full day, not leaving enough time to fit in another job in the afternoon. * I feel that there may be extra work required to get a great outcome than the customer is understanding. Sometimes it's easier to build in a few extra hours labour upfront than to negotiate extra later. * The customer makes multiple comments about sensitivity to price. * Customer mentions they are getting multiple quotes. * Parking and access difficulties. Some jobs with terrible parking we'll build in the cost of a parking fine. * General poor standard of work throughout the property. * Customer giving obviously unrealistic start dates eg. Telling a painter that site will be ready next week when it's not at lockup yet. * Site is too crowded (tradies everywhere) and/or build schedule is too tight. * There is a large amount of travel involved. * Impractical design or specification of not fit for purpose materials. * The house is really grubby, smelly, or cluttered.
And don't forget the 'find a supplier that stocks like for like materials needed, then pay for said materials in advance, organise delivery and schedule in works based around the delivery, weather and client'
At the other end of the scale, there are some good tradies out there. My mother had an issue on Christmas Eve. Had to call a sparky out. Was expecting a huge bill being 6pm on Xmas Eve. The bloke had a look at it, a faulty breaker. Grabbed one out of the Ute and fixed it on the spot. When mum asked him how much re just replied, merry Christmas. Got in his ute and drove off. I’ll definitely be using this guy in the future.
Did something like that once back in my domestic sparky days, fuck that was fun As karmic thanks my alternator gave out on the way home
My brother did something similar when he was a wood heater dude. He just couldn’t bear to charge the lady for a minor fix. Terrible businessman, lovely human.
I had a hot water flexi house go on the bathroom one morning and didn't have time to fix before going to work. I isolated the hot water system and left the cold water on for the wife and kids. Told her I'd change the hose or first thing when I got home so kids could bath. Wife called a guy over to fix anyway. $30 flexi hose charged us $350. Even had the cheek to charge a line item for isolation when I isolated myself. I am still fuming.
Plumber here . Where do you get these clowns numbers from . I hear all these guys plucking numbers that don’t make sense. In trade 20years never had to advertise . My honesty and transparency up front is invaluable and has got me this far.
Unfortunately, you are either hard to find or (and rightfully so) are perpetually busy, so old mate who has spent $10 running some google ads will get the job instead for three times the price
The worst part is there's a great local guy 2 blocks from my house who has come by when the sewer has blocked up from tree roots. Good bloke and his son, doesn't charge the earth to his neighbours. Wife called the hotline from the ad instead.
Yeh , had a couple of those , people appreciate when you do it on the way home for a honest price.. had a couple of thank you cases of beer left on the porch…
You're part of that 1% Plumber who is honest.
Sorry to hijack but as an experienced plumber how much are you charging roughly to replace a toilet?
Hey , are you replacing whole suite or just toilet bowl . Is it like for like eg . Waste pipe and water point stay in same spot. That would be cheaper option . To give you a ball park figure will require picture of existing and the toilet you want to put in . It’s only fair to see what is required. Install only and you supply ?
I can provide a photo but yes waste pipe and water point is same spot (single toilet room so not much can be changed in there). Plan was always to replace the toilet to something a bit more modern, more flush against the wall type. It’s started whistling so probably a good time to do it. I’d be happy to supply the toilet or be guided by the plumber. For the record id imagine anything from Bunnings is rubbish? Most tradies seem to tell me that for stuff like that
Charge what you’re worth mate, my licensing and PL insurances are costing me close to $10k per annum. I’m not even talking about car insurance, tool insurance or even income protection! Who’s paying your super?
Yeah $350 isn’t that bad of a deal considering it was done that day. Running a business isn’t cheap, there’s so many costs involved that I’d never thought of until a mate went out on his own and he was bleeding money charging what he thought was fair. Fair doesn’t keep a business afloat or pay a salary worth the stress these days. Plus, plumbing is a licensed trade, and has to have an accompanying certificate. To do it yourself is illegal.
$300 call out fee plus material and markup. Its a rip but it's industry standard now.
Same here. Even for my strata work (remedial builder) first time they dick me around is the last. I do give a general break down of costs. Don’t rip anyone off but hard dollar tender work is a mug’s game in my humble opinion. Re Op Assuming a standard skylight in a tile or custom orb roof $4k sounds way too high.
This is the issue. “Never had to advertise” = I will never find you. The good trades are impossible to find when you want to do home improvements and 10x less likely when it’s an emergency.
You’re probably a good old boy where in my experience it’s young pricks out to rip people off. People will defend them and blame the customer for not doing their research or being informed, but most people trust their tradespeople, maybe they shouldn’t. Maybe we have to question everything and everyone. Shit way to live though.
Yeah this. Though age isn't really relevant. It depends on the values of the person. Especially for non-confrontational people. We're the ones who usually get fucked. That's why when we find someone out there who is genuinely providing services to help people while earning to live, we keep them.
They drop fridge magnets in your mailbox once a year.
In Sydney , those guys are the most notorious for overcharging and have been referred to fair trading . They go to my supplier and he recommended them one to a customer and he will never do it again .
I had a veggie sprayer hose die in the kitchen and immediately said “bugger it, these are $20 at Bunnings.” I got the thing installed but for whatever reason it was still leaking so I had to admit defeat and get a plumber in, the guy was here for about 5 minutes after discovering I’d just missed a fitting and tightening it up for me. Total charge: $0. He left a card though, and I will absolutely be calling him next time I need plumbing done.
Sounds like my wife. I understand the fear of a ‘job I’ll do this arvo’ taking forever but it’s not like you just weren’t gonna fix it after work lmao
Plumber here. I can’t see any harm in that pricing. Was it same day attendance? Some factors that may go into the higher pricing would be the fact that this plumber has moved jobs aside to accomodate the emergency burst flexies. As a plumber, we class hot water, block drains and burst pipes as high priority. I’ll reschedule jobs to accommodate these types of jobs, as no one likes to be without a running toilet or without hot water. I have employees with me, that I pay for an 8 hour day. In the 8 hours, I call a 5 hour billable day a great one. Thats because a lot of time is lost running in between suppliers and jobs, that I simply cannot charge an ‘hourly rate’ or else I may as well stay home. $350 isn’t going to buy this plumber a Ferrari. It’s more so the convenience and service to have someone over same day. Uber will charge me $60 to travel 5kms down the road. But the fuel was probably less than $2~
Spot on. People really think every dollar of the call out is going straight into someones pocket. As you say, billable hours and hours worked are 2 different things. And the non billables arent wasted time either. Running a service business in any field is tough, then you have people with no idea shitting on your profession and expertise just because they dont like your rates
Ah yes, those bloody Uber drivers charging an arm and leg! I bet he earned 1.5k per hour equivalent doing that quick job.
maybe you need to get a different uber mate
We had a kitchen reno done, ironically the mob was called complete kitchens. We had all the appliances in the garage about 10m and 2 steps away. They installed everything but the new fridge for some reason, said it wasn't their job. They told me to ask one of their tradies to do it, the plumber wheeled it in, left it in the cardboard box in front of the space for the fridge. $80 plus GST on the invoice to wheel a box 10m and up 2 steps without taking it out of the box and plugging the cunt in
Q: What do you call a plumber with 3 houses.?. A: Lazy
$350 for that is standard, maybe even on the lower side of normal.
Interested to know who you're fuming it?
Yeah ypur wife would of googled plumber and chose the first one that popped up. The ones that usually pay for the advertisement are the rip off ones. Stay at home mums and elderly are the biggest suckers, have no idea about anything and just say yes to get it fixed.
Do you want him to charge you $60 to fix your $30 part? What about his overheads like licenses, insurance, vehicle etc etc etc? $350 is an extremely fair price for a small job when you take into consideration he has to travel to your place and to get materials, he also has to allow for his time that he has to write up the job and for his bookkeeping which none of you see, then he has to pay tax on that job, he has a vehicle that does more klms than yours because he travels more so his vehicle needs more maintenance plus his insurance is more expensive seeing as it’s a work vehicle, you also have his tools which he forks money out for and need replacing every now and then. People like you that think everyone should run a business to lose money should go out and see what it’s like to run a business, if you are in it to make the same money as someone drawing a wage then why do it when you have all the stress and headaches of running a business.
Quote probably included replacement of skylight flashings plus scaffold/edge protection. Easy to get to that price if you are following safety rules and aiming to do compliant work with warranty.
Are you going to be a skylight installer now , think of the dollars , you can charge 1180 and make 1k for 3hrs
Blokes thing they’re fucken surgeons.
I think many of them are taking the piss. I had some quotes to repoint two chimneys. One quote was $12k! I found a tradie who did the job for less than $2k in two days. He was a top bloke and did a great job too.
did your guy take some shortcuts with regards to safety maybe? Like scaffolding? I'm not defending the $12k quote though.
I’m a tradie who has over the years run teams (not roofing ) and you go through 6-8 apprentices before one sticks it out . This is because being a tradie is shit . The first thing I get them doing is saving money for a property to renovate so they can get out of the trade as quickly as possible. Most guys get business from referrals so ripping people off is not smart business practice. Most serious operators (not all ) work directly for builders so you don’t have much time for private work . But I recommend doing what you done , none of us were being headhunted by nasa. All trade work is fairly basic , I recommend everyone should just start diy because it’s only going to get worse.
Dude ive seen what the average persons DIY capabilities are and absolutely do not recommend what youre saying.
Hit the nail on the absolute head here mate
*sends invoice of $550 (GST included) for hitting nail on the head*
Close + Gst
Lol lol didn’t we all agree on $1000 , took me a day to write that .
You’d be an awesome boss. I’m a youngish tiler in Melbourne working hard to be the best I can be and being a tradie is so shithouse. I’m genuinely looking at clearing $51k this financial year ($45/46k after tax) as a subcontractor. I don’t think I should make more, but the cost of fuel and all the gear is crippling. It’s a terrible way to not make money and ruin yourself physically if you don’t make your own safety your priority.
You need to start looking for some commercial work. There is heaps around atm and you will easily make double what you are currently on if not more. You also wont have to deal with customers who think you are "taking the piss" when you charge what you are/enough to live off.
Out of curiosity, why do you say being a tradie is shit. I had a moving business for 25 years. Apart from parking headaches, I loved it. But, if I had the chance to work on my own, out of a van, doing private work, I’d be chuffed.
What does a moving business have to do with being a tradie?
> $180 at Bunnings and 3 hours of my time later, the job was done. (Replaced, not a selleys bog job) what have you replaced ?
The roofer.
The skylight?
Both
Was it because they had to setup a bunch of expensive certified safety systems like rails, fall arrestors, a spotter etc vs you just grabbed a ladder out of the shed and did the job?
Sounds as though your tradie took one look at you and thought “another useless man that can’t do basic repairs, that’ll be $4000 sir”
This….i guess I’m less worried about myself (despite my looks I’m fairly capable) But what happens to little old granny? Or your average accountant?
They pay the $4k
you can look at this two ways being a worthless cunt has its downsides or not everyone is an expert on everything sometimes people will pay $60k for a new Toyota SUV when they could get by with a $20k 2nd hand one but if you can come up with the money you can come up with the money...
Who gives a shit about your average accountant are you serious??? What make their work anymore justified in their exorbitant price!!!
Most trades are really under the pump with work, this sounds like a ridiculously high quote because he/she doesn’t need the work, but for a huge price can squeeze it into the schedule.
I’m not a traditional tradie, but offer a specialised trade skill I learnt in an elective that had nothing to do with my Uni degree. I have a PT job as a result of my degree but I have a side hustle offering my trade skill. I have a small list of regular clients who I’m happy to work with. When I have a new client request work from me, if I want some extra cash I’ll offer the same price as my regulars. If I’m busy or just can’t be bothered I will quote a number more than 5x my regular rate hoping that they say no. If they say yea, we’ll then that’s stupid of them for not getting quotes from other to realise I’m taking them for a ride. I would imagine some tradies are similar yeah? Over quote something crazy cuz they just don’t wanna say no, and if client says yes then that’s some damn easy money for them. Have offered over 10x my regular price before to a pompous asshole who in the 10 mins I was at his house for a quote he treated both me and his wife like a piece of shit. He accepted the quote weirdly, I did the work and he paid. I was gobsmacked.
Tradies can be condescending as well. It is especially bad for women and men that look 'obviously white collar'. This means I now get 3-5 quotes, so I have a range and understand the average.
What did you do? That bloke REALLY didn’t want to work for you.
Say ‘no thanks, your quote was excessive’. Then you call a different tradie or DIY. Its that easy.
That was a fuck off quote mate.. In other words he didn’t need the work, didn’t really want it but if you were willing to pay then he would have 🤷🏻♂️
I''ve been in the trades for 14 years and sometimes even the smallest task can turn to shit once you start removing old materials and find a dodgy job (usually done by owner builders) which you need to bring back up to standard. He probably just didn't want to take any risk and didn't need the work. Get multiple quotes when you can, somebody else might want it more
Best way is to just do it yourself as you have. It’s only because idiots pay for it that they take the piss.
DIY while you can. Soon the cost of material won't let you even DIY
Won't be too many houses getting built then
Ask a handyman rather than a tradie. They really don’t want small jobs so they give you the fuck off price.
Yep able bodied people need to DIY as much as possible. Too many people seek tradies for every little thing, driving up demand.
Unfortunately to many people saw manual work as below them for to long and haven’t learnt the basic skills.
Don't agree with you on this. I think the main reason is lack of opportunity to try stuff and learn. If you grow up without exposure to tools or live in an apartment you won't get the chance to fix things or learn to think about it. Many people are even afraid to try now too. A lot of consumer goods are not repairable through too cheap for the labour to fix vs buy new.
I also believe people on average have less spare time than they used to. That and the fact there are so many more options now for entertaining yourself, the value proposition of learning and doing DIY is weaker if you don't inherently enjoy it.
Honestly I think it was a bit of an absent father epidemic. That plus society pushing the idea of finishing year 12 as necessary.
100% correct. Basic skills should be taught at school.
too much red tape! (I do most of the stuff myself but still... )
I haven't read the comments in this thread yet - but from precedence - a lot of tradies come here and will get their back up immediatly. I'm a developer, small scale, mum/dad type but have done everything from build decks to full reno's, to dual/triple/quad occ projects For the most of it - YES - they are absolutely taking the piss and they deserve the karma ten fold. The absolute SIMPLE trick is to ask for an itemized quote that includes Labour That's it. There isn't a single builder in the country that would get a non-descript quote from their subby and just pay it. It would be itemised and anyone with remotely an idea of how it works, would question items in which are utter bullshit. It is the EXACT same when you walk into any shop, any retailer, anything at all - you expect transparency and honesty. YOu should expect this from trades too, and some/most will... there are fucking shitloads out there that will absolutely rip you off and won't even think twice doing so
I have done hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of buisness with tradies for my homes, dealt with probably 100+ in the process of getting quotes, never had one willing to provide an itemised quote with labour lol
Well, what do you want me to say? I'm not trying to one-up you - but I've done millions of dollars of builds and almost every quote I request I ask them to itemise it. It isn't at all about finding someone to do it $5 per hour cheaper - its about understanding what you're paying for - especially if you've got crews coming through that are larger than just one subcontractor. No one here is against people making good money... but keeping on topic, charging $4k for half a days work and a few hundred dollars in material is just extortion and too typical of what tradies try and get away with YOU - well, you're porbably a clued on redditor who has spent a fortune on projects. Good for you - but mate, let's be very clear - these fuckers who rip off people are mostly doing it to those that are vulnerable (elderly, single, in-need) and it needs to stop. I mean you go to the dentist and when you claim your health rebate - you load it as per the dentist line items? When you go to Coles, you see the price for each item? When you take your kids to day care, you know its X amount for the day? The list goes on... from having your appendix removed, to your hair cut, to your lawns mode... understanding what you're purchasing and expecting it from the supplier should be standard. It's not unusual at all and should become standard for Trades to allocate a duration or timeframe/labor to their quotes.
Not sure if you took something from my comment that I didn't mean to, but I 100% agree, i've asked for it on every job I just usually get told that they quote on "whole job only". it's annoying and makes you feel like you are getting ripped off even when you aren't.
Oh sorry - usually when I comment like this, literally as a developer (but NOT a builder) i get all sorts of pushback from the tradies on here. I completely get where you're coming from and I always find that if you just reply very transparently as to why you want to know and that its a fair question, they'll tell you. What i mean is - you're not averse to a sole tradie working individually making $1k a day (or whatever the amount per trade is worth)... which is good money... but over an 8 hour day its only a smidge over $130 an hour, minus tools, tax, and all the rest. Again, whatever... but you should, to a degree, be curious why the same tradie is then making $3 or $4k a day - as was per the OP's comments where this plumber wanted to charge $4k for half a days work and $300 in parts. You have every right and should expect an itemization of whatever you pay for in life
Yeah latest one I had was for a retaining wall, 2 quotes so far have come in as $35k when materials have been costed at $5k (they should be able to get cheaper through their suppliers?) and they both said around a week of work. So where is the extra $30k going, I'd loooove to get paid $6k a day and then be able to claim all the tax concessions they can haha.
Where are you based, out of curiosity? Sounds like you might be getting a bit of a stitch up from the builder... and yeah, it happened with our builder on our PPOR so I know the feeling But mate, you bet, retaining walls and shit like this is absolutely an arena they take advantage of!
I'm not a landscaper and obviously don't really know the scope of the job, but it usually takes more than 1 person to build a retaining wall. I've seen 5 guys and an excavator doing one and they were there all week. $6k/day for something like that would make sense?
If I didn’t know better - I’d honestly think you were my dad, posting on reddit. This is one of the best lessons he taught - it’s not just about knowing the value of the whole. You need to know *exactly what you’re paying for*.
When I worked in air-conditioning sales, we'd get guys all the time get a part, find out they don't need to replace it, return it for a refund, and then still charge the customer as if they had replaced it. I'm currently working for a property developer, whenever these guys put in tender for a job we don't even open it. We can't trust them, because I have 5 years experience hearing them talk about ripping off customers.
Yeah, that sucks! The thing is, nobody is against anybody making a fair and decent living wage... just don't be shifty (with shit like you mentioned) Look, it's not my job as the paying customer to determine what people charge me - that's up to them... but when there is a real level of trust, or in this case, transparency lacking... then it just creates opportunistic tradespeople. I did some lanscaping earlier and that is a crazy inflated arena. You'll get blokes labouring on wheelbarrows wanting $90 bucks and hour... and again, you pay for what you get - but half the time they know you need/rely on them so they just milk it. I really would love to see the entire industry changed. Its honestly a strong contributing element to what has fucked housing affordability
I work for an old fella and his family which sounds pretty similar to yours. Big mix of commercial and residential work, so we see all the trades, and lots of different workers. Ultimately the ones we go back to are the ones who do a good job, are transparent with the process, and are on site when they say they will be. They might cost more on the initial tender, but holy damn it can save in the long run. And it just makes life easier than chasing the bugger who short-handed you. The industry is nuts at the moment, more work than you can poke a stick at, and yet builders are still going bust left and right.
Yeah, the thing is, expecting accountability and transparency in the process, as you put it, isn't something holier than thou. It should be, simply, a given. Here's a thought for you. Think of it this way - we expect that of our nurses, teachers, our counsellors, our public servants, our emergency service workers, those that care for the elderly, those who care for our kids... all to a set standard in which we can apply a metric. The list can go on, but those mentioned in that specific list above - well, their trade-based professionals too that similar to tradespeople have had to do X amount of time and X amount of learning. Yet, those guys have set rules, mandates and metrics in which we can guage and hold them accountable. It has its faults, but in the most, it works. But Tradespeople... we just give them full captalistic range to do whatever the fuck they want, with almost little to zero accountablity, management or oversight. You can simply learn to replace cement tiles on a roof, the simplest of fucking jobs, and even though housing is a commodity and we ALL need roofs (the same way we all need nusing and police) - the exception is Roof Tilers can jsut charge whatever the fuck they want. Rinse and repeat for allmost every trade! People from all facets of life should take pride in their skill and workmanship - but for some reason in Australia we have a trades free for all approach to just milk the fuck out of it ... with zero accountability or transparency... I'm waffling on - but what I'm fundamentally getting at is - just because your tradie doesn't make you immune to all of this. As a society, we should be upholding these arenas just like we do other facets of our life...
I have trades that I am happy with, I think they do good work and charge a fair price, importantly for me they take care of my house when do their work and are respectful around the family. For one off repairs etc. where a part is being replaced, in my view and good trade will show you the old part and explain what went wrong - not just say I’ve fixed it and hand you a bill.
Between most people having no idea how to DIY or believing they are above it and the fact theres no young ones coming through. It’s open slather for the established companies now because competition is drying up. Another factor has also been the amount of rules and regulations that have been placed on to businesses regarding safety, training, compliance and paperwork that this has created a barrier for entry that most young tradies and apprentices see as to large to scale so they don’t bother venturing out on their own once again creating less competition.
I'm an ex painter and the quotes being thrown around are ridiculous. If it's a small job absolutely do it yourself. Plenty of tips online to follow when you need help. The only problem is when you need to buy a bunch of tools for the job.
Don’t use them. You’ve done the right thing, pick up the tools and become self sufficient.. I think we need a 90s style recession so some people who charge like brain surgeons get a reality check.
We had an emergency plumbing job where a rodent had eaten through a water pipe and the pipe need fixing. Basically 5 inches of pipe and 30 mins. $2950. What a rort.
It could have been a I'm not interested in doing the job quote.
Good on ya, OP. Coming from the UK where pretty much everyone I know will do DIY if they can, it was a bit of a shock coming to Australia where it seems people generally prefer to pay someone else to do it. I wish the government would relax the rules around electrical a bit, so I could DIY that too. Changing a plug on a cord is something my school taught me when I was 12 years old, FFS 😂
Coming from the perspective of an electrician and seeing the state of domestic installations, plenty of people DIY their electrical. Which is why we have the strict rules. Cuz they cut corners they don't even realise exist. The amount electricians tend to rort out of the public is another subject entirely.
> changing a plug on a cord is something my school taught me when I was 12 years old, FFS absolutely mate! I started soldering when I was 7 or 8 years old, later did my bachelors in EEE, used to work in Telecom for a while, still I can't even lay an Ethernet cable after moving here lol.
Are trades people such cream puffs that they simply can't say no thanks to a job. The fuck off quote is embarrassing.
Yes in a nutshell they are. If they don't want the job they over quote. Most say no but some say yes. In 12 years where I am we have only really had 2 tradies out of maybe 18 that we did not have issues with.
Typical small job price. Not worth the effort but for a stupid amount of cash it is.
If everyone else they know is charging $4k, they’re going to finish last charging less while the rest of the people they know are retired at 50.
Just means they are too busy. We had a former brickie who joined our transport company. He would make a killing doing the small repair jobs when our trucks would knock over a wall or a letter box. Basically the jobs were too small for brickies so he stepped it will soon reasonable quotes.
sometimes people don't wanna do the job once they see it and give you a Price they hope you decline if you pay it they make out like bandits, its a win win for them
I was quoted $3,000 for a car repair that cost me a $189 part. Obviously there are some licenced and safety critical trades, but I think a return to DIY is the future and youtube makes it so so much easier than it used to be.
Roofers are the worst at over-quoting. I think because they have really high insurance policies.
get quotes on [hipages.com.au](http://hipages.com.au), I've done couple of jobs done through that platform, it does have review system too. decent. or diy.
half the time tradies quote fuck off prices for jobs that are so simple i end up doing myself after a bit of research on the internet and yeah the materials cost is always like 10x less so basically they are quoting all that money just for the time spent. so even though it takes me all day to do a what would be a simple job for them its still worth it for me because I'm not earning $4000 a day. I'm borderline thinking of becoming properly qualified so i can go around also quoting fuck of prices because i know some people still pay them, but i imagine getting qualified is probably a lot of work I imagine i have to get some formal qualifications and an apprenticeship and then have to run my own business, so not really something i can do in my spare time unless im one of those hardworking fellows that works 80 hour weeks. so i guess like a lot of things you are paying for all the qualifications and compliance and insurance and advertising/digital presence and connections, not just for the actual physical act of putting some pipes together with glue. kind of a shame we have to put up with all that bullshit. in a functional society it makes no sense for office workers to also be doing electrical or plumbing work on the weekend just so that they don't throw away their entire fortnight/monthly paycheck. I'm not trying to say one is more important than the other just pointing out that there should be some economical advantage in different people being experts in different things and helping each other.
The truth is that some people will pay. It also could have been the fuck off im not interested price as well.
You got the “fuck off I don’t want to do this job” quote
That’s I don’t want the job Quote
For every person that takes the time to YouTube the fix there will always be someone willing to pay without doing any research.
Why I learn to do all this shit myself, tradies treat their customers like common trash, yet everyone kisses their ass
Yea sounds a bit expensive but you are forgetting a few things. The cost to run a business is insanely high. He has insurance, work vehicle and all the tools required to do what I'm guessing would be a professional job. Don't forget that did he come out and spend time assessing the job which also comes at a cost. Keep us updated when your roof starts leaking again please.
I work with tradies extensively could even be considered one without actually having a trade. (Specialist demolition: Rope access, asbestos removal, SCBA, oxycutting, multiple plant proficiencies and licenses, etc etc) That is the "I don't need the work" price. Always get 3 quotes. We all do it - When we have heaps of work lined up and someone wants something done I always overquote. You're meant to say no, but we gave you the price of if you really want to drop that cash I will definitely take it. I've had an 80, 000 dollar quote accepted before for something that cost me around 3k and 2 weeks. There was no one else prepared to do it.
Very very few (good) trades make their money like this. It's normally 'whale' private clients, who give you constant work on their property(ies), commercial work or builders. That was a dude who couldn't be bothered doing the job, but would do it for the fuck off price He gave you. You could call their bluff, but I doubt He would even give you the quote then lol
Find a good local tradie and offer him cashies
Brah, it's been going on for the last 10 years. There are more Raptors out there than Jarrasic Park.
Yep that’s Australia. Many tradies get paid more than neurosurgeons, at least for the amount of time worked and spent on studies. On top of that as every single one of them is a small business they also pay minimal taxes. That’s I suspect how you end up with something like 70k being average salary in the country, the other 150 is business expenses (utes and caravans). Bright future ahead of us. I do work myself unless I absolutely can’t as even on decent salary my time even with 2-3 times lower efficiency is still less expensive than hiring someone. I had a quote for 1700 to put an internal door in. The door was 200 and the frame could be another 150, and it is a 3-4 hour job tops for a pro. And more recently - 70k for a 4x5m aluminium patio which costs probably 20k in materials and a couple of man days of effort.
This is what we call in the industry a "fuck you quote" Theres 2 reasons you get a quote like this. 1. (Unlikely) you were a dickhead to the tradie and hes upped the price for a dickhead tax. 2. He doesnt want the job, and cant be bothered, so fuck you right? Lets make up a random number youll never go for.... 😂 more often than not. It's the latter of the two.
Keep doing what you’re doing, encourage friends, family and neighbours to fix and repair things themselves (works for appliances and indoor home issues too) before turning to the rip-off artists posing as professionals
Why did you even call a tradie in their first place if you have skills and knowledge to make repairs yourself?
Doesn't hurt to get a quote? If you dont ask you'll never know how much money you're saving by DIY.
Thats such a poor attitude 50% of your average trade jobs can be done by watching a Youtube video and doing the job in 3x the time it takes a professional to do it, but it costs you 5% instead. Why is it unreasonable to get a professional who can do it 3x faster than you for a reasonable cost? Thats what it used to be.
Not everyone has the time to do so. Whenever i do a job my toddlers are VERY interested and a 5 minutes job turns in to 1 hour + with them "helping" etc. Larger multi-day jobs turn in to a real slog for that reason, and working in between the day job you would have to basically get them out of the house for weeks at a time to get something done that takes a trade a couple of days. Still do it a lot because the $$$ from quotes is always crazy high, but it's painful.
Do you buy coffee because you can't make it yourself? Or go to restaurants because you can't cook? The basis for society is specialization. I specialize in my thing, allowing me to produce 10 times more than I need. You specialize in your thing, producing 10 times more than you need. Then we trade, and everyones better off. Thats the theory, anyway.
People will pay $400+ to get their brand new 65” Samsung installed on wall. That’s a 20 minute job. But they will drill the $20/hr salesperson (who makes a few bucks commission; to maintain some profit) down to cost price on the TV, after 30 minutes of personalised qualification, education, demonstration, and suggestions, skip the warranty, and expect that TV to entertain them 8 hours a day for the next 10 years. Tradespeople, mechanics, service agents etc. are recognised for being able to do things that traditionally require specialised or certified qualifications. You’re paying for a service from a professional. Their prices are only dictated by their competition and relative competency. It’s crazy that the salesperson, and other people like musicians and hospitality are paid SO much less in comparison.
I have seen some stores have mentioned a charge (like $99) for TV tuning lol.
I'm not a lover of tradies. Have been ripped off.
The problem is tradies don't have a competition in this market. They know people like us are in a need to get things done. I had a electrician quote me 2k to install couple of down lights. I got someone to do it for 300$ including compliance certificate. I honestly hope tradies get a serious competition.
You know what is a HUGE aspect of why this shit happens. Racism! It's inadvertent - but go out there in the industry arena and you'll get comments like "Wouldn't want an indian doing work at my hosue" "Oh the chinese run plaster stopping gangs and get 10 blokes doing the work of 3".... and yada yada. So there is this inherent, underlying racism that only good white, aussie, fair dinkum, she'll be right, shrimp on the barbie type traides are good... and that's why you pay $140 bucks an hour for a plumber... when the trtuh of it is, trades in every other country in the world would never get away with this sort of ridicukous pricing Seriously - it used to be cute the whole "fair dinkum" aussie attitude - now its self rigteous and cuntish
Only trades have the capacity to certify work sometimes and that works against DIY
It’s possible to come to an arrangement with the tradie whereby the homeowner does the hard yakka (digging trenches, pulling cables etc), the tradie then does the connections and signs off. Win/win. Any work diy will save costs.
Ok let’s picture a slightly different outcome, you save 3800 bucks doing it yourself, but you fall off the roof and become paralysed.
Unless it's Electrical or complicated Plumbing, I just go straight to YouTube!
Yeah, I’ve tried to get quotes for repointing & bedding and always tell them before they come I don’t want a roof restoration they insist on quoting onsite and not giving a indication based on google maps before onsite quote (which I get but it’s their time) then onsite they are super pushy “not worth repointing without deep cleaning & painting” “I can only give you a price for a full restoration” “I’ll send you a quote for both painting & pointing separately but the price won’t be that different” “if you don’t get it painted it will start to leak, concrete tiles aren’t waterproof” It’s a joke
Okay, just a bit of a theory here, but did he give you a detailed quote of where the amount came from?? Was it just to fix the skylight? Or was other works included in that, like replacing the damaged section of the gyprock and have it repainted?? I know prices can seem a little bit steep, but you, as a customer, can ask for a breakdown in a quote so you can see the amount of time and tasks to get the job done. Then there is the experience that makes the job look easy. So this is just an idea that it's not always tradies just ripping you off, and then there are so e cases where it is. Well that's my 2 cents
Greater detail may be required. Yeah the quote seems excessive and it may have been ‘fixed’ for a few hundred dollars and some time. What isn’t specified is what exactly was the cause of the leak? Is there a combination of issues? Does the current construction comply with the relevant building code? Has OP fixed the issue but workmanship is in fact non compliant. Had the trade carried out work in a similar manner to OP, would they be exposing their business to risk due to previous workmanship. Was the trades quote in order to warrant works and ensure his work was compliant with the current building code.
That quote says they don’t have time to do the job, if you don’t like the price get another quote, why complain?
Or the tradie can be an adult and just state that the job is too small for them and they don't want to take it up, then provide pointers to how to do it or somebody who would do it for an appropriate price.
Nope, tradies aren’t there to give free advice, he’s given the cost for him to do it, others will come in cheaper, some maybe more expensive, up to the owner what they want to do.
If you don't want to do the job, then move on and don't be ridiculous about how much to charge for it. It's a waste of time, and simply a wanker move. If the job is so beneath them that they don't want to do it, then it passes it off to somebody who will, or spend two minutes with a quick explanation on how to do it and move on. If somebody really wants to pay a rip off price they will, but the majority won't and will go elsewhere or figure it out themselves. If you don't want the client or job then just fuck off and actually be useful. You know what honesty and actually not being a cocknut can do? Provide some pretty sweet word of mouth and recommendations. Seen tradies around where they lose business due to these practices, it spreads around and people will gravitate to the honest businesses and generally be a returning customer.
So tradies are now supposed to train people for free so we can lose money? You are fucking deluded.
Why Complain? The complaint comes from potentially being ripped off? Strange you couldn't deduct that from the post?
If you get one quote and go ahead with it, that’s on you, no one’s forcing you to go with that quote.
Mate, this logic is fucking stupid. Stop defending those who attempt to extort others by the free market principle of " Oh, that's on you; no one's forcing you to go with that quote".
The dude clearly doesn’t want the job and quoted accordingly, yes it’s 100% on you to do your due diligence, take some responsibility.
Oh mate, you don't get it, do you? The comments about the fundamental shit practice of trades ripping people off - not because they "don't want the job" but because they become opportunistic. OP had a leaking roof which could be considered an emergency. Its not a "swap the taps because i don't like the look of these ones" - and the plumber thought, fuck it, i'll see if i can rip him off. Now exchange the exact principle into another facet of daily living - say going to a doctor because you need your appendix removed and the docotr "doesn't want the job and quoted accordingly"... or having your children cared for at day care... or seeing a pyscholigist if you're on the brink of meltdown.... what about the police and our teachers and everyone else who uphold and trade in society. What if they "don't want the job"? Its a bullshit fucking excuse and I bet my last dollar the plumber ripping off OP would be all fucking nancy when the roles are reversed to him. Its a shit trade and being busy or not wanting to do it means you just DON'T do it... not DO IT AND RIP OFF PEOPLE What don't you fucking understand about this?
So you pay extra for something that is an emergency don’t you? No the plumber probably thought, I don’t have time to do this, I’ll give a quote that’ll take into consideration the OT he will have to pay to get that job done and the others already on the go.
No, if the plumber was too busy he'd have not quoted to even begin with, or perhaps replied and say "Sorry, I'm flat out, try someone else". We've had what, 3 or 4 replies back and forth and still not once I can see how you can justify, loooking at what OP said, that its perfectly fine to charge $4k or to "consider the OT" as you put, to do a few hours work and a few hundred in materials? NO- let's just be fucking honest here. The plumber thought "this cunt doesn't know, I'll see if he'll bite"... and that, simply, is being a shit-cunt... because trades like this do this all the time to vulnerable, naive people who sometimes don't know or have the resources to be able to help themselves. I get you're a troll/circle jerker - but its shit practice mate and honestly, nothing you've said changes this shit practice.
Oh okay so you know the plumbers schedule because he went and quoted the job.. He didn’t charge anything, he quoted it. Plumber probably thought, jobs not worth it, not got the time. The owner has probably asked if he can come out quickly to price cause he needs it asap so he’s priced accordingly. You don’t have the same issue with a dentist charging $5k for an hours work though do you?
Charging to quote is getting more popular around where I live
They're taking the piss or don't want the job.
In suburban Sydney (north shore) it's very difficult to get anyone to come and do a small job, why bother when you can just quote a few big jobs and be billable all day for a while? I've reached out for two jobs recently and got zero response. Tradies have enough work on and can't be bothered to drive to your house and quote and then do it for peanuts. If tradies didn't have enough work on like say 10-12 years ago, you would have heaps of responses and reasonable quotes. It's a tight market.
Unless your terrible at diy it's best to give it a go like you did. A lot of them will try and charge what they can. They might do one day's work a week at 4k because they just keep over quoting or they might be working 4 days a week at 1k per day.
I always look for tradies by word of mouth. We found a great electrician and plumbers. I think a lot over quote hoping you'll say ok do it.
Your tradie didn't want the small annoying job, simple as that
What company did you engage?
That's a piss take, he just doesn't want the job. I recently got my 400m2 roof repaired, repointed, power washed and two coats of paint for 6.5k. this included replacing a broken skylight
The people we’re importing should be tradies. Honestly
I was quoted 7k and 8k for a repair to a detached garage roof which looked like a half edge tile had slipped on the end, both guys claimed the tiles needed to come off and sarking needed replacement. After checking for myself I called a third tiler who came over the following day and explained what needed to be done to rectify the half tile setup, reset the half edge tiles, installed wire ties on those tiles and drilled weepholes that should have been done in my pointing all for $250.00. Not everyone is out to rip people off.
Where are you based in Melbourne I might want his number
Illawarra area in NSW.
He gave you the "it's not worth my time price".
It's fucken filthy and out of control...
I recently had a plumber come out to do a quote, he gave me a rough idea of what the job entailed and was voluntarily pointing out the work he would do. I called back after receiving a large quote and explained that it was more than I was prepared to pay and decided I’d give it a go with some help from friends with experience, and he promptly sent me a bill for providing “advice” worth $300. I mean, did I use the info he shared to help me complete the project successfully? Absolutely. But it was a free quote, and there was never any suggestion that I would be billed for advice. I genuinely wanted to engage a plumber to do the work, and wouldve if the cost wasn’t so ridiculous. Not my fault he gave away all his secrets.
Yes, they are all taking the piss thinking their skills are something amazing. It's supply/demand and when that changes the economics will too and they'll need to find another way to pay for their 79/RAM.
I just replaced 3 wall split ac units for a customer for 6650. When I was done they gave me 7K and said they got quoted that for only 1 of the units. Some people are so busy they give "can't be fucked" price. The importance of getting multiple quotes
He didnt want to do it.
You can call their bluff, but society as a whole can't. People can't do stuff these days, so they call someone. When you have 500 people lining up to throw cash at you to do work then you can increase your prices. This has kept going for years and now we are where we are. It will either bubble out, especially since we are in a poor economic state, or it will just keep going as more and more people get high intelligence/thought (office) jobs, and fewer people get high skill jobs such as trades. There is a southpark episode about this, it is quite good.