How much is reasonable for a call-out charge these days?

Ubbquittious

No shortage of lads who seem to think they're entitled to be paid €100 to pull a washing machine out from the wall, gawk at it for a minute or two and say Ah sure it's fecked really. I could possibly fix it but it will cost at least half the cost of a new one

How much is reasonable? Bout 3 fiddy?

kneemos

Call out charges are a scam. Getting paid to go to work basically.

Signore Fancy Pants

This post has been deleted.

ygolometsipe

Ubbquittious wrote: »

No shortage of lads who seem to think they're entitled to be paid €100 to pull a washing machine out from the wall, gawk at it for a minute or two and say Ah sure it's fecked really. I could possibly fix it but it will cost at least half the cost of a new one

How much is reasonable? Bout 3 fiddy?

You shouldn't refer to your wife as a washing machine it's sexist.
I suppose if she got a got ****ing it's worth a few quid seeing as your not doing it yourself

Ubbquittious

kneemos wrote: »

Call out charges are a scam. Getting paid to go to work basically.

Maybe so but I can see how they become a necessary evil. If the washing machine lad doesn't charge he'll be like a blue arsed fly calling every biddy who wants to spend half an hour cribbing that the machine didn't quite get rid of the Guinness stain on her blouse

Donald Trump

Call out charge?

Depends on the mileage and services rendered and time needed.

We're talking about escorts right?

(Not the Ford type)

milehip

Ubbquittious wrote: »

kneemos wrote: »

Call out charges are a scam. Getting paid to go to work basically.

Maybe so but I can see how they become a necessary evil. If the washing machine lad doesn't charge he'll be like a blue arsed fly calling every biddy who wants to spend half an hour cribbing that the machine didn't quite get rid of the Guinness stain on her blouse

biddies don't drink Guinness,
they drink sherry,
medium dry,
just one mind,
two turns them into man-eating harlots.

SEPT 23 1989

You would want to see the invoices for industrial machinery mishaps

greencap

got to consider the cost of the callout to the guy.

he's got the cost of the van, the insurance, the petrol, maintenance.
just to be available to come to you. before any business is conducted.

divide all that up by the number of jobs.

kneemos

greencap wrote: »

got to consider the cost of the callout to the guy.

he's got the cost of the van, the insurance, the petrol, maintenance.
just to be available to come to you. before any business is conducted.

divide all that up by the number of jobs.

Every business has overheads.

Conservatory

People think you have nothing better to do than drive out to there house in your tax and insured van full of tools with your tax and insured company with your qualifications and stand there chatting about whether they are interested in changing a set of taps or if they want to fix their capacitor on their tumble dryer themselves now that you told them what’s wrong with it.

I used to run around like an eejit as an apprentice delighted to be fixing things. This leads to people ringing you a year later saying their radiator isn’t heating in their sitting room and you changed a sink in the bathroom so it must have been you.

I’d want at least 60euro for the first hour I was in anybodies House now. After that I pick numbers depending on what I think is about fair. I’m not self employed though. Just the odd nixer when the job has no overtime going. Less hassle.

SCOOP 64

greencap wrote: »

got to consider the cost of the callout to the guy.

he's got the cost of the van, the insurance, the petrol, maintenance.
just to be available to come to you. before any business is conducted.

divide all that up by the number of jobs.

yeah , but getting one customer to pay for it all in one call out charge.

o1s1n

kneemos wrote: »

Every business has overheads.

Driving out to someone's house, inspecting something and giving a diagnostic is not an overhead, it's working.

The amount people get for a call out might be in question, but they should get something. Nobody should work for free.

greencap

kneemos wrote: »

Every business has overheads.

and you want to make use of those overheads for free?

kneemos

greencap wrote: »

and you want to make use of those overheads for free?

I want to charge for work,not getting there.

_Brian

Your paying for the service of having someone who you can call add hoc to fix stuff..
You might only call once ever, twice in a month or whatever, this irrigularity of income is covered by a callout charge...


One previous maintenance job I was in we did on call...
I remember being called out on a Christmas eve at 9pm when i got there the guy was just too "merry" to use the equipment properly and there was nothing actually wrong bar one lever turned the wrong way. I was an hour getting there and another home, was there for 5 minutes. I was just an employee, I gave him an invoice for £75 (1996). He complained to my boss who said there was an error in the charge and reinvoiced for £100 which was eventually paid.

greencap

kneemos wrote: »

I want to charge for work,not getting there.

then don't call.


or, call and ask if theres a call out fee, see if you can find someone that doesn't charge the call out, good luck with that.

Now if the education policy of this state, and the Hyacinth Bucket notions of so many people, could give as much dignity to the concept of trades, craftsmanship and skilled workmanship as they give to university education our society would benefit enormously from it. Where's pride in workmanship?

I've just finished gutting and renovating my entire house so this is raw. There's a massive dearth of skilled tradespeople in Ireland in 2018 - and no end to the number of chancers, cowboys and arrant buckos. And the tax evasion from tradespeople is unfúcking real. It is the norm. It's all cash in the hand until it gets to a certain level and they say "I better put some of it through the books" and then back to cash in the hand. And you're paying these cúnts cash from your income which is mostly taxed at 50% and they smile and say "Nothing like cold, hard cash". Bring on the bust!

And because we have no culture today of skills being nurtured/sufficient number of skilled tradesmen, you have very few options but to pay him as he wants. We, the Irish consumer, are the ones to suffer. Meanwhile loads of people leave universities with useless degrees but "social status". Crazy.

17larsson

kneemos wrote: »

I want to charge for work,not getting there.

So if he has four call outs in a day and is travelling for 3 hours of that day he should work 11 hours to get 8 hours pay?
You don't own a business anyway.

It's an economy thing as well. There is loads of good paying work at the moment. Your broken washing might be important to you but unless you can offer equal/more money than he's getting elsewhere the tradesman doesn't particularly care

Cupcake_Crisis

Depends on what you’re getting called out for really. Having a look at my washing machine? A cup of tea and a hearty handshake. Clearing my pipes? At least a bottle of lucazade and a standing appointment.

One eyed Jack

Ubbquittious wrote: »

No shortage of lads who seem to think they're entitled to be paid €100 to pull a washing machine out from the wall, gawk at it for a minute or two and say Ah sure it's fecked really. I could possibly fix it but it will cost at least half the cost of a new one

How much is reasonable? Bout 3 fiddy?

Depends really on the quality of service a person is willing to pay for, and the price a person thinks their service is worth.

Self-employment as a consultant can be a nightmare for this kind of stuff with no end of people breaking your balls because they think they're being shafted. The easiest way to deal with that sort of person was to simply say no, and concentrate on clients who understood the value of your time and expertise and didn't spend the whole time cribbing about how much they were being charged for the service.

damianch

Look for someone local enough. The plumber I use lives 10 minutes away, and as a result I know he isn't going to shaft me and he knows I will use him all the time. So far he has fixed boilers, changed pumps, leaks etc. If he calls out and there is a minor problem like the boiler not firing and he is in and out, he charges 25 euro. I think for example when he changed the pump and did some other stuff he charged €80 for time.

I think if its something like a washing machine thats stopped , I'd be looking at the age of it before I call anyone out or is it still in warranty. If it's a random guy you are ringing to come out I'd be asking what's the call out charge before hand. With the likes of a washing machine I'd be reluctant to pay anymore that €50 for a call out and diagnose. Because if its in need of a major part and another visit, it may not be worth replacing.

Del2005

kneemos wrote: »

Every business has overheads.

So bring your item to the repairer instead of the calling them out.

I know a person who was a plumber. He'd have to charge €100 for a job to cover tax, insurance, van tax and commercial insurance, tools and make a living. He got out of the game when his competition were lads on the dole charging €50 cash in hand. No one calls the legitimate person because they charge too much and then complain when they get cowboys.

bucketybuck

Bunch of people too dumb to fix their own things complaining about how much they have to pay somebody else to come and do it for them.

Don't like callout charges? Then fix it yourself and stop crying for help.

damianch

Del2005 wrote: »

So bring your item to the repairer instead of the calling them out.

I know a person who was a plumber. He'd have to charge €100 for a job to cover tax, insurance, van tax and commercial insurance, tools and make a living. He got out of the game when his competition were lads on the dole charging €50 cash in hand. No one calls the legitimate person because they charge too much and then complain when they get cowboys.

It's just hard to justify a €100 call out for a dishwasher or something like that to find out its banjaxed, when you can get a new one for €200 in Powercity

jonon9

damianch wrote: »

It's just hard to justify a €100 call out for a dishwasher or something like that to find out its banjaxed, when you can get a new one for €200 in Powercity

Blame the manufactures for making it cheaper to replace than to fix, they want you to buy new not fix old.


Also if the repair guy is running a legitimate business than his got to cover himself.

damianch

jonon9 wrote: »

Blame the manufactures for making it cheaper to replace than to fix, they want you to buy new not fix old.


Also if the repair guy is running a legitimate business than his got to cover himself.

Don't disagree, just stating the dilemma for the customer as to why they would be reluctant to pay above a certain point for a call out. It's all relative to the price of the goods being replaced. Same with cars

Conservatory

A call out charge is a taxi service for all the tools, expertise, insurance and qualifications you don’t have.

bucketybuck

damianch wrote: »

Don't disagree, just stating the dilemma for the customer as to why they would be reluctant to pay above a certain point for a call out.

Far more pertinent to the OP is the price point where the callout is worth it to the technician.

Because that is the real important factor, that technician isn't attending for the craic or because he is charitable, he is doing it because financially it is worth his time and effort.

And without a callout charge it probably isn't.

Temptamperu

Do you not know a plumber? Im a social retard but I still know a few plumbers.

damianch

bucketybuck wrote: »

Far more pertinent to the OP is the price point where the callout is worth it to the technician.

Because that is the real important factor, that technician isn't attending for the craic or because he is charitable, he is doing it because financially it is worth his time and effort.

And without a callout charge it probably isn't.

Thank god GPs on call don't work that way!

But in fairness , as I mentioned earlier, thats why I think getting to know someone local is the best bet. You can presume he isn't going to charge you for the 1 hour travel there, the 10mins looking at the washing machine, and the 1 hour drive home.

I know if I call my GP out on a house call it will be 80 euro no matter what and think thats standard in Ireland. But in general if you ring a plumber , no one seems to have a clue. It can vary from in my case €25 to diagnose something to presumably €100 plus .

corner of hells

damianch wrote: »

Thank god GPs on call don't work that way!

But in fairness , as I mentioned earlier, thats why I think getting to know someone local is the best bet. You can presume he isn't going to charge you for the 1 hour travel there, the 10mins looking at the washing machine, and the 1 hour drive home.

I know if I call my GP out on a house call it will be 80 euro no matter what and think thats standard in Ireland. But in general if you ring a plumber , no one seems to have a clue. It can vary from in my case €25 to diagnose something to presumably €100 plus .

You could always call a GP out and see if he could fix your dishwasher.

damianch

corner of hells wrote: »

You could always call a GP out and see if he could fix your dishwasher.

He'd have a better shot than me :D:D

Conservatory

damianch wrote: »

Thank god GPs on call don't work that way!

But in fairness , as I mentioned earlier, thats why I think getting to know someone local is the best bet. You can presume he isn't going to charge you for the 1 hour travel there, the 10mins looking at the washing machine, and the 1 hour drive home.

I know if I call my GP out on a house call it will be 80 euro no matter what and think thats standard in Ireland. But in general if you ring a plumber , no one seems to have a clue. It can vary from in my case €25 to diagnose something to presumably €100 plus .

If plumbers worked that way it’d be called price fixing and the plumbers would get into trouble.

Roger Mellie Man on the Telly

OP - if I asked you to visit me to avail of your skills, knowledge and service, would you be happy not to be compensated? Or how much would you expect to be paid?

kneemos

If a lad has to travel a bit maybe a small call out charge is justified. Most of them don't.

Given the number of suckers in this thread no wonder they get away with murder.

damianch

Conservatory wrote: »

If plumbers worked that way it’d be called price fixing and the plumbers would get into trouble.

I don't mean they all have to charge the same price. I just checked out a large Dublin company based in about 10 locations throughout the city and they say
"
There is a minimum Labour charge of €90 + vat for the first hour which is also an investigation charge and or diagnostic charge on site.
Any Investigation and or diagnostic on site is classed as a labour charge.
Definition of a call out charge:
set amount for a repairman to come to one’s house (traveling time, diesel etc) and would be added to the bill."

So ball park of €100 seems standard. It seems high to me, but knowing that info can help with making the decision. (I wouldn't be calling this plumber out to look at the dishwasher)

corner of hells

kneemos wrote: »

If a lad has to travel a bit maybe a small call out charge is justified. Most of them don't.

Given the number of suckers in this thread no wonder they get away with murder.

I'm an electrician and when I worked for a contractor he charged by the hour from where I was working if I got a call out.

So if I left a site and it took me two hours to get to the breakdown he charge two hours before I did anything.Then his hourly rate and materials if any.

He got lots of call outs because he was providing a top class service , guaranteed and insured.

His call out rate was 65euros , irregardless of what I did.

bucketybuck

kneemos wrote: »

justified.

A word that very few people seem to understand.

kneemos

corner of hells wrote: »

I'm an electrician and when I worked for a contractor he charged by the hour from where I was working if I got a call out.

So if I left a site and it took me two hours to get to the breakdown he charge two hours before I did anything.Then his hourly rate and materials if any.

He got lots of call outs because he was providing a top class service , guaranteed and insured.

His call out rate was 65euros , irregardless of what I did.

If a lad drives five or ten minutes from job to job and collects a call out charge for each one it's taking the piss.

Most folk call their local guy so travel is limited.

Guy:Incognito

Chewbacca wrote: »

For what you just described.

A cup of tea and a fun sized Twix. €100? Get bent fcukers.

Ya cant be paying €100 for a lad to tell you what you already knew aaaand then the cost of a new one.

Realistically, any decent bloke should take €25 max.

If you already know everything, why are you calling anyone out?

Conservatory

kneemos wrote: »

If a lad drives five or ten minutes from job to job and collects a call out charge for each one it's taking the piss.

Most folk call their local guy so travel is limited.

How much would Donald trump charge to come out to your house?
Supply and demand when it suits people.

bladespin

SEPT 23 1989 wrote:

You would want to see the invoices for industrial machinery mishaps

€500 for up to 4 hrs onsite, €1k for over 4 hrs, includes travel.

corner of hells

kneemos wrote: »

If a lad drives five or ten minutes from job to job and collects a call out charge for each one it's taking the piss.

Most folk call their local guy so travel is limited.

The local , a one man operation with reduced overheads and that's fine , he's happy enough working that way relying on word of mouth.

Signore Fancy Pants

This post has been deleted.

corner of hells

Chewbacca wrote: »

Calm your tits guy.

Is that a rhetorical question? Has to be, otherwise it's a stupid question.

Um, in the OP's example. If you think your washing machine is fcuked but still get a guy to check in the hope its economical to fix it but it turns out, he is of the same opinion.

Then he charges you €100. How much time and labour went into the call out?

Not €100 worth anyway for "a minute or two".

The issue is you're guessing , he's giving a professional opinion based on years of experience backed up with an apprenticeship and a clatter of qualifications.

Signore Fancy Pants

This post has been deleted.

bladespin

Chewbacca wrote:

Not €100 worth anyway for "a minute or two".

It's not really that simple though, giving over time is costing you other work, comitting to a call means freeing up the time the job 'might' take, possibly giving up a couple of hours work which would have to be covered; even if the job itself only takes a couple of minutes.

corner of hells

Chewbacca wrote: »

I'm not disputing that.

So, €100 is a fair price for "a minute or two" of a call out?

Are you talking about a minute or two looking at a washing machine and not considering he may have spent a hour driving , left another job etc

bladespin

corner of hells wrote:

Are you talking about a minute or two looking at a washing machine and not considering he may have spent a hour driving , left another job etc

There does seem to be an opinion that people in service jobs are sat by phones waiting for a call, if it was that simple it would be great, all round.

damianch

If my kitchen was flooding I would have no problem paying 100 or more for a callout . If my washing machine was on the blink I'd weigh up the options (age of machine, cost of replacement etc) Plus a pumber doesn't need to rush to get here to throw an eye on my machine. I'd happily wait a week .