Am I so out of touch???

[Halsey]

£55/hr for mobile marine services - is that the going rate these days ??

It surprised me as did the contractor getting very upset when I simply said in an acceptance email that the rate had made me "wince" slightly - to the point that he has now said he doesn't want to do the job in question - I didn't realise the industry could afford to be so choosy - shame for me as he was a really nice guy inspired confidence and I had already said I was going to give him the job!

Anyone know any other good Marine Electricians servicing the Severn region.

 

[CLB]

Good guys are hard to find and are in high demand. They can charge whatever their customer base will bear. If he is busy enough at £55 an hour now to turn you down, I expect he is about to increase his rates!

 

[Halsey]

Good guys are hard to find and are in high demand. They can charge whatever their customer base will bear. If he is busy enough at £55 an hour now to turn you down, I expect he is about to increase his rates!

OK but I had agreed to give him the job its just he got upset when I "winced" - I didn't realise I had to beg as well...........

 

[mrangry]

It may sound expensive initially, but how much do you pay per hour to lets say car dealers for servicing or the chancers that fix gas boilers....

 

[Halsey]

It may sound expensive initially, but how much do you pay per hour to lets say car dealers for servicing or the chancers that fix gas boilers....

OK I'll accept that I am out of touch it just seemed high on an open-ended job spanning a few days - back to the drawing board - perhaps I'll try a little bit of grovelling

 

[LBRodders]

Probably ballpark for a competent person.
Id also say that whilst its not cheap, if you ever come to sell your boat, a comprehensive set of invoices will put you in good shape.
Whilst you might not get it all back, a machine with comprehensive service history is always worth more than one without.

 

[BruceK]

If I showed all my invoices I'd be worried I'd be scaring the punter off tbh.

 

[Restoration man]

I had similar issue with someone I wanted to buy a small block Chevy engine from a few years ago ,the chap is well known engine builder, I Phoned him and tried to chip him “politely” on the price of engine block he had listed on eBay ,he got very angry and said the price has just doubled now “mate “ I hung up total W?NKER

 

[Nauti Fox]

Thing is, as soon as you get someone query your hourly rates it gets alarm bells ringing from past encounters, after all £55 an hour isn't that much now.

 

[Portofino]

£55/hr for mobile marine services - is that the going rate these days ??

It surprised me as did the contractor getting very upset when I simply said in an acceptance email that the rate had made me "wince" slightly - to the point that he has now said he doesn't want to do the job in question - I didn't realise the industry could afford to be so choosy - shame for me as he was a really nice guy inspired confidence and I had already said I was going to give him the job!

Anyone know any other good Marine Electricians servicing the Severn region.

What was it you asked him to do / look at ?

 

[Halsey]

I had similar issue with someone I wanted to buy a small block Chevy engine from a few years ago ,the chap is well known engine builder, I Phoned him and tried to chip him “politely” on the price of engine block he had listed on eBay ,he got very angry and said the price has just doubled now “mate “ I hung up total W?NKER

Except I wasn't asking him to alter his price............he isn't even responding to my apologetic call and email now so I guess I'll have to chalk it up to experience and move on.

 

[Halsey]

What was it you asked him to do / look at ?

Review battery bank wiring, introduce an additional battery into the bank and replace old failing charger with a new inverter charger unit

 

[Halsey]

Thing is, as soon as you get someone query your hourly rates it gets alarm bells ringing from past encounters, after all £55 an hour isn't that much now.

I didn't query it or ask for it to be reduced I just said after accepting the quote that it made me "wince" a bit
In my world £55/hr IS a lot of money but if its the right rate then I'll pay it as I said I would
My lasting thought is that he didn't want to do the job and I gave him an easy "out" - not that it was particularly difficult to access or anything like that

 

[Irish Rover]

Personally I would have told the precious petal to stick his multimeter up his fuse box. Boy am I glad I live in Turkey when I hear those crazy rates.

 

[petem]

Thing is, as soon as you get someone query your hourly rates it gets alarm bells ringing from past encounters, after all £55 an hour isn't that much now.

Sounds like a pretty good living to me (£100k + a year) if he can manage 40 hours a week at that rate.

 

[BruceK]

If I showed all my invoices I'd be worried I'd be scaring the punter off tbh.

@LBRodders laugh all you like it's still a helluva lot less than you

 

[Wobbo]

£55/hr for mobile marine services - is that the going rate these days ??

It surprised me as did the contractor getting very upset when I simply said in an acceptance email that the rate had made me "wince" slightly - to the point that he has now said he doesn't want to do the job in question - I didn't realise the industry could afford to be so choosy - shame for me as he was a really nice guy inspired confidence and I had already said I was going to give him the job!

Anyone know any other good Marine Electricians servicing the Severn region.

 

[Restoration man]

I didn't query it or ask for it to be reduced I just said after accepting the quote that it made me "wince" a bit
In my world £55/hr IS a lot of money but if its the right rate then I'll pay it as I said I would
My lasting thought is that he didn't want to do the job and I gave him an easy "out" - not that it was particularly difficult to access or anything like that

Your right, £55 is a lot money if someone haven’t got that much ,and it’s not a lot of money if your loaded,
I completely agree with you all you were saying In round about way is “it’s lot money to me “,I think you have had a lucky escape, I wouldn’t want anyone with attitude like that getting any of my hard earned money ?

 

[Birdseye]

£55/hr for mobile marine services - is that the going rate these days ??

It surprised me as did the contractor getting very upset when I simply said in an acceptance email that the rate had made me "wince" slightly - to the point that he has now said he doesn't want to do the job in question - I didn't realise the industry could afford to be so choosy - shame for me as he was a really nice guy inspired confidence and I had already said I was going to give him the job!

Anyone know any other good Marine Electricians servicing the Severn region.

Its the case with many small tradesmen these days. Pity is that kids dont realise it. They want to go to university, end up with a no use degree in things like media studies or geography from an ex poly and end up running a boat taxi on min wage, when they could go off to be a leccy earning £50 per hour plus mark up on any bits they buy. So either go and be a medic or a leccy / plumber. A degree isnt worth much. Supply and demand

 

[ari]

Sounds like a pretty good living to me (£100k + a year) if he can manage 40 hours a week at that rate.

Sadly, when you're self employed it rarely seems to work out quite as neatly as that...