Price of Chain to Anchor Rope Splice ???

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VARNE

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1x Anchorplait to 8mm chain------Nice job taken 10"up the chain.
And 1x 3 strand nylon to 8mm chain------A 5" simple backsplice.

£36!!!!!! Well he did take 30 cash under protest ---and yes I was stupid not to ask for price in advance.And I didn't buy the gear from him.

So, is it just me, or is that a rip-off ??
 
I don't do this for a living, but I could do such a join and make a reasonable job. If I did do it for a living I think I would charge about that. I could see it taking half an hour so that is a charge out rate of about 60 - 70 pounds an hour. By the time you take off overheads and allow for less than 100% occupancy you would only make 20 - 30 pounds an hour.
 
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I don't do this for a living, but I could do such a join and make a reasonable job. If I did do it for a living I think I would charge about that. I could see it taking half an hour so that is a charge out rate of about 60 - 70 pounds an hour. By the time you take off overheads and allow for less than 100% occupancy you would only make 20 - 30 pounds an hour.

[/ QUOTE ]Not a criticism or disagreeing with you but those sort of rates typify what has to change and is about to change in Britain. Splicing a rope at £60-70 per hour is hopelessly uncompetitive with the productive East; it is unsustainable. £7 per hour is more like it, and that's what's going to happen. Those who do not adapt will not have an income (at least, not doing simple things like splicing). There are some massive adjustments coming in Blighty.
 
I know how you feel -- I have paid people in the past but do my own splicing now (other than braid on braid which I really struggle with). Anchorplait and three ply is easy peasy, even in quite big sizes like 25mm. Do keep a careful eye on the splice; they can chafe and start to wear through. When it is time to renew the splice, consider splicing an eye with thimble onto the warp and shackle that to the anchor chain. Gives you a nice bit of extra warp for mooring, kedging off, etc., when you are not anchoring.
 
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So, is it just me, or is that a rip-off ??

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Not really when you consider that they seem to charge £5-6 for a simple soft eye in three strand.

On paper, an octoplait to chain splice appears simple - and it is - but if the line is well matched to the chain (i.e., not too thin) it takes brute force to pull the opposing strands through the space in the links without inducing twist.

I have done it for close friends but I wouldn't do it commercially for what you paid.
 
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Just seen Refueler's reply and of course he is quite right.

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And of course that rope emporium "Jimmy Green" is the place to download from ... (well that's most quoted ... there are others as well !)
 
Such comparisons are absolutely meaningless.

Are you going to send all the chain and rope to China to take advantage of "cheap" labour? No, you want to walk into a rigger''s shop and get it done on the spot or pick it up later. Think of the economics of running such a shop. The average skilled wage is just over £16 an hour. If the rigger is employed, employers on costs are minimum of 15% which makes his cost to the business about £18.50 an hour. The employer will be lucky to get 70% utilisation out of the employee which means his cost to the business is around £27 an hour, before you even cost his place of work, stockholding, tools, administration, advertising, profit etc. - never mind boring things like pensions and having something left over to re-invest.

Many skilled craftsmen are self employed. Sums are slightly different as a self employed worker, particularly in a seasonal trade like servicing yachts is lucky to get 50% of hours charged out. So just to earn an average wage he needs to charge about £37 an hour, plus costs of running the business - premises, tools, ordering stock, doing estimates etc.

Good thing most customers are not miserable skinflints, who by definition are "rich" if they can afford to buy a £250000 boat, but resent paying tradesmen a living wage for the specialised skills they have.

Of course skilled labour is expensive - not because they are greedy, but because they are not production line workers with 100% of their time producing things. And, as has been demonstrated with splices, most people can learn to do it themselves, but if they can't or won't they have to pay!
 
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Good thing most customers are not miserable skinflints, who by definition are "rich" if they can afford to buy a £250000 boat, but resent paying tradesmen a living wage for the specialised skills they have.

[/ QUOTE ]I don't resent anyone charging what they like for their labour (as long as they are up-front about their fees, of course, are competent and give service). They will all be out of work by the Autumn, if not the Summer, though, on the dole, not a 'living wage'. The present prices businesses charge to the end user are based on the user being able to afford those charges. That level was set at a time when people were living off the proceeds of the equity in their homes, imaginary house price rises, debt and the industries servicing all that. That has all ended. Period. While there is still cash about it is drying up fast. The UK supplier will have to compete far more closely against the producer economies in future than he has had to for nearly 200 years. The party is over; not paused, it is over. There is no such thing as a 'fair living wage' anymore. Sad, but true.

£30 for a splice is silly. I could feed a family of four for several days on £30 even buying from Tescos. It's absurd pricing.
 
Well said Tranona! Many people do not have the faintest idea what it costs to run a small business.

As for the man doing a splice for a £1. The question I have is why. Are you facing stiff competition? Are you some kind of benefactor? All you are doing is ripping yourself off and devaluing the work of other skilled people.
 
You just told someone he had been ripped off but you now say you are offering eye splicing as a "loss leader" to get people into your shop. So comparing your £1 a splice with another's price is completely meaningless!
 
I was merely pointing out that he was being massively overcharged IN MY OPINION. It's not like I'm about to overhaul the entire market.....................Have a nice weekend. Me, I'll be mostly turning out a few low cost splices!
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Are you really saying you would charge £1 to splice a multiplait rope into an anchor chain?
It took the professional chap who did mine, 35 minutes & I was happy to pay £20.00 considering he had to come onto the boat to do it.
 
With all due respect Lemain, you live on a boat in continental Europe, and don't live in the UK..... you simply don't have a clue what its really like here..... unless you believe what you read on the papers or this forum of course...

You really truly are living in cloud cuckoo land if you think that we need to compete pound for pound with the far eastern market for everything in the UK. Only extreme market force economists believe anything approaching that, and even they recognise that truly global market forces aren't possible.

So, your example is fundamentally flawed... no one will package up their bit of anchor plait and send it to China to have the ends spliced.... and the cost of living, and hence the income profile is completely different to Asia.... there will always be local markets for services in any country on the planet, and the local price will bear absolutely no reflection to the price available in other markets. Instead it will reflect local costs. If the costs change fundamentally, then yes, the work will be at £7 per hour, but they won't.

You can talk all the gloom and doom you like, but you seem to have a fundamental lack of understanding of basic economics. Your armageddon view of the UK is becoming quite tiresome for someone who doesn't even live here.

There... i've said it.

PS.... maybe he needs to charge £30 for the work so that he can afford to pay someone to take his messages while he's working on your job with his mobile switched off? /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
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