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The plumber I use told me he marks up materials 20% and charges $100 an hour. I checked some of his prices on materials and it was cheaper than I could buy it even with his mark up. I am assuming he gets a discount. | |||
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| Made from a different mold  |
This is rich coming from a guy that complains about the cost of medication that used to get his "cheaper" from Canada when he didn't have insurance. What about the local pharmacy whose building isn't free, utilities aren't free, insurance isn't free, training and licenses aren't free, phones, computers, and faxes aren't free? Shouldn't they make a profit more than $1.00? See, that's the thing.....some blue collar type like yourself that works for a living needs to make the best financial decisions for themselves and their families, not the businesses that provide the products or services we need. It's an interesting point that business owners take. Seems they all squawk about the internet or some other outside force moving in and stealing their business (which takes away from their family), but have no problem going to a cheaper outside source when it suits their needs (thus screwing someone else's family  ). How many times have all you business owners gone to a distributor and said "hey, I can get your same product somewhere else cheaper!"? How many times have you told an employee looking for a pay raise "hey, Joe Bob down the road can do your job for even less than you are getting paid right now and be happy with it because he will have a job!"? It's natural for those of us wishing to save money, to spend wisely. Often times, businesses are pushed out because they are dead set in their ways and refuse to change their business model. I apologize in advance for taking a swipe at you to make a point using a medical condition that necessitates medication(s), but we must all try and see that everyone wants the best possible deal when having to do business (whether as a business owner, or on the consumers end). In Gustofer's case, he was stating his displeasure about being taken advantage of, and I will have to agree with him. No reasonable person should expect to pay 300% markup for something. Think of what your grocery bill would look like if you suddenly had to pay $15 for a gallon of milk and $22/pound of (tough/cheap) meat. Real possibilities if every business operated on the same +300% model that some are defending. ___________________________ No thanks, I've already got a penguin. | |||
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an extra $75.00 for teaching you stuff. after about 7 years of watching Judge Judy , always get it in writing that he/she is licensed bonded and insured. always get an estimate on the company letterhead. always ask the B.B.B. first. never assume you know what his costs are, or what his time versus your time are worth Safety, Situational Awareness and proficiency. Neck Ties, Hats and ammo brass, Never ,ever touch'em w/o asking first | |||
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_________________________________________________ "Once abolish the God, and the Government becomes the God." --- G.K. Chesterton | |||
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safe & sound |
They do. When I have insurance, all of my medication is sourced locally, and I'm assuming they make a decent profit at whatever negotiated rates they have made with my insurance company. Apples and grape fruits though. Let's say your local gun shop charges men $400 for a gun, and charges women $2,500 for the same gun. That's why I was buying in Canada. Not because it was "cheaper than Walmart", but because I was "buying it for the same price everybody else was being charged". Had Walgreens sold it to me for what they were charging everybody else, they would have had my business.
And that's my point that you're missing. Let's say all local businesses disappear, and you're saving money left and right buying online. What happens to that entire tax base? Your town is no longer getting the sales tax. Commercial real estate values plummet. Your town becomes Detroit. Then what? It's not about me, or how I earn a living. It's about my community. It's about me having a job because you can spend money with me because you have a job.
I bet you're paying 300% mark ups every single day. I know I am. | |||
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Ammoholic |
Yep all the time. Ever wonder how Macy's can sell you end of season clearance items at 80% off? I work for a electrical services contractor, we mostly just fix stuff when it breaks. Commercial, Residential, and Retail. We mark up things generally 100%. I lower that percentage depending on how much materials it is. Under $100 to ~$600, you are paying double. With a sliding scale after that. So if you have $2,000 in parts maybe 50% or even less if I like you. Really high material cost jobs only 25%. Research and procurement add to or take away from the cost as well. If I had to spend two hours locating the item or drive two hours to get it, you are paying for it somewhere. Jesse Sic Semper Tyrannis | |||
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| safe & sound |
And what is the baseline for the mark up? Is it unreasonable to pay 3 times what Lowe's charges? What about 3 times what Lowe's paid the manufacturer? Is it 3 times what Lowe's paid plus shipping? 3 times the manufacturer's material cost? I'm assuming the manufacturer made money. Lowe's is making money. Why can't the plumber make money? | |||
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| Staring back from the abyss  |
The plumber should make money...off of his labor. That's why we hire them, because we can't or don't want to do it. We don't hire them to be a mobile hardware store. ________________________________________________________ "Great danger lies in the notion that we can reason with evil." Doug Patton. | |||
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| safe & sound |
I don't know of many plumbers, electricians, or other trades that merely show up to work with your materials. Perhaps if they're doing side work. Selling plumbing supplies is part of being in the plumbing business. I'm sure there are exceptions, but I think in most cases part of doing business with a tradesmen involves purchasing your materials through them. | |||
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| Ammoholic |
You've got to be kidding me... This is exactly what you hire them for. I imagine common plumbing fittings are the same as outlets and switches for me. Imagine I came to your house to troubleshoot your outlets not working, instead of bringing with me matching color outlets and switches for your house, some wire, a breaker, and some wire nuts (all most commonly used items). I come there with nothing but my testing equipment, tell you, yep you need a new outlet to replace this one that has failed. I don't charge your the marked up price of $2.00 for a new outlet and instead tell you to go to lowes and pick up your own for $.85. We reschedule a return trip and it will cost $125 for the return trip to replace the outlet. Or I bring the outlet with me and you pay for the visit $125 plus $2 instead of $125 x 2 and no parts. Which one makes more sense? Jesse Sic Semper Tyrannis | |||
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| Member |
I guarantee that they aren't making a 300% profit on you. If you looked at their cost sheets, you'd probably see that their final margin was closer to 30%. Plumbing's too competitive for anyone to clear really high margins. | |||
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| Staring back from the abyss |
If it's a $2 outlet, then youbetcha. As I've said above, even if it's a small and reasonable mark up to cover your cost of getting it, then that's OK by me. What's not OK by me is charging the customer the second or third retail mark up on an item just because they can. And just because they can doesn't make it right or acceptable. ________________________________________________________ "Great danger lies in the notion that we can reason with evil." Doug Patton. | |||
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What do you do for a living? | |||
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| Member |
Do you have any idea how much time it takes to source parts???? DO you have any idea how much money we have tied up in these parts so we don't have to charge you our hourly rate to take 2 hours to go from your house, to lowe's and back??? How much hourly work do you think we'd actually get done, if we had to go to lowe's for every single fitting, clamp, piece of pipe, etc for every single little job? | |||
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| Member |
I like this... no more ordering parts/materials, no stock, no more stocking the service trucks, no inventory overhead, no more warehouse... Just show up with tools and test equipment. Diagnose the problem, hand a materials list to the customer and get paid by the hour until they return with the needed items. My life just got easier... or did it? That's crap and won't last... oh well, that's what they bought. That's not the right fitting... try again, I'll be here waiting. What do you mean they didn't have it in stock... awe, that's ok, you can survive without heating/cooling/hot water/toilet/shower/electric/etc. I sure miss the days when we actually spent most of the day fixing things. But this is easier, no warranty claims, no more shipping damage, smaller service vehicles, more room in the vehicle for easier tool access, no trips to the distributors, no supply house accounts... Oh, and the best part... I'm converting the funds tied up in inventory to a new sports car/bike/boat/toys/etc.  Are we all having fun yet? | |||
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| Member |
Question for you... if you hire a Lowe's contractor to have a Lowe's water heater installed, does Lowe's readjust their water heater to their 'cost' since you're paying labor to have it installed? And I'll assume the delivery is now free too? | |||
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Only the strong survive |
I think he went about it the wrong way. He should have gotten a quote in writing for the labor and material. I have had similar experiences by not getting a quote in writing. Some peoples word is not good when they quote you $60/hour and then up the rate to $72 after finishing the job. OK...no more work for you. Plus he did a lousy job and thought he would haul away the rocks and top soil he mounded up. 41 | |||
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| Staring back from the abyss |
This, in spades. And, to the tradesmen here, no offense intended. I'll try, perhaps inarticulately again, to explain: Of course you'll need to bring parts, that's a given in most cases. By "mobile hardware store", what I meant was charging an additional retail mark up on top of one or two other retail mark ups before you. As I said, I have no problem whatsoever paying a little more to reimburse for the cost of getting the parts. What I have a problem with is an exorbitant mark up just because you can. That's wrong and unethical IMO. You're not a hardware store and a plumber. You're a plumber (or electrician, or welder, or whatever it is you do). My previous example of building the chicken coop is perhaps the best way I can explain how I look at it. There's not a chance that I'd charge my customer extra for the nails I bought for the job. I'd charge him what I paid for them, or perhaps more for gas if I had to drive to the next town over to buy them. Anywho...no hard feelings. I do appreciate what you guys do and respect your knowledge in your given field. Just make it a point to be honest and upfront with your customers, even when they are dumbasses like me who don't ask these questions beforehand. ________________________________________________________ "Great danger lies in the notion that we can reason with evil." Doug Patton. | |||
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| Member |
Trust me, we go through this more than you could believe. Like yesterday 'Sunday' as matter of fact, with no parts... just trip/diagnostic (was told up front) and additional labor to fix equipment ($75). Didn't even charge extra for after hours or for service on Sunday.
There's a few problems with the above. We are retail, so the markup is justified. We order, stock, warranty and have the same overhead as other retail stores. But we offer something special, front door delivery/service.  The markup covers the cost to supply/warranty the materials. The labor covers the cost of the service techs. You couldn't even imagine the complaints if all of the cost of a service business was covered solely by their labor rate. Not to mention sometimes we pay more for products from a distributor, because it saves time (which is also money). | |||
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| Member |
is he paying 12 cents for an elbow? because he buys wholesale , 400 ct at a time? or does he walk in too Lowe's and pay 99 cents each and then charge you $2.25 ? Safety, Situational Awareness and proficiency. Neck Ties, Hats and ammo brass, Never ,ever touch'em w/o asking first | |||
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