Solid Walnut worktops - price for fitting????

[Andy Pullen]

So Andy,

Dont need to just go to qwikfit over the road and get it done for £25 all in. Their contingencies are smaller

• i. Where did the first price come from.
  ii. Do you not consider Kwik Fit a garage.
  iii.Does your vehicle rattle in the mornings.
  D.Do you not like losing arguments
  iiii. What was the question

Regards Tom

A, Citroen UK
B, Yes I have to
C, no more than any other diesel
D, It's not important but I live with these issues, it's not just a paper exercise to me. All companies that want to continue existing have to build some fat into their prices.
E, Who's arguing, i'm not.

 

[BradNaylor]

I do a fair few of this kind of job and have developed my way of ensuring that no disasters happen.

1. Take a leaf out of the granite guys' book - make templates.

A couple of sheets of hardboard from B&Q are all you need and then template every piece of worktop you are going to need. This will make allowance for all scribing and corners which aren't quite square.

2. Do all the work in your workshop.

As you have said, mistakes happen when you are under pressure, particularly on site and in a hurry. Take this stress out of the job by making all cuts and doing all machining of joints in the comfort of your own workshop. Dry-fit everything together and check it against the templates. If you do it this way it is very unlikely that you will make a disasterous mistake. Then when you arrive at the job with all your pre-cut sections and simply glue and bolt them together in a couple of hours your client will be highly impressed. Make sure you tell them how long it's taken you in the workshop, though!

3. Pricing - What's the most you can charge?

Remember, you are a bit scared of this job and you're a pro woodworker. Most kitchen fitters won't even look at solid wood worktops for the very reasons you outlined at the start. So you can charge top rates.

I would start off at £200 per day and then add a bit on. It's unlikely that they'll find anyone else to do it cheaper.

Cheers
Dan

 

[jasonB]

Its interesting that several people have chosen garages/cars as a comparison. When the car was first bought it would have come with a warranty the cost of which is incorporated in the purchase price. This is in effect a contingency by the maker to cover them if they have got something wrong and a recall is required or if parts of the car fail. How many of us would ask for the cost of a car to be reduced if we took it without warranty :?:

Most of the kitchens/bathrooms that I fit are in the £10-£20,000 price range and when quoting the contingency figure is in the region of £250, this is not a large percentage. It will cover me for any unforseen work such as having to replaster a wall after stripping tiles, level an uneven floor and go towards any possible errors. For one job it won't cover me if I smash a shower screen, drop something on a worktop but over several jobs that don't have a problem it will cover me.

The otherway to price this is to add a yearly figure to your overheads to cover these things and then divide this when working out your hourly/daily rate.

I also consider if I am supplying the materials or they are supplied by the client. If I supply them I will be be adding a percentage of profit to the materials and this over several jobs is another way of covering the unexpected. If I am only getting paid for my time then a risk factor must be taken into account, not by including the total cost of the materials but a percentage that spread over a several jobs will not see me out of pocket.

The Mr Mitre prices are interesting, even allowing for traveling time and being able to do two jobs a day, thats £500 a day, I could afford to muck up one top a week if I were charging that

Jason

 

[cutting42]

The Mr Mitre prices are interesting, even allowing for traveling time and being able to do two jobs a day, thats £500 a day, I could afford to muck up one top a week if I were charging that

Jason

Well its a franchise, your new opportunity awaits you

 

[markavery]

Hi Karl,
I'm self-employed kitchen worktop fitter. I fit mainly solid surface worktops along with Granite and Solid Timber worktops. The average charge for fitting these tops would be £280.00 plus VAT, however, the tops would have normally been templated with 4mm MDF and cut to size prior to installation. The charge to the customer for templating is £130.00 plus VAT. So if you having to do all the cutting on site you should combine the two charges.
I may be teaching you to suck eggs but I always template the whole kitchen with 4mm MDF, then use these template to cut the worktops.

 

[Karl]

Thanks again for the replies.

I will be templating the tops - by far the best way of minimising any chance of a mistake.

The tops will have to be cut on site - I don't benefit from a 'shop, although its something I will be looking into next year.

Cheers

Karl

 

[BradNaylor]

I don't benefit from a 'shop, although its something I will be looking into next year.

Sorry Karl,

I assumed you had a workshop from your location tag-line!

Dan

 

[Karl]

Hi Dan

My "shop" is my garage. Useful for some stuff, but not worktop sizing!

Cheers

Karl

 

[BradNaylor]

Hi Dan

My "shop" is my garage. Useful for some stuff, but not worktop sizing!

Cheers

Karl

Do it outside on your drive.

It seldom rains in Cheshire... :lol:

Dan

 

[Gary]

So it's just me and Waka who think that when employing a profesional it is out of order to be charged for their mistakes.

That's very interesting I would expect to have to foot the bill for a new work surface if I cocked it up but not if I were paying someone to do it.

IMO if the job is beyond you, you shouldn't be charging someone for your service/effort.

 

[Karl]

I don't know who said the job was "beyond" me, but that isn't even the point under discussion.

If you work with more expensive materials, you should be paid accordingly. Payment comensurate with the risk of working with such materials.

Car analogy - all other things being equal, would you expect to pay (parts aside) the same for the timing belt to be changed on a Ferrari and a Focus? I doubt it.

Cheers

Karl

 

[Andy Pullen]

All companies charge for all their mistakes, it's just that they aren't listed as a specific item and what's worse is that they charge you for the mistakes they make on other peoples jobs even if they get yours right. It's all in the quote, take it or leave it.

 

[ProShop]

I agree with JasonB, good post. .

I build in a small contingency based on a percentage on all my jobs. It's built into my overheads. I also have PL insurance.

 

[Gary]

How do others approach pricing for such jobs - one slip with the router, circular saw, etc and the piece could be knackered - and i'm left with a £450 bill for a new length. Hypothetical, of course, but possible given my recent mistake.
Karl

Remember it would be your slip with the saw or router and not the clients. Whilst I understand the Ford/Ferrari comparison, I still cannot see why you should charge more to fit a solid worktop. You said it was labour only, are you saying there is more work with the solid top or you will be more out of pocket when you cock it up?

My advice would be if your not up to it then don't attempt it. If you are confident then go for it and hope the client is not following this thread.

 

[jasonB]

I would say there is more risk when fitting laminate tops particularly high gloss ones. You are cutting massons mitres rather than butt joints, chipped edges or scratches can't be cured unlike wood that can be sanded.

It comes down to the cost of the consequences of an error, even if you feel you are upto the job it only needs a slight wobble of a router or a jig to come loose when doing drainer grooves and the worktop will need replacing. Its like me saying that I won't bother with £2m Public liability insurance because nothing will ever go wrong.

I've fitted timber tops that would work out at around £1000 per 4m length, nothing like it for concentrating the mind especially as some of the mitre cuts were 30, 15 % 7.5 degrees :wink:

Jason

 

[BradNaylor]

At the end of the day, you're quite entitled to quote and charge what the heck you like. It's a competitive free market.

If you load your price and still get the job then your client must be happy with it.

If you don't get the job then your quote is too high. Or someone else's is too low!

It really is as simple as that. It's entirely up to you.

Good luck.

Dan