My Day

[TheQ]

3 hours work + travelling time + getting the pieces.. yep £200 would be the going price for that these days. in almost any business...

[grendel]

I would tell her you have done it for only £150, (you still wont see any money though)

[Bikertov]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

3 hours work + travelling time + getting the pieces.. yep £200 would be the going price for that these days. in almost any business...

I would agree with that - not unreasonable if you need someone to do it for you.

[BroadAmbition]

Well I wouldn't.

That's about £65:00 per Hr.  Daughters builder lives about 4 x miles from her place, including sourcing the parts he would have to travel no more than 14 miles from his door and back again

I'm a tradesman too. When I'm charging my hourly rate, it is nowhere near £65:00 per Hr.  I like to sleep at nights with a clear conscious 

Griff 

[BroadAmbition]

I had an exasperating journey home today from Retford To my village.  All because of an air head lady driver, she certainly didn't cover herself in glory or do the sisterhood any favours:-

I called in at a filing station / 24 Hr mini market type outlet that I don't normally visit to fill up with diesel (Won't be going back to it anytime soon either)

It wasn't overly busy but there was a queu of about six of us, growing all the time due to only one of four counters being manned, that was mildly irritating but nowt more than an itch.

Until the rather attractive twenty something airhead in front of me got to the counter to pay for her fuel.

She got out her card to pay for the fuel, then realised it was still in her car.  She trooped off back to her car and left the rest of us idly in the queue patiently waiting for her return - Shouldn't one check before replacing the nozzle and setting off to the counter to pay that you actually have the means to pay on ones person?

She returned with her business fuel card, the counter lady asked her for the reg of the vehicle - Off she trooped again back to her car to read the reg plate and left the rest of us idly in the growing queue patiently waiting for her return 

Mileage? asked the counter lady - Yes, you've guessed it,  Off she trooped again back to her car to read the mileage which required her to get in and turn the ignition on meanwhile she again left the rest of us idly in the ever growing queue patiently waiting for her return

You could have not made this up, it was like a comedy scene from Mr Bean. I half expected her to lose her keys or better still forget the blasted pin number for her card.  If that had happened I swear I would have paid for her fuel just to get her out of there

 

Griff

 

 

[Bikertov]

1 hour ago, BroadAmbition said:

Well I wouldn't.

That's about £65:00 per Hr.  Daughters builder lives about 4 x miles from her place, including sourcing the parts he would have to travel no more than 14 miles from his door and back again

I'm a tradesman too. When I'm charging my hourly rate, it is nowhere near £65:00 per Hr.  I like to sleep at nights with a clear conscious 

Griff 

I suppose I have got hardened to London prices over the years 

[TheQ]

10 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

Well I wouldn't.

That's about £65:00 per Hr.  Daughters builder lives about 4 x miles from her place, including sourcing the parts he would have to travel no more than 14 miles from his door and back again

I'm a tradesman too. When I'm charging my hourly rate, it is nowhere near £65:00 per Hr.  I like to sleep at nights with a clear conscious 

Griff 

14 miles each way + standing at the counter that's an hour, 4 miles each way to and from her's 8 Miles,  say 20 minutes total, to that's  4.3 hours £200/4.3 = £46.5 an hour..

[Bikertov]

11 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

Well I wouldn't.

That's about £65:00 per Hr.  Daughters builder lives about 4 x miles from her place, including sourcing the parts he would have to travel no more than 14 miles from his door and back again

I'm a tradesman too. When I'm charging my hourly rate, it is nowhere near £65:00 per Hr.  I like to sleep at nights with a clear conscious 

Griff 

Don't get me wrong Griff - I admire your work ethic and conscience.

I'm not going to ask your rates, as they are none of our business, but just bear in mind that National Minimum Wage is about to go up to £9.50 an hour. Once you take into account the equivalent of Employers NI, Holiday Pay etc, and then how many billable working hours you can achieve, your non-billable time taking into account travel time, time at builders merchants, admin etc, your tools - it all adds up.

So it doesn't take much to start to get near to £65 an hour for your billable hours - you may want to review your rates in light of everything, and can still have a clear conscience that you are offering your work for a fair rate.

[OldBerkshireBoy]

9 hours ago, Bikertov said:

I suppose I have got hardened to London prices over the years 

and 14 miles or even less in an hour in some parts of London. 

[addicted]

My day didn't get off to  good start today. Walked to the high street to get our papers as usual. We buy them  from a Nisa corner shop mini market. Well we won't be getting them in there again any time soon as last night some scumbags  tried to ram raid the place in an attempt to get the cash machine and the whole of the front of the shop is demoilshed. Fortunately there is another similar  but smaller shop a bit further along the high street owned by the same owner but I'm not sure whether that one has all the same facilities. ie:cash point, Hermes agent, utilities bill payment.  If not a lot of inconvenience is ahead for a lot of their customers most of which seem to be like us - elderly.

 

 

Carole

[OldBerkshireBoy]

16 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

I had an exasperating journey home today from Retford To my village.  All because of an air head lady driver, she certainly didn't cover herself in glory or do the sisterhood any favours:-

I called in at a filing station / 24 Hr mini market type outlet that I don't normally visit to fill up with diesel (Won't be going back to it anytime soon either)

It wasn't overly busy but there was a queu of about six of us, growing all the time due to only one of four counters being manned, that was mildly irritating but nowt more than an itch.

Until the rather attractive twenty something airhead in front of me got to the counter to pay for her fuel.

She got out her card to pay for the fuel, then realised it was still in her car.  She trooped off back to her car and left the rest of us idly in the queue patiently waiting for her return - Shouldn't one check before replacing the nozzle and setting off to the counter to pay that you actually have the means to pay on ones person?

She returned with her business fuel card, the counter lady asked her for the reg of the vehicle - Off she trooped again back to her car to read the reg plate and left the rest of us idly in the growing queue patiently waiting for her return 

Mileage? asked the counter lady - Yes, you've guessed it,  Off she trooped again back to her car to read the mileage which required her to get in and turn the ignition on meanwhile she again left the rest of us idly in the ever growing queue patiently waiting for her return

You could have not made this up, it was like a comedy scene from Mr Bean. I half expected her to lose her keys or better still forget the blasted pin number for her card.  If that had happened I swear I would have paid for her fuel just to get her out of there

 

Griff

 

 

Give the lady a break and save your blood pressure, could it have been a new job this week with a new company car and using the fuel card for the first time after visitng parents in hospital that afternoon. Also I doubt that I am the only one amongst us that has filled up at a garage only to realise my wallet was back at home 

[RumPunch]

1 hour ago, Bikertov said:

Don't get me wrong Griff - I admire your work ethic and conscience.

I'm not going to ask your rates, as they are none of our business, but just bear in mind that National Minimum Wage is about to go up to £9.50 an hour. Once you take into account the equivalent of Employers NI, Holiday Pay etc, and then how many billable working hours you can achieve, your non-billable time taking into account travel time, time at builders merchants, admin etc, your tools - it all adds up.

So it doesn't take much to start to get near to £65 an hour for your billable hours - you may want to review your rates in light of everything, and can still have a clear conscience that you are offering your work for a fair rate.

Still nowhere near garage rates. Daughters car has fault coded. Dealer wanted £130 to plug it in and read it ....... bought a half decent scanner for £90 that will do pretty much everything. Took me longer to type this than garage would have to read it

[Bikertov]

1 hour ago, RumPunch said:

Still nowhere near garage rates. Daughters car has fault coded. Dealer wanted £130 to plug it in and read it ....... bought a half decent scanner for £90 that will do pretty much everything. Took me longer to type this than garage would have to read it

Oh - don't even get me started on 'main stealer' hourly rates 

I really can't see how they can justify rates of £160 or more an hour (+VAT of course ...)

[Tempest]

1 hour ago, RumPunch said:

Still nowhere near garage rates. Daughters car has fault coded. Dealer wanted £130 to plug it in and read it ....... bought a half decent scanner for £90 that will do pretty much everything. Took me longer to type this than garage would have to read it

Depends where you live I suppose

I have always had Land Rovers and contrary to popular belief found them to be extremely reliable and great value for money

I have just replaced my motor for another newer model and you guessed it, this morning, the engine management light came on the dashboard, so off I drove to Land Ranger Services (https://www.landranger.co.uk/) (Atherton branch near Manchester) to ask if they could plug in and run a diagnostic check.

They plugged it in and told me I have a glow plug fault which is causing the engine management light to display. "Is it serious I ask." "Nah", the man says, "I will reset the management system for you to clear the fault but on your next routine service, just let us know and we will sort the glow plug out"

"Ohh brilliant, how much do I owe you?"
 

"Nothing, its fine, it only took me a couple of minutes"

Great service, treating customers well, means you promote them to others and you WILL be back!!

[BroadAmbition]

TheQ:- 14 miles each way + standing at the counter that's an hour, 4 miles each way to and from her's 8 Miles,  say 20 minutes total, to that's  4.3 hours £200/4.3 = £46.5 an hour.

You're a mile out, I did make clear the builder would do 14 miles door to door so not - 'Say 20 miles'  but 14 max. That is if he had to make a special journey to source £6:50 worth of materials, between now and his two month arrival he would have picked the items up when passing the suppliers or even got them delivered with another order.  So that would make his journey distance 8 miles in total on the day, say about a twenty minute round trip, so nowhere near £46:50 an hour more like £65:00 per Hour.  This is Gods country not London prices.  I suspect the truth is that the job was too small, he didn't want to take it on so priced himsen out of the reckoning.  Well I know his Dad who is a pal of mine, I will be seeing him this Sunday evening as per the norm and will inform him of his sons exorbitant pricing practises

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

Give the lady a break  

Give the Lady a break? - Really?

I put no pressure on her whatsoever, never even muttered under my breath Although I suspect those at the end of the queue behind me did just that

and save your blood pressure.

My blood pressure was at it's normal level but thank you for your concern.  Besides I was just grateful for the view!

I was not trying to 'Do the Lady down' or raise my blood pressure

I thought my OP in the 'My Day' thread was both topical and current.  This is after all is a discussion forum is it not?  Should I run my ideas of a post in the 'My Day' thread before you for approval prior to posting?

Yours - Griff

[Smoggy]

10 hours ago, addicted said:

Well we won't be getting them in there again any time soon as last night some scumbags  tried to ram raid the place in an attempt to get the cash machine

I am guessing I now know where you live Carole, I saw the shop front on the local news earlier, looked a mess.

It seems another was done in cambridge too.

[Mouldy]

On 06/01/2022 at 23:37, BroadAmbition said:

I had an exasperating journey home today from Retford To my village.  All because of an air head lady driver, she certainly didn't cover herself in glory or do the sisterhood any favours:-

I called in at a filing station / 24 Hr mini market type outlet that I don't normally visit to fill up with diesel (Won't be going back to it anytime soon either)

It wasn't overly busy but there was a queu of about six of us, growing all the time due to only one of four counters being manned, that was mildly irritating but nowt more than an itch.

Until the rather attractive twenty something airhead in front of me got to the counter to pay for her fuel.

She got out her card to pay for the fuel, then realised it was still in her car.  She trooped off back to her car and left the rest of us idly in the queue patiently waiting for her return - Shouldn't one check before replacing the nozzle and setting off to the counter to pay that you actually have the means to pay on ones person?

She returned with her business fuel card, the counter lady asked her for the reg of the vehicle - Off she trooped again back to her car to read the reg plate and left the rest of us idly in the growing queue patiently waiting for her return 

Mileage? asked the counter lady - Yes, you've guessed it,  Off she trooped again back to her car to read the mileage which required her to get in and turn the ignition on meanwhile she again left the rest of us idly in the ever growing queue patiently waiting for her return

You could have not made this up, it was like a comedy scene from Mr Bean. I half expected her to lose her keys or better still forget the blasted pin number for her card.  If that had happened I swear I would have paid for her fuel just to get her out of there

 

Griff

 

 

Been there, done that.  Having a mini supermarket at a petrol station is bad news.  You queue up behind another car and get ready to move to the pump when they go to pay, but the driver emerges from the shop about twenty minutes later with shopping, a coffee and a sandwich then spends another five minutes sorting out their purchases and unwrapping their food to take a bite before moving off.   Grrrrr!!

Is getting grumpy and intolerant the result of getting old?  I guess in my case, I’ve had plenty of time to develop the art!!

[floydraser]

20 hours ago, RumPunch said:

Still nowhere near garage rates. Daughters car has fault coded. Dealer wanted £130 to plug it in and read it ....... bought a half decent scanner for £90 that will do pretty much everything. Took me longer to type this than garage would have to read it

Rates are high, yes but the cost of a professional code reader with the ability to read codes for all makes - and cancel them - can be very high. I understand this is due to partly to the high prices demanded by manufacturers for access to their codes. Hence readers are cheap but being able to cancel/make adjustments is expensive. 

I still wouldn't go to a main dealer except for warranty work.

[floydraser]

On 06/01/2022 at 23:37, BroadAmbition said:

I had an exasperating journey home today from Retford To my village.  All because of an air head lady driver, she certainly didn't cover herself in glory or do the sisterhood any favours:-

I called in at a filing station / 24 Hr mini market type outlet that I don't normally visit to fill up with diesel (Won't be going back to it anytime soon either)

It wasn't overly busy but there was a queu of about six of us, growing all the time due to only one of four counters being manned, that was mildly irritating but nowt more than an itch.

Until the rather attractive twenty something airhead in front of me got to the counter to pay for her fuel.

She got out her card to pay for the fuel, then realised it was still in her car.  She trooped off back to her car and left the rest of us idly in the queue patiently waiting for her return - Shouldn't one check before replacing the nozzle and setting off to the counter to pay that you actually have the means to pay on ones person?

She returned with her business fuel card, the counter lady asked her for the reg of the vehicle - Off she trooped again back to her car to read the reg plate and left the rest of us idly in the growing queue patiently waiting for her return 

Mileage? asked the counter lady - Yes, you've guessed it,  Off she trooped again back to her car to read the mileage which required her to get in and turn the ignition on meanwhile she again left the rest of us idly in the ever growing queue patiently waiting for her return

You could have not made this up, it was like a comedy scene from Mr Bean. I half expected her to lose her keys or better still forget the blasted pin number for her card.  If that had happened I swear I would have paid for her fuel just to get her out of there

 

Griff

 

 

To be fair, that's exceptional. But normal is when you get someone who has been in the queue and when they get to the front it's as if they didn't realise why they were even in the queue in the first place! Pay? Oh yes, I suppose I'd better find my card....

My card is always poised ready for action. Now we can even do the Ainsley Harriot wave as we pay: the other hand in the air. Try it, always gets a laugh. 

[RumPunch]

9 minutes ago, floydraser said:

Rates are high, yes but the cost of a professional code reader with the ability to read codes for all makes - and cancel them - can be very high. I understand this is due to partly to the high prices demanded by manufacturers for access to their codes. Hence readers are cheap but being able to cancel/make adjustments is expensive. 

I still wouldn't go to a main dealer except for warranty work.

The one I bought will read and reset engine, ABS and airbag and provide live data. Only thing it can't do is program. For mine / the wife's Vauxhalls I do have full computer loaded diagnostics / programming. My car has never seen a main dealer in the 250k I've owned it, and generally only goes to the garage for an MOT

[BrundallNavy]

4 hours ago, RumPunch said:

The one I bought will read and reset engine, ABS and airbag and provide live data. Only thing it can't do is program. For mine / the wife's Vauxhalls I do have full computer loaded diagnostics / programming. My car has never seen a main dealer in the 250k I've owned it, and generally only goes to the garage for an MOT

Carly code reader is very good particularly if you own a German car.  A blue tooth dongle and just down load the app.  

[BroadAmbition]

What do those of you I the know, recommend for MrsG’s Q5 (2019) and my Transit Custom Sport (2015)?

 I d like to buy a couple TIA

Griff

[FairTmiddlin]

5 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

What do those of you I the know, recommend for MrsG’s Q5 (2019) and my Transit Custom Sport (2015)?

 I D like to buy a couple TIA

Griff

Shouldn't need to buy two Griff. Usually do most mainstream makes.

Had good reviews on you tube from pros and amateur car repairers of the Topdon ArtiDiag500. Amazon reviews are good too about £138.

[addicted]

16 hours ago, Smoggy said:

I am guessing I now know where you live Carole, I saw the shop front on the local news earlier, looked a mess.

It seems another was done in cambridge too.

I'm guessing you probably do.  It was a terrible mess wasn't it? Passed it  this morning and they've done a  sterling job of straightening it all out I don't think it'll be very long before it's up and running again.

Carole