Been asked day rate and hourly rate for work on flats?

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newhandyman

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£120 or £130 sound ok for a day rate and £18/hr for hourly rate. These flats are quite a drive in my van (40 mins one way)- do those prices sound fair?

It's pressure washing, gardening, painting, carpentry stuff for them. It's a bit out of town so there's lots of older rich people and no one to do this stuff. Where I live would never get such nice job.
 
Given that you are new to the handyman business I guess that your rates will do until you get established - during the first 12 months or so of any business you often have to grab whatever is on offer.

Include your 80 mins driving time as a cost but dont tell the customer - driving to and fro is working and you dont work for nothing.

I wish you all the best in your handyman enterprise.
 
What sort of prices to people generally charge? I thought about the £18/hr and it wouldn't work for one hr so thought - £30 first hr then £20 second hr then £15/hr for all following hrs. Because being called out for an hr far away for £18 wouldn't work.
 
You need to calculate what you need as an hourly rate. All your outgoings for a year plus some profit divided by the amount of hours you expect (hope) to work will give you a starting point for an hourly rate.

You may not need to charge as much as you think to make a decent living, on the other hand you may not be charging enough to cover your costs. No point finding out some time in the future!

Good luck.
 
If your just starting out then pricing your yourself out of the job isn't a great start so only you can judge the customer of how much to charge and the important thing to do is increase your customer base, at this stage of your business you can't expect top dollar ;)
 
newhandyman said:
£120 or £130 sound ok for a day rate and £18/hr for hourly rate. These flats are quite a drive in my van (40 mins one way)- do those prices sound fair?

It's pressure washing, gardening, painting, carpentry stuff for them. It's a bit out of town so there's lots of older rich people and no one to do this stuff. Where I live would never get such nice job.
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I pay my labourer £100 a day and he doesn't have to drive.
 
There was a discussion on this subject some time ago see https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/...rs-a-week-doing-odd-jobs.480546/#post-3881822.
With a 40 min drive eitherway on a full day you will be working effectively for 10 hours.
Do you have 'Overheads? - well yes you do, your own book keeping time, Accountant even if once a year, transport costs, tools, 'phones, internet, all of which are 'hidden' in your rates.
I'd regard £130 figure as a good starting point, once you are VAT registered your costs (and therefore rates) will go up.
I do like your idea of varible rates for short periods; my suggestion using your figures is day rate £130, half day rate £75, Quarter day rate £50 - with traveling no job will take less than 2 hours. Don't get into peicework until your are confident in your skills.
 
My guess is that if this is the only work coming in at the moment, go for it. If you finish the job on good terms, you might have a handy contact for regular work, useful for quieter times. If in a few months you're busy and they call, you can tell them politely that you've had to increase your rates due to increased demand.
 
This point in your career is all about building contacts and developing your reputation. I like the sound of the graduated pay rates. Take the work that's on offer and you should be able to increase your rates in the future. The fun of this is that you're your own boss. See what works and what doesn't until you find out what sticks.
 
vinn said:
Include your 80 mins driving time as a cost but dont tell the customer - driving to and fro is working and you dont work for nothing.
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My commute to work is an hour each way and no one pays me for it.
 
I'm honestly gobsmacked when I see that people pay hourly rate.
I never pay hourly rate or would expect an hourly rate.
Price work. Always.
Hourly rate is a scammers calling card - yet still see plenty of people doing it and being caught out by it - even in 2023.
 
are you working for the individuals in the flats or the leaseholder/management for maintenance etc

an hour and half round trip - work out the cost of the travel , petrol, business insurance, vehicle wear and tear etc ,
This may give you a guide on price to run a vehicle - https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/car-run...&SortBy=Manufacturer&SortDesc=False&FuelType=

then all your tools , cost to setup and also to replace , again wear and tear...

Cost to dump material as a business. Gardening - and any other waste material.
Do you have a vehicle which can accommodate and garden waste , as that may be expected to be cleared - whenever i have work done on the garden - I expect the Gardener to take away the waste.

Are you then expecting to build up a lot of business in the area -

Then i would also specify a minimum callout/rate - 4hours say - if thats viable with the 40mins*2 travel
travelling 40mins each way for 1 hour work!!!!!!! a few times a week will be expensive

I used to charge an hour rate but only for very local work, private training
 
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