Self employed - are you putting your rates up?

[ProDave]

With the recent and ongoing rises in the cost of living, I am thinking of putting my hourly rate up by about 7.5% This will be the first time i have raised it for some years. Are others doing the same?

 

[binky]

Put my rates up last year. Not massively, but life doesn't get cheaper, parts are all on the up, and so are expenses like fuel.

 

[Murdoch]

so I can now comment on this wonder what has changed?

I haven’t thought about my rates for this year and as I raised them a little last April I don’t think I’ll do the same this year. I never get any comments about my rates and I know I’m not the cheapest, nor the most expensive on my patch

 

[Sharpend]

First time I’ve seen this thread?

I will be looking to increase my rates this April, costs are going up all the time which makes no sense what so ever as people will just then increase what they charge or ask for a pay increase which puts us back to where we were bar a few quid as we never match wage/salary rises to rest of price increases.

 

[Murdoch]

First time I’ve seen this thread?

I will be looking to increase my rates this April, costs are going up all the time which makes no sense what so ever as people will just then increase what they charge or ask for a pay increase which puts us back to where we were bar a few quid as we never match wage/salary rises to rest of price increases.

Looking at my business overheads the only thing that's really gone up is fuel for the van - and I change margin on my materials so I'm going to absorb the fuel increases for a while to see what happens.

 

[ProDave]

Looking at my business overheads the only thing that's really gone up is fuel for the van - and I change margin on my materials so I'm going to absorb the fuel increases for a while to see what happens.

BUT it's not just your business overheads that have gone up. The real issue is the cost of living is going up. None of us can avoid that. So to pay the increased cost of living, you need to earn more, so for the self employed the practical way to earn more is increase your hourly rate. That is the gist of the thread.

As the thread title, my rate for new customers has now gone up. I will keep the old rate for a little longer for a few old established regular customers.

 

[Murdoch]

^^ maybe, but I’m still unsure about the need to increase my rates . Sure my gas and lecky are going up in July, but I can’t pass 100% of that to my clients. The misses works and our working son lives at home too

bottom line is that I expect to be a little worse off due to the tax increases , so this is sort of expected. Just have to cut back a little each month

 

[Sharpend]

This is all a matter of perception?
If you perceive yourself to be a company and operating as such then you will see no problem with increasing your rates as per the multitude of other companies, if however you see yourself as self employed then your perception is to soak up some of the rises and work for a lesser profit?

I have just had an email from my mobile provider informing me that they will be increasing the price of the monthly contract by the CPI inflation rate (5.4%) plus 3.9%, yet they can’t actually justify such an increase, but I’m expected to pay it.
So what’s different for the self employed electrician doing the same?

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

This makes me want to ask..
How many of us have published hourly rates, open and accessible for any, Joe-Public, prospective customer to review before enquiring about some work? e.g. on a website or advertising flyers etc??

I know I don't..

So any customer probably wouldn't have a clue if my rates have gone up or down or not..?
(e.g. its not like comparing the price of bread/milk/Corn Flakes between different supermarkets or the same supermarkets costs last month).

I think my rates have been a bit flexible anyway for quite a few years now...

Which is also dependant upon who the customer is.. and how much hassle and aggro any particular job will be..

I tend to break costs down into three elements: Materials, Labour and Administration.

Some invoices will itemise all three..
others may state Materials as one cost + Labour & Admin as another cost..
others will just give a single figure for Materials, Labour & Admin.. so my actual labour rate may not be clear individual figure.
[ depends on how I feel & who the customer is ].

But..
I do have a "terms & conditions" page which is either on the back of printed quotes/invoices...
or a PDF attached to email quotes..

which states the following...

Administration costs:
If applicable to a job charges could include; Design, Pre-site preparation work, Material ordering collection & delivery, Public liability & professional indemnity insurance, Fuel & transport, Tool replacement, Test meter calibration, Certification & documentation in accordance with BS7671 wiring regulations, Part-P building regulations. etc.

Labour charges:
Most jobs are by pre-agreed fixed price quotation. For non-quoted work labour charges are based around the following rates... {edit} ....adjusted to suit individual requirements.

So there is flexibility for me to adjust costs according to specific job circumstances without any worries that a customer could claim that I am overcharging..

I have no idea what hourly rates other local electricians may or may not be charging..
And I don't care..
as all I need to know is how much do I want to earn to compensate for the hassle of doing any particular job!

Plus I have got to that stage where a large proportion of customers don't question my costs..
All they want to know is that I WILL arrive on the date/time that I said I would..
and I will do the work previously discussed.

 

[Mike.J]

I was always the most expensive in my area for anything I quoted for, when the rate was questioned with "But Joe said his rate was" I would always answer "Get Joe to do it for you, when you get into trouble or the job isn't finished and Joe has disappeared you know where I am" the job then becomes an emergency call out with a different quote attached.

 

[binky]

I was always the most expensive in my area for anything I quoted for, when the rate was questioned with "But Joe said his rate was" I would always answer "Get Joe to do it for you, when you get into trouble or the job isn't finished and Joe has disappeared you know where I am" the job then becomes an emergency call out with a different quote attached.

I have a window fitter friend like yourself. Reckoned he lost 8/10 jobs, but, enjoyed the jobs he got knowing he could afford to do a good job, and offer a good service. I tried a bit of that, but got fed up with the time spent writing quotes and not converting those to work.

 

[Mike.J]

Much rather have one job at £1000.00 that ten at £100.00.