What’s the point

Why do we still have bank
holidays when there’s hardly
any banks left.

Its for the Fishermen i-spy, they go to banks on rivers and canals to spend all weekend there,,

There's more banks now than ever before.

Nearly all bank holidays are on a Monday and, as I only work Tuesday to Friday, I dip out on the extra day off. S'not fair but, it could be said that every Monday is a bank holiday for me!

Bank holidays are ok for the workers I finished work nearly 10 years ago and the only thing I have to remember is to make sure we don't run out of any medicine because our chemist is closed for that extra day. Apart from that every day is a bank holiday to us so we avoid going any where over the bank holiday week end( not that we could with Yvonne being house bound)

Bank holidays never existed for us Self unemployed people, there are only 2 things a plumber needs to know,
1. Ask for payment in cash,
2. sh1t rolls downhill
get them right and you'll not go far wrong,

That's true, Tom. My partner was a self-employed master plasterer and he worked every bank holiday and every weekend, except for Christmas Day.

What does a plumber charge for working bank holidays?
Personally tomplum I wouldnt pay cash to any tradesman. I expect a written estimate, and an invoice at the end of the job, showing VAT. Of course a tradesman could avoid paying VAT if it was a cash job. Plus if I paid cash there would be no record of having any work done. Therefore I would have no come back on that tradesman should something go wrong.

I don't like to pay cash to a tradesman either but, if I do, I want a well-documented itemised receipt showing work carried out, materials bought, and a total cost. Mind you, I keep all receipts for all purchases, along with any other paperwork.

First Mate, a tradesman doesn't pay VAT.

I get your point Mollie but, cash is King as that way, you will get a cheaper job and if you use a ' tradesmen' as I'm sure your partner was, He would want to get further work and he would not if he was to cheat or do shabby work,

And I used the term, self unemployed because that what mwe was, or are. No sick pay, no holiday pay, no time off for paternity, no one to fiddle our books , we were a product of Maggie thatch, on our bike and finding work,

I don't have a problem paying cash but, as I said, I'd want a receipt detailing what my money had been spent on.

fair play mollie I totally get that.

anyways getting back to Banks and fishermen, I've just been watching a Jack Hargreaves program on catching barbel , they are a bottom feeding fish that grow to 15 pounds in weight, In his video made in 1980 he says,
he has never seen or knows not of anyone seeing a baby barbel, They must exist so, My question is,
has anyone on WW seen a baby barbel fish ?

If being a self employed tradesman is so bad, why are so many being one?

If my recent experience of having a problem with a fluorescent tube in our garage and a telephone call to an electrician is anything to go by, it can be a very lucrative way of making money. He told me some cock and bull story of what was causing the problem with the tube and told me that in order to come to my property and fix it, he would want £120. I declined his nice offer and went to a local electrical supplies company, explain what was happening with the tube and they advised me to replaced what was a old type tube with a new type LED tube which they said would solve the problem, but would cost three times the price of a old tube. I bought one, fitted the new type tube and bingo, the problem was solved for £16.74 including VAT.

Moral of the tale, don't allow yourself to be ripped off, especially if you are elderly!

Owd Codger:

I'm disgusted by what that electrician said to replace your tube. I've worked for an electrical contractor for 40 years so I know he was trying to rip you off.

A 6ft 70W tube (depending on the make) should be a little less than £10. To replace it completely it would take less than one hour but, the usual labour charge would be for one hour anyway, say, £30 - £40 + VAT, including safe disposal. You did it yourself for even less.

The company I work for doesn't normally do domestic premises as we deal with much larger contracts, but a half decent contractor would at least give you advice for free. One bit of advice I could give you though, is to contact an electrical firm who bear the initials NICEIC, which is the National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting who assess the competence of electrical work. If your "electrician" was just a tradesman, he may not have been qualified to deal with electrics, which are dangerous in the wrong hands.

A 5 foot fluorescent tube = £3.20
A 4 foot fluorescent fitting = £8.75
A 5 foot LED tube fitting = £8.75

But there a lot of the equation we don't know,
was it just the tube ? something might have caused to tube to pop,
the rule is, last man in is guilty of negligence if. the house catches fire so, that man quoted a price to cover his ass, we have a saying

It took me 10 years to learn how to do a job in 30 minutes, You only see that 30 minutes and you don't see, what I check, what I know and how i concluded what you needed,.

don't shoot the messenger

Just a tradesman

mollie m

The person concerned was a a fully qualified NICEIC Electrician!

tonker

I would be interested to know where you obtained the prices you have stated as I never found a 5ft LED fluorescent tube as low as £8.75 at any premises where I enquired.

You don't have access to trade suppliers like I do?

tonker

So in other words, unless you have an trade account where you can get lower discounted prices, others are paying higher prices to keep the same profit margins for the seller ?

Why didn’t you question him and ask him to break down the quote Todge instead of griping about it?

Labour time?
Travelling time?
Materials cost inc markup?
VAT?


People have to make a living you know and tradespeople generally will have a minimum price regardless of the nature of the job. £120 sounds fair to me.

How much were you expecting it to cost?

Some people must have more money than common sense.

£12O just to replace what was, it would appear a faulty old type tube with a cock and bull story of what was the problem and not just advising the householder that it is better to replace it with a new type LED tube is a rip off in the thinking of any sensible person!

Unless of course, any person saying that it is a fair price is one of those charging it!

But it’s not ‘just’ to replace a tube Todge

You are paying for the services of a trained professional who In addition to making a living also has his own costs to consider.

Tax (VAT and income, possibly business)

Vehicle costs. (Maintenance, depreciation, insurance road fund)

Insurances ( public liability, income protection)

Accreditation costs ( being NICEIC approved has a price)

Tools, test equipment and calibration

Accounting, invoicing and banking charges.

Do you think these things are all free and don’t occur costs?

You really should try getting the big picture instead of just gobbing off.

He,s happy \unhappy in his own little world

He,s happy \unhappy in his own little world

He,s happy \unhappy in his own little world

Looks like I may have stumbled on the occupation of one of the rip off tradesmen.

Some time ago, we had a problem with our washer, called out a domestic repair man who fixed it in a jiffy. When I asked how much he wanted, he said nothing for for the small amount of work that was involved and seeing that we were pensioners.

That's the difference between a good tradesman and a poor one!

A bit of give and not all take!

How exactly can you compare the two jobs Todge?

You're all drifting, from one scenario to another.

You phone an electrician. You tell him the fluorescent tube's broke in your garage.
How does he know whether it has, or it's not?
He could've quoted you £20 to fix the light, going off what you told him. When he got there, the fluorescent light needed a new choke. And a new tube. "And, while I'm here, I'll put a new starter in it for you". He's then out of pocket.
Or he might've replaced the tube for £20 then, a week later, the faulty choke burns the new tube out and you call him back to fix what he's done to your light (which, of course, was working perfectly until HE replaced the tube and damaged it!)

It's only a fluorescent light fitting when all's said and done. If you'd've phoned me, I wouldn't've give you a price until I'd seen the job. That way, you couldn't call me 'not fit t'burn' on Wiganworld!

'Choke' that's it, I was going to ask about one of those 'starter thingys' as I called them last night, and you plugged them into a socket on the light, using a bulb type bayonet fixing

Ey up !!!!

Trubble t'Mill