I have a cunning plan

[John j]

How about next May/June time everyone double there prices . Leave the 3 day course wizards to do there damage . It might be tough at first but come winter people will be begging for quality plasterers. So then we can triple prices . Make a killing through winter then take each summer after off. If it goes well maybe even feb when ye fingers go numb on site it's that cold .........genius or what

 

[gps]

How about next May/June time everyone double there prices . Leave the 3 day course wizards to do there damage . It might be tough at first but come winter people will be begging for quality plasterers. So then we can triple prices . Make a killing through winter then take each summer after off. If it goes well maybe even feb when ye fingers go numb on site it's that cold .........genius or what

Or what, I'm thinking

 

[John j]

Or what, I'm thinking

Or just carry on as norm I guess lol

 

[Danny]

Great idead if everyone boosted their prices but reality is some idiot will always beat you on price and if not then you are the idiot... I never sell based on price... always on quality and I think if more trades realised this then the prices would reflect that naturally

 

[zombie]

Sadly its all about geography!!!

There's some people on here who would be shot down in flames in no time if they came up to south Yorkshire!.

Can be the plasterer in the world but people are only going to pay as little as they possibly can!.

10yrs ago you would get work on merit & how you present yourself. Now they all want champagne work for lemonade money!

Said it before and I'll say it again the birth of the internet at the same time as the recession killed the tradesman!

Will never be the same again!

 

[Danny]

Sadly its all about geography!!!

There's some people on here who would be shot down in flames in no time if they came up to south Yorkshire!.

Can be the plasterer in the world but people are only going to pay as little as they possibly can!.

10yrs ago you would get work on merit & how you present yourself. Now they all want champagne work for lemonade money!

Said it before and I'll say it again the birth of the internet at the same time as the recession killed the tradesman!

Will never be the same again!

I dunno, I know people down here who are known for being expensive and they are busy... maybe down to geography

 

[John j]

Why onternet

Sadly its all about geography!!!

There's some people on here who would be shot down in flames in no time if they came up to south Yorkshire!.

Can be the plasterer in the world but people are only going to pay as little as they possibly can!.

10yrs ago you would get work on merit & how you present yourself. Now they all want champagne work for lemonade money!

Said it before and I'll say it again the birth of the internet at the same time as the recession killed the tradesman!

Will never be the same again!

What did internet do . And a recession gets rid of all cowboys .......... for a while anyway

 

[zombie]

Why onternet

What did internet do . And a recession gets rid of all cowboys .......... for a while anyway

As the birth of all these trade bidding sites my builders, check a trade and alike gave the power over to the customer at a time when work was scarce.

Desperate numptys created all time low bench mark prices that everyone else was expected yo follow!

Luckily I had good contract work which saw me through but many a good tradesman suffered.

All of a sudden people could get 20 quotes at the click of a button and just play everyone off and Facebook etc stupid rates.

 

[stuart23]

If someone came up with this ideal on a plumbers or sparks forum they would be all over it lol

 

[Deleted member 23452]

Sadly its all about geography!!!
Can be the plasterer in the world but people are only going to pay as little as they possibly can!.

Location is a factor no doubt, but when you're talking about rates/prices how good you are isn't the most important factor.

If you're self employed you're running a business, and there are two basic approaches to selling a product or service. Stack 'em high and sell 'em cheap or charge a premium for exclusivity and perceived quality.

Anyone who's a competent tradesman or better can do either because you need to look at how you present the business and sell the service to charge the premium price. I've said it many times, but you could be the world's best at whatever you do, but that has absolutely nothing to do with running a successful business. You have to remember that it's just as much about trades choosing customers to work for as it is about customers choosing tradesmen.

 

[zombie]

Location is a factor no doubt, but when you're talking about rates/prices how good you are isn't the most important factor.

If you're self employed you're running a business, and there are two basic approaches to selling a product or service. Stack 'em high and sell 'em cheap or charge a premium for exclusivity and perceived quality.

Anyone who's a competent tradesman or better can do either because you need to look at how you present the business and sell the service to charge the premium price. I've said it many times, but you could be the world's best at whatever you do, but that has absolutely nothing to do with running a successful business. You have to remember that it's just as much about trades choosing customers to work for as it is about customers choosing tradesmen.

I think a year as a self employed plasterer and you would have a totaly different prespective.

Yourself as a builder your customers I would imagine in a lot of cases are getting bank loans/remortgaging etc.

To them it makes little difference for example borrowing 20k or 25k as its borrowed money paid over a long period and the fear factor of having a cheap bodge job is a good seller for you.

Plastering jobs get paid out of loose change at the end of the month from surplus money and is often something unplanned and not really something they want to spend money on.

Give you another example I work for over 10yrs for a kitchen firm people get loans for 10/15k kitchens etc, same customers have you back and are grumbling about £350 for a Living Room Over skim!

 

[Deleted member 23452]

I think a year as a self employed plasterer and you would have a totaly different prespective.

Yourself as a builder your customers I would imagine in a lot of cases are getting bank loans/remortgaging etc.

To then it makes little difference for exampleborrowing 20k or 25k as its borrowed money paid over a long period and the fear factor of having a cheap bodge job is a good seller for you.

Plastering jobs get paid out if loose change at the end of the month from surplus money and is often something unplanned and not really something they want to spend money on.

Give you another example I work for over 10yrs for a kitchen firm people get loans for 10/15k kitchens etc, same customers have you back and are grumbling about £350 for a Living Room Over skim!

I understand what you're saying, but it genuinely works for those that do it. My point about choosing, or targeting if you want to go all 'marketing speak'.

As you say, there are a lot of customers who pay 10/15k for kitchens, they're not the ones you want to aim for. The people who spend 30k plus on kitchens are where you need to look. They are the group who want no hassle, no mess, advice, bespoke features etc. etc. All of which are easy to do, and all of which can be charged at a premium. They are also the group who are going to give you good referrals for people with similar tastes and requirements

It's not all about people spending five figure sums either. Think about the greasy spoon cafe, and how few there are left. Yet coffee shops where people will happily pay a fiver for a coffee or a tea, and the same again for a slice of cake are very busy with trade. They sell a different image, not a different product, and that's the way to sell any trade working on domestics.

We did a job at the tail end of last year putting brick slips on a wall. The slips were cut from reclaimed Victorian bricks (twice the price of new) and pointed with lime mortar, which went onto a wall in a loft room of a new build town house. The customer had never heard of brick slips before I mentioned that they would go with the 'New York loft' style she was after. That was an addition to the work we were doing where I know that mine was the highest quote they had. I sold them a service, an idea, bragging rights with their neighbours because they had something 'different'.

A similar principle applies to quoting for work on old houses. For starters you never ever use the phrase "old house" when talking to the customer. Heritage, period, Victorian (or whatever era) art deco etc. etc. Drop in the 'dying breed' routine about how there are fewer and fewer familiar with the work. You get the idea, basically they are being told without being obvious that they're getting much better value for money by spending more of it.

All the obvious stuff goes along with it, tidy van, not dressing like a tramp, professional quotes, be polite etc. etc.

 

[John j]

Kid with me looks like he fell I bucket n wipes dust all over his face by end of day

 

[Ajax123]

How about next May/June time everyone double there prices . Leave the 3 day course wizards to do there damage . It might be tough at first but come winter people will be begging for quality plasterers. So then we can triple prices . Make a killing through winter then take each summer after off. If it goes well maybe even feb when ye fingers go numb on site it's that cold .........genius or what

its actually entirely possible that this suggestion if acted upon would be unlawful. It would contravene the UK competition act which governs against cartel activity in the UK. you could be fined up to 10% of your gross turnover and sent to prison for 15 years.... up to you though

 

[John j]

its actually entirely possible that this suggestion if acted upon would be unlawful. It would contravene the UK competition act which governs against cartel activity in the UK. you could be fined up to 10% of your gross turnover and sent to prison for 15 years.... up to you though

Make me sound like Pablo escabar lol

 

[zombie]

I understand what you're saying, but it genuinely works for those that do it. My point about choosing, or targeting if you want to go all 'marketing speak'.

As you say, there are a lot of customers who pay 10/15k for kitchens, they're not the ones you want to aim for. The people who spend 30k plus on kitchens are where you need to look. They are the group who want no hassle, no mess, advice, bespoke features etc. etc. All of which are easy to do, and all of which can be charged at a premium. They are also the group who are going to give you good referrals for people with similar tastes and requirements

It's not all about people spending five figure sums either. Think about the greasy spoon cafe, and how few there are left. Yet coffee shops where people will happily pay a fiver for a coffee or a tea, and the same again for a slice of cake are very busy with trade. They sell a different image, not a different product, and that's the way to sell any trade working on domestics.

We did a job at the tail end of last year putting brick slips on a wall. The slips were cut from reclaimed Victorian bricks (twice the price of new) and pointed with lime mortar, which went onto a wall in a loft room of a new build town house. The customer had never heard of brick slips before I mentioned that they would go with the 'New York loft' style she was after. That was an addition to the work we were doing where I know that mine was the highest quote they had. I sold them a service, an idea, bragging rights with their neighbours because they had something 'different'.

A similar principle applies to quoting for work on old houses. For starters you never ever use the phrase "old house" when talking to the customer. Heritage, period, Victorian (or whatever era) art deco etc. etc. Drop in the 'dying breed' routine about how there are fewer and fewer familiar with the work. You get the idea, basically they are being told without being obvious that they're getting much better value for money by spending more of it.

All the obvious stuff goes along with it, tidy van, not dressing like a tramp, professional quotes, be polite etc. etc.

Sorry just to explain kitchen company caters I would say mid to low top end many many jobs are in excess of 20k with building works provided ie rsjs installed, bi fold doors etc etc.

Still a struggle, but I totally get your point.

Another consideration that I don't think you realise is how many jobs a plasterer needs to fill a diary for a year.

Yourself I would imagine average decent extension 4 a year provide a good income.

As a plasterer I may need 5 leads to cover a week at a room a day etc.

A perceived big job for a plasterer to board & skim a full house done & dusted in 2 weeks and onto next job and in order to win that job believe you me you will have to be competitive!

By the same token we can't earn like say a plumber by doing numerous quick 1 hour jobs in a day.

To put it in perspective I would say on average I do 150 different jobs a year based on a 3 different jobs a week on average!

 

[Danny]

I understand what you're saying, but it genuinely works for those that do it. My point about choosing, or targeting if you want to go all 'marketing speak'.

As you say, there are a lot of customers who pay 10/15k for kitchens, they're not the ones you want to aim for. The people who spend 30k plus on kitchens are where you need to look. They are the group who want no hassle, no mess, advice, bespoke features etc. etc. All of which are easy to do, and all of which can be charged at a premium. They are also the group who are going to give you good referrals for people with similar tastes and requirements

It's not all about people spending five figure sums either. Think about the greasy spoon cafe, and how few there are left. Yet coffee shops where people will happily pay a fiver for a coffee or a tea, and the same again for a slice of cake are very busy with trade. They sell a different image, not a different product, and that's the way to sell any trade working on domestics.

We did a job at the tail end of last year putting brick slips on a wall. The slips were cut from reclaimed Victorian bricks (twice the price of new) and pointed with lime mortar, which went onto a wall in a loft room of a new build town house. The customer had never heard of brick slips before I mentioned that they would go with the 'New York loft' style she was after. That was an addition to the work we were doing where I know that mine was the highest quote they had. I sold them a service, an idea, bragging rights with their neighbours because they had something 'different'.

A similar principle applies to quoting for work on old houses. For starters you never ever use the phrase "old house" when talking to the customer. Heritage, period, Victorian (or whatever era) art deco etc. etc. Drop in the 'dying breed' routine about how there are fewer and fewer familiar with the work. You get the idea, basically they are being told without being obvious that they're getting much better value for money by spending more of it.

All the obvious stuff goes along with it, tidy van, not dressing like a tramp, professional quotes, be polite etc. etc.

Have to agree with that 100%