Truth is, everyone is right. We should indeed be paid for keeping up to date, for understanding what is value for money and what is rubbish. Fact is tho people generally buy on a combination of confidence in you as person to a) understand and empathise with their need, b) to do what you say you're going to do and price.
On a personal basis, I have never, ever, accepted a job on price alone. I have always walked away. Why? Because people like that simply will never understand that having pride in the job has a price. If they can't see that then they will only ever be a complete pain in the ar5e.
When pricing, as Jon says, I rarely took the hiss. On my spreadsheet I had a fixed mark up applied to all materials of 20%. Occasionally I'd not be able to get a merchant price so would put in a retail but not often. I always broke down the price into materials (cos it's not just 'parts') and subcontract labour and then my labour as a separate item.
When I won the job, then I would buy as hard as I could vs the time available to improve my overall margin.
I would never detail from where or whom I would buy or, indeed, exactly what because I didn't want to give them the opportunity to pass my hard work onto someone else to knock £50 off and win the job.
IMHO, every single one of us actually knows when we are in front of a 'badun'. By listening to your inner voice and saying to them, "Sorry but it seems I can't do a decent job for the money you wish to spend", and walking away means you will find you have a much happier life. As Dad used to say, "Any bl00dy idiot can work for free!"
When you do a job at a rubbish price, you actually harm not only yourself but the whole industry. When you drop your price because someone does not want to pay, you:
- reinforce the media BS of thieving/overcharging plumbers
- undervalue your own skills
- undervalue the painful years of experience
- let down your own family by selling short their futures
Sorry if its somewhat 'preachy' but this, IMHO, is the single biggest issue facing our industry today. We need to collectively grow a pair and stand up for our skills and desires to do a great job.
BTW. All of the above means you can still do those freebies for little Mrs Wiggins at #45 who's potless. Because she deserves to be helped.
