Cost of fitting a Bilge Pump

[willk]

Originally Posted by Sutty

It’s an hours job, but in their quote have they included a solar panel to recharge the battery?

You can't do that in an hour - and you don't know anyone who can!

Numpty

[Last Tango]

Originally Posted by willk

I won't attempt to justify £550, but equally you clearly have no idea how to cost a job. Working for the NHS might not have helped!

3 hours "might" sort this one or it might not. I absolutely, without any doubt or uncertainty, bet you anything that the OP won't do the job in under 3 hours. In fact, once procurement is included, I bet he spends an entire day at it. And even then it might not work....

Working for the NHS makes me acutely aware of how jobs are costed....we can't simply pass the cost down the line and my job is financed by the work we've pulled back in-house from unscrupulous suppliers that think we don't monitor and know what a job is worth.

This debate stemmed from the Figure of £550 which by your own admission is unacceptable. If you're going to ream someone make sure they're thoroughly over the barrel first and with something as straight forward as this they plainly aren't.

"..even then it might not work"?... I think that infers the kind of mystic complexity that's used to encourage punters to part with hard earned cash for something they could easily do themselves. Three hours was a generous gambit for the job..two hours probably realistic. (I've done it a dozen times.) Procurement...however long it takes to boot your PC plus 5 minutes. I don't think anyone could realistically hang this job out all day........ unless you're expecting someone to pay for the time.

[Sutty]

You obviously work at a slower rate in Ireland. 2 screws to hold bilge pump, 1 hole cut, 2 or 4 jubilee clips, cut a piece of pipe connect two wires and a switch. The battery is probably close to the back of the boat. What is difficult to do, it is only a small boat with good access.

[breezeblock]

Originally Posted by willk

God forbid we would pay someone a decent wage to do something we could do ourselves for half the money in twice the time!

thats the point I don't know his skills but judging from his post I would say limited thats why he asked for a price for the marina to do it some people aren't confident with stuff like this

[HDAV]

Simple do it yourself or pay someone to do it.

How do you value your time? You may enjoy fitting it, you may curse the day you bought a boat. Get a quote from a recommendation marine engineer/electrician locally I bet it’s half the price the marina quoted as they probably just double his rates....

[Poly]

How long is it left for between use?
Does the battery need upgrading to cope? (Or a second battery and 1-2-both-off switch adding). Add in all the little bits (stainless screws, jubilees, waterproof on-off-auto switch, fuse holders, tinned cable, waterproof connectors, pipe, pipe guide clips, skin fitting for a neat finish etc, then for a one off job the cost soon racks up (although you might then have all the spares you need when it fails in 18 months time!).

Would I pay that - no way. Would I wan't paid that to fit one on someone else's boat - probably - i've skinned my knuckles too many times inside consoles and tight spaces feeding cables and attaching bits in places that were badly thought out to want to enjoy it, and realistically unless the boat is brought to the "engineer" its going to be a 1/2 day job to get there do it and get back. In my experience jobs like this are rarely as easy as they should be on paper, which is why they've quote a price like that.

[willk]

Originally Posted by Sutty

You obviously work at a slower rate in Ireland.

Oh dear!

Originally Posted by Sutty

What is difficult to do, it is only a small boat with good access.

I didn't say it was difficult - I said that you can't do it in an hour, and IMO, you can't. No paid engineer will do it in an hour either. Sometimes people with a lot of money forget what it is to actually labour, leading to unrealistic expectations of those that do...

Anyway, cheer up and have a dancing smartie, they're your favourites:

[Sutty]

WillK, I am just a poor pensioner and have done all my car and boat maintenance my self. Let’s dance

[breezeblock]

Originally Posted by Poly

How long is it left for between use?
Does the battery need upgrading to cope? (Or a second battery and 1-2-both-off switch adding). Add in all the little bits (stainless screws, jubilees, waterproof on-off-auto switch, fuse holders, tinned cable, waterproof connectors, pipe, pipe guide clips, skin fitting for a neat finish etc, then for a one off job the cost soon racks up (although you might then have all the spares you need when it fails in 18 months time!).

Would I pay that - no way. Would I wan't paid that to fit one on someone else's boat - probably - i've skinned my knuckles too many times inside consoles and tight spaces feeding cables and attaching bits in places that were badly thought out to want to enjoy it, and realistically unless the boat is brought to the "engineer" its going to be a 1/2 day job to get there do it and get back. In my experience jobs like this are rarely as easy as they should be on paper, which is why they've quote a price like that.

at last somebody with a realistic outlook on fixing stuff

[Nos4r2]

Plus how long is it going to take to get the wiring through the already full under-deck trunking?

Personally I'd buy something like this and fit it myself. 2 wires. Easy...ish.

https://www.asap-supplies.com/johnso...ge-pump-508443

[finn mccool]

Thanks to everyone for all your advice, ideas and thoughts......I honestly didn't expect to get so many replies or stir up any level of controversy.

For those that were speculating, and in no particular order

they quoted

85 plus vat for the RuleMate 500
40 plus vat for a 3 way switch
50 plus vat for "installation materials"
285 plus vat for labour

I will take it out of the water for winter and will do it myself.
The boat will sit in the garage so I can chuck the occasional bucket of water in to see if it works
The reason I asked the marina boatyard to quote was that I had, somewhat optimistically (or naively), expected the job to be of the order of £250 all in.

Anyway...thanks again to you all

ps my next question will be about antifouling.....the boat looks like it has been in the water for years rather than a few months.

[Last Tango]

Originally Posted by Poly

......... realistically unless the boat is brought to the "engineer" its going to be a 1/2 day job to get there do it and get back. In my experience jobs like this are rarely as easy as they should be on paper, which is why they've quote a price like that.........

So that's £100 pound an hour for a job that doesn't require any specialised equipment or highly skilled labour?

£4000 pounds for a forty hour week?.....six weeks holiday a year.....£184,000 a year.

That's even more than a plumber earns.

I've misunderstood what was meant by a "fair wage"

[Orwell boy]

It is interesting to consider the tollerant society we all live in today , in my opinion it is not fair or proper to question somebodys quote for any job until you get the 2nd quote or maybe even the third , personally i have done everything you can think of for myself all my life ha ha ,until i lost sight in my left eye ,then all of a sudden at 17.5 stone creeping about in a boat console with no idea what you are about to smack your head on ,on the left side ,all of a sudden the quotes look better i can tell u ,

[Xk59D]

If Lee was about he would do this for a packet of chewits and a cheese roll.

Those that think 550 quid is not OTT probably don't think the dearest car insurance quote on a comparison site is a rip off either.