Inflated invoice when the builder has ordered building materials

[jimih]

Skinna!? How so? Would the pensioner have had more money in their wallet if they had shopped themselves!?

lbgu perhaps didn’t state it outright in their example, but I see it as implied that the milk example is about the pensioner paying a significant overprice compared to if they bought the milk themselves. Someone mentioned earlier in the thread that you buy the milk and come back with a receipt saying "1 liter of milk, 100 SEK". Of course, 100 SEK is quite a significant exaggeration, but the milk example, I believe, works perfectly to highlight the issue.

In other words, it's not about the milk costing 8 SEK in the store, and the home care service getting a discount and buying it for 5 SEK and charging the pensioner 8 SEK. Rather, it's about the home care service paying 10 SEK and then charging the pensioner 12 SEK, and then getting back 3 SEK as a kickback. Thus, the pensioner has paid 50% more than if they had bought the milk themselves. It may seem petty to complain about a few krona, but if you consider that this might apply to almost all goods that the home care service buys for the pensioner, and you also take into account that many pensioners are not well-off financially, it becomes easier to get upset. But now, of course, this is a fictional example.

I don't understand how one can speak in such exaggerated terms when there is only one product as an example. What if every single one of the remaining products is cheaper!?

Of course, that could be the case. But without that information, one has to conduct the discussion with a focus on what is known. That is, one must disregard the other products and focus on the products for which there is information.

 

[pappskallen]

3% of 900000 is 27000... rarely do you see craftsmen make a mistake in that direction
Joking aside, your "loyalty bonus" is a straightforward kickback and ultimately comes out of the customer's pocket. It's not your money you're spending when you buy materials for the customer.

The material cost was 150,000 in case you missed this.
No, the craftsman is buying with HIS money and selling it on to the customer!

 

[pappskallen]

900+VAT if you don't include the material markup says a lot about what markup... and salary you have..

Where do you get 900+VAT from??

 

[dudero]

The material cost was 150,000 in case you missed this.
No, the craftsman buys with HIS money and sells on to the customer!

On the contrary. 150,000 is hours and 750,000 was material. But it sounds like a strange distribution and like outrageously expensive materials where 10-15% here or there doesn't matter.

 

[pappskallen]

I think it's equally exciting every time a thread like this pops up, some craftsmen immediately defend the method.

Which craftsmen??
Which method??

 

[pappskallen]

I just built an extension to the villa in Lund, cost about 900,000 kr of which material 150,000 kr.

This is from the original post and it says 900,000 OF WHICH MATERIAL 150,000.....

I interpret that at least as the material cost being 150k

 

[dudero]

This is from the original post and it states 900,000 OF WHICH MATERIAL 150,000.....

At least I interpret it as the material cost is 150k

Yes, you are absolutely right. The distribution confuses me anyway.

 

[BennyK]

As a painting contractor, I have about a 35% discount on paint. Typically, the consumer does not, as a "regular" consumer usually gets a maximum of 20%. I usually add 10% to my price. This is normal, at least in my industry. This means that both I and the customer benefit from me providing the paint. A 10% markup on the contractor's price is reasonable.

 

[Attimannen]

If you haven't done your homework, you risk getting ripped off; you can't come back later and claim the company deceived you. You've essentially given them a blank check when you haven't regulated this in the contract.
I've learned the hard way myself.
But please, don't confuse companies with tradespeople.
A tradesperson's goal is to do a good job; a company's goal is to make money.
You can figure out what the one-man company's goal is.

 

[pappskallen]

Yes, you are absolutely right. The distribution confuses me anyway.

Me too, it should be 1,200-1,500 hours.....

 

[andersmc]

You can think a lot about this. Not easy no matter how you look at it. Another example, like the milk;

Had my car serviced this week, oil change. The engine holds 7.5 liters, the invoice states; 2 x 4 liters at 895 kr each! What happened to the half-liter that was left over? It cost me over 100 kr. I didn't get the leftover in a can for future refills. And would the workshop have agreed if I had brought oil from Biltema for half the price?

I have the exact opposite experience. My workshop charges for 3.5 liters of oil. Had I bought a can myself, I would have had a leftover of half a liter to store.

Of course, the workshop does not buy the oil in cans. They have a central tank and fill up with a hose from the ceiling.

The previous one I used (I've moved since then) was even more honest. He had a fixed price for service, which included refilling windshield washer fluid. If the entire bottle didn't go in, he left the half-full bottle in the car.

 

[Jonas-F]

Pretty OT but it's annoying to shop for small items as a private individual sometimes. I had to pay 58 kronor for the little black plastic plug for a sink drain trap in an (extremely) well-stocked bathroom store in central Stockholm just now. I wonder what a handyman would have paid for the same? I think you can find a brand new complete drain trap for 300 kronor if you look. Dad was quite good at asking for discounts even on single small items at all sorts of firms and often succeeded, but I handed over the money and looked happy. [image]

About 200: for a complete trap: http://www.ikea.com/se/sv/catalog/products/40215522/

 

[mariatherese]

Where do you get 900+VAT from??

Directly quoted from a tradesman in the thread.

 

[mariatherese]

I know nothing about England, but to support it with craftsmen averaging 900 kr + VAT I think is completely wrong.

I also think it sounds completely horrendous. But it is a quote from a craftsman in this thread. Then I can say that I have received fixed price proposals for certain jobs where, with the experience I myself possess, I can easily see that the hourly cost ends up in approximately that region if nothing unforeseen occurs. As far as I hire craftsmen (I avoid it as much as possible), it will be on an open account, and I avoid as much as possible letting the craftsman himself buy materials without control...

 

[Attimannen]

Excuse me, but do you mean an entrepreneur?