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It all becomes a bit abstract tbh. Not all labour is equal. Not all materials are equal. There is no one size fits all.
Everyone wants a simple equation for materials plus labour but it simply isn't that straightforward. There are so many factors involved that even trying to put it into words is a headache.
"Just increase labour cost" doesn't really work in practise because people just end up seeing an hourly rate that seems vastly beyond what their salary equivalent is. And then at the same time they ignore all the unseen costs of running a business. "I'm not paying for that stuff, I'm just paying for your labour" because all they see is labour plus materials, when actually they're paying for a service from a business that has numerous costs across many areas other than just labour and materials. And then on top of that, if you set a labour rate, the customer will want that for everything regardless of what the job entails. If you average it out for convenience, they'll forget when you work hard and stay late, but complain when you have an easier day. It's a constant headache.
All these things factor in: how difficult is the job, how long is the job, how physical is the job, how pleasant is the job, how complex is the job, how much material is needed, how easy is it to source the materials, how easy is it to select the materials, how accessible is the job, how easy to deal with is the customer, will there be more work from the customer, is the customer reliable, is it easy to get the materials on site, how busy am I at the moment - I could keep going.
So tbh, I don't really see why a labour rate + materials + a small premium on those materials is seen as so scandalous or overcomplicated.
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Nef
FWIW I have always thought it would be more transparent to just charge a higher labour rate and materials at cost, but I guess anyone who did would look uncompetitive and lose work.
But day rates are no clearer. Some people are fast and some are slow. Some spend longer looking at internet fiksie forums than actually working.
It’s all a bit of a stressful business compared to buying a fixed price thing from a shop but it’s not a fixed price thing from a shop.