Am I selling myself short?

[Brett]

mate, before i quit subbying i was asking £150 a day. ok i didnt work every day but i could work 2 days and bring home the same amount as at 60 for 5 days and have 3 days less running costs.

[Minotaur]

Alex

 

where abouts in the Uk are you?

 

Rupe has it just about spot on re; the employed/self employed situation.

 

Going forward, do your costings as recommended by Beezy, then approach your boss armed with the info, ask for a raise. Wait to see what his response. Remember you are not just asking for a raise, you have to explain why you need it and deserve it.

In the meantime and after, you need to be approaching as many companies/estates etc as possible to get more subby work. Also try/think about getting your own work.

 

 

Good luck

[Paul Barton]

Remember you are not just asking for a raise

 

Absolutely - you are informing him that your price is going up! (easy to say, I know!)

[Fat Boy Slimmed]

Alex pm me, if your local enough then come do a trial day (paid) and we can discuss some more work for you and better day rate!

 

Cheers. Stu

[Rupe]

When we use a sub-contractor climber he has his own insurance, own equipment, own fuel, own transport and his own risk. The man we use is fully qualified and very experienced and we charge him out at £120.00 per day. That is also what we pay him. We are quite open about this cost with clients and have never had anyone question his value to the job as we only use him on difficult or dangerous trees.

 

We would not pay someone at a day rate of £60.00 because it is simply not enough. If you lose a contract on price you lose it - better than taking risks or losing money.

 

 

What do you mean by risk?

 

I used the word risk earlier and I meant financial risk. So a self employed climber sets their own rates, day rate or fixed for individual jobs, and if they set them too high they then "risk" not having future work/income.

 

Whereas an employee doesnt take on that risk, they are employed and once past any trial period they are on contract which can be broken by dismissal (subject to proper procedure) or redundancy if work dries up.

 

In this instance the word risk is totally different to the risk of the job itself, i.e. the dangers.

 

 

This is another big confusion. The word risk is used by insurance companies, they say "who takes the risk of the job". And by this they mean the financial risk of it not going well (taking two days instead of one) that is what risk is in this instance and you do not need insurance for it.

[john p]

IMO its impossible to survive as a subby/freelancer either groundie or climber on less than £90 a day, personally £120 is the minimum i can get by on,but it seems to be a bit of a glass ceiling in the south west. But its tolerable when you have a good relationship with the people your workin for,one lends me tracked chipper whenever i need it,so it can all balance out !!

[WorcsWuss]

IMO its impossible to survive as a subby/freelancer either groundie or climber on less than £90 a day, personally £120 is the minimum i can get by on,but it seems to be a bit of a glass ceiling in the south west. But its tolerable when you have a good relationship with the people your workin for,one lends me tracked chipper whenever i need it,so it can all balance out !!

 

I reckon £120 is about on he money, that's also a reasonable day rate in construction, and up to £150, for a similarly skilled, although less highly invested, trade.

If I were to employ a team of 2 to come for a day on a building site for me, just to cut and leave it where it lands, I'd expect to pay £150 per man.

[john p]

I reckon £120 is about on he money, that's also a reasonable day rate in construction, and up to £150, for a similarly skilled, although less highly invested, trade.

If I were to employ a team of 2 to come for a day on a building site for me, just to cut and leave it where it lands, I'd expect to pay £150 per man.

 

yep. on my own jobs im quite happy running at £300 a day with one other (no chipper/removal of arisings), I think as a freelancer you have to have your own stuff comin in to get that little bit of profit to re invest in kit,otherwise id be rolling with a Mc Culloch and a length of bailer twine

[Arb123]

I've been climbing a year, constant. And doing odd bits for 3 years I still wouldn't class my self as good, because you always see someone who can climb 50 times better but £60? I couldn't do that. I charge 90-150 depending on who I'm subing for. Witch includes my own saws. Ms200t ms260 and a ms460 plus my truck and climbing kit. Time you pay your tax run your saws, drive to work and look after your kit. On a good £90 day after costs and tax i take around £60. I don't understand how you can live off the £60! Is it cash?

[benedmonds]

I reckon £120 is about on he money, that's also a reasonable day rate in construction, and up to £150, for a similarly skilled, although less highly invested, trade.

If I were to employ a team of 2 to come for a day on a building site for me, just to cut and leave it where it lands, I'd expect to pay £150 per man.

 

£120 for a skilled reliable freelance climber with saw etc, but for someone with only a years climbing experience expect allot less. Most guys in my experience do not climb at a commercial rate for at least 3-5 years. I've had new climbers ask for that and they don't get called often.

 

£60 self employed does sound cheap but there are lots of people in other industries working as interns for months at a time.