Electricians really do go that extra mile

gazza — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 23:00:00 +0000

gazza Thu, 01/05/2014

If your life as an electrician resembles that of a 'roadie' you would not be thinking too far wrong! A recent survey carried out by Direct Line Business suggested that trades people are spending record nights away from home and travelling further to ensure jobs are being completed.
The term 'living out of a suitcase' really does hit the nail on the head as the research revealed that the average trades person travels 350 miles per month in order to complete work. This is the equivalent of a return trip from the UK to New York every year. The figure is increasing sharply year on year. In fact an electrician on average travelled 28.5% further for work last year than in 2012!
Why are electricians travelling further for work?
Simply put, electricians are prepared to travel further to meet the needs of the clients. There is a significant regional difference of price and an electrician from a different region may be far more competitively priced than an electrician in the local area.
With household budgets still stretched to the maximum, consumers are prepared to look further afield to find an affordable professional electrician.
Research carried out by the Post Office and Channel 4 revealed that there was a significant regional difference when it came to pricing for jobs from professional tradespeople. The study, designed to mark the launch of the Channel 4 programme '24 hour property challenge' asked tradespeople from all over the UK to quote for a typical home renovation or maintenance job in a standard 'two up, two down' house.
Electricians the most flexible with their pricing
The findings conducted by carrying out 2,000 online interviews in January 2014 by One Poll on behalf of the Post Office revealed that whilst electricians were the most flexible with their pricing compared to other trades, there was still a large differentiation in price for the same job.
To replace a ceiling light in a fictional 1970's 'two up two down' house with a garden would cost a householder in Cardiff on average £33 compared to £140 in Bristol – a huge price difference of over £100. In fact, Bristol was deemed to be the most expensive city in the UK to hire any trades person.
It is little surprise that electricians are travelling that extra mile. In Birmingham, customers shopping around would save on average over £400 for a straight forward home renovation by booking in professional trades people from Leicester (a 2 hour round trip) rather than in their own locality.
How does your locality compare?
The table below shows the average costs of hiring an electrician to replace a ceiling light in major UK cities.
City
Average cost of Electricians
Cardiff
£33
Glasgow
£35
Leicester
£37
Belfast
£35
Birmingham
£43
Brighton
£45
Manchester
£47
Norwich
£48
Leeds
£50
Newcastle upon Tyne
£60
London
£80
Bristol
£140
Source: www.media.postoffice.co.uk
Are consumer attitudes changing?
Although the findings of the Post Office Study might raise a few eye brows, the findings might already be well known amongst budget conscious consumers. The findings of the two separate surveys which indicate increased mileage for electricians for work and the differing regional prices may well explain why electricians are travelling more as part of their work.

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Professional Electrician, electricians pricing, ceiling light, electrician travel, Exclusive Industry News