Test And Tag Prices Melbourne

How much does it cost to have electrical appliances test and tagged?

How do contractors charge for their services?

Watch this short video and find out.

Today we're going to look at pricing structures that are commonly used by test and tag contractors. In general there's four common methods.

Method number one is per tag rate.
They just charge you on the number of appliances that they test and tag. It's pretty common, in fact it's probably the most common method and probably the fairest as well.

The second method is an hourly rate.
They're just going to charge you an hourly rate to complete the task for you so if they get through it quickly it might save you a little bit of money. If they take a little bit longer it's going to cost you more. What you want to make sure of though is that they're always working in a timely and efficient manner otherwise their final bill might get
rather inflated.

Method number three is a combination of those first two.
They might charge you a low per tag rate and then top it up with a small hourly charge.

The fourth method is a fixed-rate.
They'll come out, assess the job and then just charge you one flat amount. Now that could be good for you because you know exactly how much to budget for but be aware the contractor is probably going to add a bit of a buffer into that, add a bit extra onto it to allow for any unforeseen extras or delays that they might incur. The chances are if they get through it a bit quicker than they expect they're probably not going to give you a discount. On the other hand though if it takes them a lot longer and they've miscalculated they might have to take a bit of a hit in the back pocket, maybe incur a small loss but it all comes down to the terms of the contract.

Now here's my number one tip on this subject.

No matter how you engage the contractor you do need to read through those terms and conditions and make sure that every foreseeable charge is revealed upfront. It is especially important if you're engaging a budget contractor because a lot of them use the trickle pricing method; they get you in with a low per tag rate you think "that's good" but then there's a whole lot of extra stuff to get added on if you want things.

I've made a quick list here; here are some which I've seen;

• Travel time to your site. It's not too bad if it's a fair distance they've got a travel
• Invoicing feee. Charging you to invoice you.
• Statement issue fee. So they charge you again to issue you a statement!
• Per line fee in the reports. For every appliance that appears in their report, each line they charge you extra. So if they give you a couple of different reports that can really add up
• There's also an inventory management. I really don't know what that is for.

What we've got to remember though is in a free market contractors can charge whatever they want. It's up to them but they've got to reveal them to you. So make sure you know what all those charges are before you sign on the dotted line before you engage them.

So there you have it, a quick snapshot on testing and tagging pricing.

But before I go I want to share with you why getting a phone quote or a quote sight-unseen is a really bad idea and nearly always
ends up with a really bad outcome now. There's a bit that I need to cover with that so I've put it together in a little article on the website. You'll find the link somewhere on here, I'm not sure where it is but just go to that, have a quick read; it takes a few minutes but hopefully it'll be of value for you. If you can't find it there go to the site search, enter in "tag quotes" or just type "bad idea" and hopefully that will come up in the search results.

That's it for today. I hope it's been of value to you.

Take care

Keep safe

This information is general in nature, should be used as a guide only and read in conjunction with the relevant Standard(s), State and/or Federal Legislation, Codes of Practice and Industry Standards specific to your workplace. A proper risk assessment should be under taken before acting on the information provided in this document or any related material. Further information can also be obtained from your local Workplace Authority, Electrical Safety Authority or a suitably qualified persons. This article is copyright protected.