What price for an aerial installation?
Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV In responses to the guideline I posted about how much having a new aerial fitted should cost, Ian Grice posted: "£40-£50? Every aerial fitter I contacted wants at least £150+VAT considering you can get a class 3 aerial for under £10 and a class 2 for under £15 and cable is 40p a metre why are they charging so much for 30 minutes work?"
OK, for some places putting up a TV aerial is hard work, such as multi-story properties. As many people will simply be exchanging a Group A, B, C/D, E or K aerial for a wideband type, often without changing the supporting pole or cable, a high price cannot be justified.
I am concerned that some companies will exploit vulnerable groups (such as the elderly).
So, I what prices have you been quoted for aerial installations? What price have you paid for installation?
Do you know of any companies to avoid? Do you know of any companies that are good value for money?
Or do you work for a great aerial installation company?
Help with TV/radio stations?
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
I
ian5:18 PM
argos sell a kit for £21 that gives a 13.5dB gain aerial and everything else you need. this was easy to install in the loft and gives better freeview reception than the professionaly installed 18 element yagi on my roof (better signal strength and quality according to phillips dt210 freeview box signal information page), it's also not affected by bad weather (but it doesn't like suitcases being moved in front of it ). sometimes the cheap option works fine, even if the analogue picture was terrible.
| link to this comment |
M
Mazbar5:54 PM
Ian no outside areial should be affected by bad weather unless a tree is in the way and the wind causes the signal to break up or the most common problem is broken coax on the roof letting in water. i have yet to find an aerial in the loft give a higher gain than an aerial outside. aerial gain is one thing but it is signal strenght measuered in dbuv.
| link to this comment |
KB Aerials Sheffield
10:58 PM
10:58 PM
Andy -£50 bloody hell I want change out of a fiver!
| link to this comment |
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
S
steve11:34 AM
Ian
think you obviously have a bit of knowledge to be able to install an aerial well.
This company
Aerial Installation,Digital Aerial Installers, Digital TV Aerials Installations, Freeview Aerials,
- Aerial Concepts were from my area ( London ). I think the costs are probably higher here.
They charged me 120 + vat for a supergain 18 i think they said, on a pole and bracket into my living room
I was very pleased with the pictures but after reading this am concerned is a lot of money?
Steve
| link to this comment |
S
Steve P12:09 PM
I don't think £120 is unreasonable for an external aerial in that London.
| link to this comment |
Saturday, 26 November 2011
K
kb566608@gmail.com4:31 PM
Steve I charge £120 as a standard install for an aerial to 1 point I'm in Sheffield and to say you had that installed in London seems reasonable to me !
| link to this comment |
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Hi
Tom Fletcher, A wall bracket is designed to fit on a wall hence why they call them wall brackets
A chimney lashing assembly is designed to be installed on the chimney hence why its called a chimney mounting
Far as the brackets wearing through the corners of the stacks your quite correct, and its due to the rigger not installing the correct brackets for the type of stone.
With bath stone which is soft you should always use a cradle type bracket min 8" using a stub for the mast anything after that up to 6ft use a 12" cradle mount, Anything over 6ft double up on your cradle mounts with twin lashing.
If you were working for me and I caught you drilling holes into a single skin chimney stack you would be sacked on the spot because its not only a bodge its also dangrous.
Far as pricing £150 is very reasonable providing the customer is getting top spec equipment Ie CT100 (solid) downlead which is at least twice the price of cable alot of companys are using, min 1.1/2"16gauge mast depending on hight which alot of companys are using 1"22gauge steel which rust out, 8" galvanized cradle lashing assembly, which again alot of companys are using 6" painted corner mounts or painted wall brackets, and a good quality aerial not like the crap that you see in the shops or contract aerials alot of the companys are using.
The type of aerial used varys on what is required but all are very well made hence the 3 year parts and labour cover we give on full installs.
Most of you that have done your homework on pricing will know that at the very least my kit had doubled in cost price to what is commonly been used out there, but the diffrence is I get zero call back and look/performs the business although a lot less profit im always busy and have been since the early 80s
Regards.
| link to this comment |
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
K
kev6:50 PM
I have spent 15 years working for several aerial companies and always thought it was a licence to print money, so last year took the plunge and set up my own company. As stated previously the costs involved in setting up, advertsing, stock, fuel, phones, websites, insurance is crippling. We need to cover an area with a radius of over 50 miles to try and get barely enough work to pay ourselves, and that has proved to be a real struggle.
We have worked out that to stand still and not do anything it costs us £248 per day before we see any profit and start to earn a wage. £120 to £150 is certainly a reasonable price for what we do and very rarely does a job take 30 minutes nearly always need at least 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours to do a good quality job with proper equipment and a guarantee. We go back to customers without question and rarely charge even if it is not a fault with our install.
For the first time in 22 years we are now needing to be supported by benfits because the economy is so bad and are certainly in the "fuel poverty" bracket. If people think that they can do this job properly and only need to charge a few quid abovce cost then they ought to try it themselves. This industry is just the same as any that needs to make a living for those that do the work, we can almost certainly buy car parts to repair our vehicles at a much better rate than a garage will charge as we can with almost any trade that has a wholesaler with trade prices.
| link to this comment |
I
Ian10:52 PM
Hey Kev
I have been set up by myself for nearly 3 years now.
I have never seen things this bad before more and more bogus installers have appeared since the digital switch here in oxford and as the signals have gone up there is less work around for the smaller self employed traders like myself.
Silly things like fuel costing £10 more a day thats up to £70 a week on top of everything else.
Copper going up in price forcing cable up to £72 a drum
Vat has shot up making our own stock prices before we offer discounts to our customers and sometimes we can only just about make a profit on a full aerial fit of around £30.
Some people say £30 is good for under 2 hours work, but when you consider you are on a roof 30 feet in the air hanging onto a metal pole sometimes when it is chucking it down with rain, with your hands hurting because of the cold or the really strong winds
£30 is not good also this is before you take off the price of insurance, van repairs, constant updates on training tax and road tax.
Working in a bank and getting a £100-000 Xmas bonus seems to be a lot better way of making a living.
Hope it improves for you soon buddy
Ian 123 aerials Oxford
| link to this comment |
Friday, 16 December 2011
R
ronnie12:53 AM
my tv has not got a signal now since most of the complex has had sky fitted in the last few days ;;mine was working ok with my freeview box till the day they changed things i phoned my factor and they say they dont touch the communial arial ;;i tried another freeview box which my sister has and still no luck is there anyone out ther that can help with this problem because i no what they are going to say it was the weather with the storms but we dont have the arial on the roof as far as i have checked and i feel they mite charge me for there mistake ;;i could be wrong but it is funny how they started work that day changing to sky and mine does not work now
| link to this comment |
Select more comments
Your comment please