RFCA Value for money?

I would at the going rate, but what RFCA contractors charge is far in excess of that.

Agree with that.

the going rate for a company to supply an electrician with a van is about £38/hour.

This includes the van, background admin and profit etc.

The actual electrician should receive £17.26/hour

It has to be proportional based on a whole range of circumstances; a bog-standard solicitor / para-legal versus a QC is vastly different. Same for a sparkie doing basic household electrical installations / repairs versus a worker who gets dangled from a helicopter to fix a 400Kv cable.

The risks / benefits are obvious - you would use a QC from a top-notch chambers for say a libel case where the costs / liability could be £0.5M or more, whereas you would instruct a para-legal to do routine work, say conveyancing.

The RFCA costs quoted are worse than extortionate; if a high proportion are like that, then no wonder there is no budget to fix things!

Please don’t. Nor for your will. That’s unless you want to be paying a professional negligence lawyer later.

It also varies depending on your area of law. A criminal defence or PI solicitor will generally cost a lot less than a major corporate Harvey Spectre type.

Maybe I simplified the comparison too much, & at too low a level. :wink:

However, the general principle applies & is relevant to the RFCA rip-off prices.

That said, some years ago, I was on the union side, at a tribunal, as we fought for union recognition. VERY long story, but the company (who obviously opposed this vehemently at the time), had a mega-QC who was rated as one of the premier employment barristers in the UK. Ker-ching - lots of £££.

He was cr@p! He tried to repeat points that had been kicked out by a High Court judge a couple of years previously (similar type of case), & he tried his best court interrogation techniques - fail!! At the time, one of his books on employment law was a snip at £500 - I wouldn’t have given him 50p! The tribunal awarded in our favour, it was appealed to the High Court by the company - gulp, potential for enormous costs - but we won!

This was definitely not a case of pay for the most expensive to get the best results!

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I don’t think I said that.

Simply £200/hour is not the going rate for a “tradesman” in my experience

Of course if the skill bit the bill there is no quarms…

A good tradesman can pretty much name their price - reputation and good reviews mean they will always have more work than they need.

Comparing a domestic quote and a quote to public services isn’t the same though. It’s like asking why a ream of paper is cheaper in tesco than it is if you buy through a stationary supplier.

You really are on to a loser here…

Sure, lots of work lined up… Until they start trying to charge 500% more than any other good contractor in the area… See how far those good reviews take them then.

Take if from someone who has run his own businesses for many years. You can not just “name your price” if you want your business to succeed.

…Unless you’ve got a cushy setup with your local RFAC or other government contract of course :wink:

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