Stop picking up the soap you idiots!

**Finn** · 14th February 2007, 09:47

Originally Posted by Motu

Because rich arseholes like Finn keep complaining about how much they charge for their work! How can you earn good money if you can't charge good money? No one can survive on a 10% mark up these days.l.

I've very rarely complain about the cost of monkey work in NZ, just the piss poor quality.

It's partly about how much they earn but it's more about what their money buys them... which is why I started this thread. EVERYTHING IS OVERPRICED HERE which is why people have a rip off mentality. If things in NZ were priced fairly, people would be much better off.

**Finn** · 14th February 2007, 09:48

Originally Posted by SuperDave

Why do you continue to live here in NZ Finn?

I'm a refugee. What's your excuse?

**ManDownUnder** · 14th February 2007, 09:59

From the article...
===
It was possible that housing costs were affected by near-monopolies on building materials and overly stringent construction requirements, partly caused by reaction to the leaky homes problem.
===

A wee example of the BS out there.

I was (past tense) in the business of selling underhouse watter tanks - a kind of hot water bottle sustem holding gazillions of litres of water.... minimises people's water bill, prevents councils from needing bigger pipes (i.e. save sthem money) etc etc etc. It really is a winning proposition from the logistics side of things.

So I go to council and tell them to approve said product - it's met all the necessary standards under the building code and the like, I supply them with the certificates and their reaction?

Talk to BRANZ - it has to be BRANZ approved. "No no" says I, it needs to meet the standards required, BRANZ can test and certify that or - I can give you these certificates which legitimatly testify they do!

No no says the council. Only BRANZ can do that. They an accredited testing lab.

You see where it's going...

The bit I'm eventually getting to... BRANZ approval would get us into councils, but costs $15,000 up front, and an ongoing fee of $3,000/year - per product (there are 3). Suddenly it's prohibitively expensive.

The startup costs certainly didn't help the business - indeed contributed to it's lack of progress... among other things. But what if I'd done it - got the BRANZ approval. It was the only way to really get into the NZ market en masse, and I'd be sitting on $45k of debt up from, and $9k/pa ongoing.

For no good reason. So who do I pass that on to? YOU GUYS!

You can thank the council.

**Finn** · 14th February 2007, 10:03

Originally Posted by Guitana

Yes it is frustrating for tradesmen when the customers bitch and moan about the cost of labour maybe they could consider doing it for free!!!
But they dont bat an eye when some sweaty scrotumed Real estate vampire charges them $12k to sell their house!! Fuck that I sold my own and bought a bike with the proceeds and everytime I ride it I think fuck you realestate wankers fuck you very much!!!!!!!

This is what I'm talking about. Here's another example: Real Estate Agents charging up to 5% for doing sweet fuck all. "Oh, this one has fabulous indoor - outdoor flow." "Really? Looks like a fucking sliding door to me bitch." Lets not leave out the Recruitment industry. 15% for emailing you a CV and having a coffee with your candidate. Last time I looked, a coffee was $3.50 and sending email was free.

**Guitana** · 14th February 2007, 10:16

Originally Posted by Finn

This is what I'm talking about. Here's another example: Real Estate Agents charging up to 5% for doing sweet fuck all. "Oh, this one has fabulous indoor - outdoor flow." "Really? Looks like a fucking sliding door to me bitch." Lets not leave out the Recruitment industry. 15% for emailing you a CV and having a coffee with your candidate. Last time I looked, a coffee was $3.50 and sending email was free.

Ah the Recruitment industry now that's another form of PARASITE !!!

**avgas** · 14th February 2007, 10:27

But realistically what are you going to do - you cant buy pine from Peru for less than NZ can you?
The fact of the matter is anything is NZ is owned my some fat wanker somewhere else. We sold them so we could help keep NZ unemployment going cos there are wankers in this cuntry that cant be biffed working at the dump for $8/hr - i fucken did, i had no fricken choice. I fall into that catagory on NZ's who can get fuck all from the govt except tax.

**avgas** · 14th February 2007, 10:29

Originally Posted by Guitana

Ah the Recruitment industry now that's another form of PARASITE !!!

Fucken wankers, after 5 interveiws with my recruitment lady, i finally get to meet the manager of the company im applying for.
Waste my fucking time bitch, its not like i needed those 4 hours.

**RantyDave** · 14th February 2007, 10:33

Originally Posted by Finn

Lets not leave out the Recruitment industry. 15% for emailing you a CV and having a coffee with your candidate.

Fine, so leave out the recruitment industry. Bash together an advert, put it in JobStuff, sift through the replies and hire the one you want. The last time I did this I got a few candidates applying just because they realised the advert was placed by the company actually looking to hire them.

The standard recruitment industry reply to this is "Ah, but we have a database full of high quality candidates". No you fucking don't. If they're sat on their arse doing nothing, it's because either they, or you, are shit. The other thing they do is call round every vaguely applicable candidate that's ever been through their books and say "hey, fancy shitting on your current employer?".

From the candidate's perspective OTOH they do provide a valuable service. They, effectively, trawl round town looking for lazy-arse overpaid managers that can be persuaded to pay $100/hr for some attitude laden geek to amble in and recommend that they chase round after the latest shiny thing. Stops me from having to do it, right?

Dave

**RantyDave** · 14th February 2007, 10:38

Originally Posted by Finn

Here's another example: Real Estate Agents charging up to 5% for doing sweet fuck all.

AND while we're on the subject of Estate Agents....

You know how Estate Agents can "get a much better price for your house than you could if you worked alone"? Like how much better - 40k? 60k? So why don't they run around buying up all the houses that are being sold privately then flicking them on themselves and pocketing the difference? Hmmm?

Because they can't. Because they wouldn't make a damn penny. All Estate Agents do is stand in the middle in a high value transaction and clip the ticket on the way through - value add, my arse.

Mind you, it's not like it's a job I'd want to do.

Dave

**Motu** · 14th February 2007, 10:39

Originally Posted by Finn

EVERYTHING IS OVERPRICED HERE which is why people have a rip off mentality. If things in NZ were priced fairly, people would be much better off.

You must be joking - everyday in my industry I have flyers and reps coming in with new cheap prices for the parts I resell.Here is one from yesterday....

All ball joints - $12.95

All tie rod ends - $6.95

All rack ends - $8.95

All idler/pitman arms - $13.75

How the fuck am I to survive on profit margins on product prices like that? Pitman arms used to retail at around $200 a few years ago,even at 20% mark up it was ok profit - how the fuck am I to make money on $13.75? If I bump my prices up enough to cover the cost of writting out a cheque the customer complains - ''But I can get them for $13.75 at Repco,you are a rip off artist and I'm going to complain on the internet and destroy your business''.

I've never seen stuff so cheap,shit I bought a hammer drill with a 13mm chuck for $16 85 - someone is sure getting ripped off,but it's not me....except for the quality,and that's not because it's made in NZ.

**xwhatsit** · 14th February 2007, 10:40

Originally Posted by avgas

But realistically what are you going to do - you cant buy pine from Peru for less than NZ can you?
The fact of the matter is anything is NZ is owned my some fat wanker somewhere else. We sold them so we could help keep NZ unemployment going cos there are wankers in this cuntry that cant be biffed working at the dump for $8/hr - i fucken did, i had no fricken choice. I fall into that catagory on NZ's who can get fuck all from the govt except tax.

I'd be wary about saying we sold out to pay for welfare benefits -- we have the second lowest unemployment rate in the OECD -- 3.4%. That's fucking low. Australia, by comparison, has a 4.8% unemployment rate, which is also considered pretty low by many standards. Of course there are always wankers who can't be stuffed working -- also many people who can't work for various reasons. But I'd be wary of saying we have a problem with giving away all our money to welfare recipients, because we don't have many, even compared to our `big brother'. You've got to have an unemployment benefit if you want to have a country where basic human rights and welfare are looked after adequately.

**Finn** · 14th February 2007, 10:58

Originally Posted by Motu

You must be joking - everyday in my industry I have flyers and reps coming in with new cheap prices for the parts I resell.Here is one from yesterday....

All ball joints - $12.95

All tie rod ends - $6.95

All rack ends - $8.95

All idler/pitman arms - $13.75

How the fuck am I to survive on profit margins on product prices like that? Pitman arms used to retail at around $200 a few years ago,even at 20% mark up it was ok profit - how the fuck am I to make money on $13.75? If I bump my prices up enough to cover the cost of writting out a cheque the customer complains - ''But I can get them for $13.75 at Repco,you are a rip off artist and I'm going to complain on the internet and destroy your business''.

I've never seen stuff so cheap,shit I bought a hammer drill with a 13mm chuck for $16 85 - someone is sure getting ripped off,but it's not me....except for the quality,and that's not because it's made in NZ.

Market forces play with all businesses Motu. I'm sure when you're not on KB, you probably work reasonably hard for your money. What I'm getting at is what it costs to run your business and if there's anything left over for yourself, that doesn't go very far because EVERYTHING IS OVER PRICED IN NZ (except for Motu's garage) Hey, I'll take one of those $13.75 Pitman arms for the Porsche. When can you fit it?

P.S. What's a Pitman Arm?

**Karma** · 14th February 2007, 11:05

Everything is overpriced in NZ...

There's really not a lot you can do about it.

**ManDownUnder** · 14th February 2007, 11:07

What's the cost of compliance on building a new house - let's say a $200,000 house in Auckland?

I'm willing to bet it's $5,000 to $7,000? Not an insignificant amount for the council to pop out, take a wee peek at stuff and make you rip it down or approve it on the spot...

I mean - assume they charge $100/hour for their services (and they should be pretty fucken good at that rate)... ya think they actually put in 50 to 70 hours of work per house?

I'm willing to pro rate that argument depending on the actual cost of compliance.