Quick question..Seems unfair

[Steve]

Have a friend in Victoria. She contacted a sparky to come do some work for her. The sparky charged $65 an hour which is fair enough. BUT he brought his apprentice along and also charged her $45 an hour for him as well. The job cost her $350 in parts and $700 in labour. I don't think it seems right or legal she was charged the apprentices rates. At least not $45 an hour. Maybe the wage the apprentice gets from the sparky but no more.

Would anybody know what her legal rights would be or if she doesn't have any at all in this regard? Thanks!

[Mitch]

Contact Dept of fair trading and ask em if it,s all legit.

[Brettski]

I guess it would depend if it was a two-man job. If the apprentice was just standing around then that would be unfair. But if two people were required to do the work then it is fair to charge for both.

B.

[Aaronsjeep]

thats cheap labour per hour.

alot of the time sydney sparkies charge 100 bucks a hour just themselves!

sounds ok, depending on job.. UNLESS they made a 3-4 hour job take 7 hours..
(thats alot of time- hope it wasnt just running and connecting a few points.)

[drover]

Always get a quote it's the only way to stop getting ripped off.

[Wolfe]

Depends if it was stated up front or not. If she didnt ask up front the charges then how can she complain. Besides who do you expect is going to pay for the apprentice? and why should he not make a profit on the apprentice I'm pretty sure she would not provide anything for free if she's in business. Of course she is not taking into account insurance, superannuation, leave loading, sick pay or any other myriad of invisible payments the sparkie has to pay just so your friend can have a power point or light switch.

[MudMonkey30]

Think of this. Everytime you take your car to get servised weather it be a qualified mechanic or the apprentice they still charge a flat rate for any person that works on it. And double it if 2 are working on it. Most charge above $75 an hour. A 60thou service on a Holden barina is stated to cost $850 plus parts.
So they are charging $100 hr and they recon it takes 8hrs to do a 2hr max job. It is legal for them to charge for the assistant. But not sure as to what hrly rate it is. Just quickly, all these work force places charge the business (tradies) minimum of $55 an hour ( no matter what year of there apprentice is). So she might be lucky to get him $10hr cheeper.
Just my 2c