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?
6:47 PM
CARL-
Really sad to hear your story.
Gives us good installers a bad reputation.
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Andrew Brown-
You are right, everyone will say a different price.
I would say from £100 to £150 depending on install, but always the same quality.
Others as you say will want £200 plus.
and the cowboys putting new aerials on old rusty brackets using the same old cable for £60.
I feel more sorry for people paying top wack and still getting a cr@p job done.
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7:20 PM
Oh and of course if competition between aerial installers in an area is high that also drives price down. However this also leads to poorer quality components being installed as the installer has smaller and smaller profit margins trying to compete with the cowboys!
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7:22 PM
Don't get me wrong I once charged £450 for an aerial install to 1 room!! It was 86 feet off of the ground and needed 8 guy wires and special brackets and aerial!
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Andrew Brown: Your website URL needs correcting as there is a comma after the "www" rather than a dot.
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11:39 PM
Why not simply say to the mark (sorry; "respected client")
"The cheapest I can do is £x. That will be the lowest spec of aerial; fitting; cable etc. It will work; but it is more likely to give problems sooner. For an extra £x I can give you the quality I would use on my own or my parents' house."
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Hi Andrew
Your so right and that's why customers should ask what they are actually receiving for there money far as material types/guarantees.
Aerial types and sizes will or should vary between job to job depending on location/signal quality upon testing, but all should have one thing in common which is build quality
The mounts and mast should at least reflect on what's been fitted and type of location taking into account the weather we have these days is worse than 30-40 years ago.
We normally use 12" minimum cradle type galvanised 1.5" dia 16gauge to a max of 5' then there after 2" dia 16gauge.
And then of course the cable type down lead which needs to have good screening properties no matter how good the signal quality is, We supply TX100LSF.
Sticking to these thumb rules which is actually just plain old common sense means the customer can be expecting at least 2 years guarantee period parts and labour. The install will normally see them through for the next 25-30 years although some of ours have actually clocked 40years and above.
Regards
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Wow Dave that's amazing! 40years! I give at least a 2 year guarantee with al of my installs but I know they will last a lot longer!
As for saying this is the cheapest option I am afraid I can't work like that. It is quality or nothing I'm afraid. I wouldn't put my name to anything that wasn't the best that I could do. If the customer thinks that it is too expensive then they find someone else. It's false economy however as they will end up getting me or someone else back in a few years time instead of 10-20 years!!
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Andrew
You lost me' (As for saying this is the cheapest option).......
Please elaborate as I am at a loss unless your quoting something Steve P said, which if that is the case please rectify to save confusion lol
Regards
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