Accepted greed from certain groups

some air b&s seriously ripped off customers this summer. Not all of them but some did, staycations were the only option for most people.

I wouldn't be too hard on that shop keeper, sometimes businesses have to raise their prices, that is just business. That really hot summer here 2 or 3 years ago, potatoes went up a lot in price because of the lack of water, a local shop were selling them for 40 euro a bag, he said he was buying them for 30 euro so had to make something on them.

If you think you can run a business (and this is what we are talking about) better and live from it, give it a go....

Gouging is one mans word for someone else taking a risk....

Not everyone works in a 9 to 5 with a wage coming in at the end of the day, someone has to make money to pay for that wage.

Half inch copper pipe ? As little 10 euros a length .

He probably didn't buy it, probably had it left over from another job.

There is an argument that you are paying for his experience, him being a tradesman and all that.You could always get a bloke from the local to do it for 30 quid.

I'm the other trade , the brain damaged one.. electrician and I would rob the eye teeth out of your head to stop ol' wans asking me to nixers. "Hang a light " , yes ma'am , that'll be 900 euros.

I have heard of and experienced some exhorbidant fees.

However, wrt the specific plumber one you cite:

Had he ever visited to appraise the job before?

Meaning that although a job may appear to be a 2 hour one, there may have been many more absorbed in appraisal and travel either side of these.

Bad form if this is not itemised and explained to customers. I always did.

Some also quote it a "cash job" to satisfy the client request (and assumption of better deal), but declare it.

If big conglomerates came in and took over most of the land, making the food expensive for the farmer, who used to be able to grow it for himself, would you think them bastards? If a private company took over all the water and started charging exorbitant amounts for it, would you think them bastards?

I have worked in that industry myself - so I'm not just bluffing from the outside. You know as well as I do for every "good value" story like you quote, there is any amount of gouging that goes on. Such as the over deployment of people to some of these projects, i.e. a team of 10 sent to the project where there is 1-2 geniuses, 2-3 middle of the road and 5-6 wasters who are on the project because the tax payer is footing the bill. Or the "dig out the old report, update the cover, change what needs to be changed" mantra.

We all know the "tricks of the trade".

Buying a house and renting it out is just the same as buying a pub/shop etc and starting a business. Nothing wrong with it at all. The landlord takes a chance he/she will have good tenants and will make a profit from renting out the house/houses. The law is all in the favor of the tenant, sometimes a landlords gets scumbag tenants who stop paying rent and wreck the house. These people should be dragged out of the house if they dont pay rent for 2 months.

Agreed. I was just trying to share some hidden backgrounds, but even at 5 hrs, i agree it would still have been steep.

I had not known some finer detail you just shared at time of my post.

I agree with other poster that you should call for a frank discussion to get a breakdown of costs and see where it leads.

"My mother was charged €500 to put the pipes on one radiator under the floor before she got new flooring put in. He was there for 2 hours. Most he spent on materials was €50 so he charged €225 an hour. He did not give her a tax receipt. So that was tax free."

All the doting mothers sending little Johnny off to uni do some bullsh1t arts degree so he has get a job in Facebook paying barely above minimum wage because she turns her nose up at the trades should be reminded of this next time some tradesman trousers 500 of her cash for two hours work.

Anyway you're not paying for two hours work, you're paying for the years he spent freezing his t*ts off on building sites learning his trade. If it was so easy, we'd all do it

Head of Hospital Consultants Union whinging on Pat Kenny for the last half hour about how hard life is for them.

I guess every interest group has the same mentality. We need to be prioritized for better treatment at the expense of others. Once you enter a group you become an advocate for that group getting more. It's like when you don't own a house you want house prices to fall. As soon sign a contract to buy a house you want property values to rise.

The greed real. You are always going to come up against the pay peanuts get monkeys argument, but we end up paying for geniuses and getting average fallible humans. Nobody paid by the state should earn over 200k.

I have indeed been involved in Purchase Ordering and timesheets etc. Maybe you are the honest one, but I have first hand witnessed the waste, inefficiencies and devious nature of consultancies. I also know that when times are a bit slack, government departments are a sitting duck for being convinced that they need a few more bodies. And I know that on every project I ever worked on, at least 20% of the people could have been shelled and nobody would have noticed, but hey what's 1k a day amongst friends or the tax payer.

I love the way everybody accuses plumbers / electricians / chippies of price gouging.

The same people would turn their nose up at it if young Oisin or Fiachra said he was going to do a trade instead of going to college.....