Advice wanted on electrician

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I was stupid, and didn't ask this workman for a quote to do the plugsockets in my place. He's coming over tomorrow, and apparently the job is an all-day thing.

The price itself has only just occurred to me. How could I be so bloody stupid???! !

Anyway, I was wondering what to say to him tomorrow if the price proves to be too much. Their offices are closed now. I was thinking that maybe he could only do part of the work instead (i.e. the livingroom plug sockets only rather than the hall aswell).

I could really kick myself.

Advice wanted, please!

Do this. It's perfectly fine to do less than you planned if something turns out to be more expensive than you budgeted for.

A lot of times electricians (and other workmen such as plumbers, painters etc.) don't give you a price until they have been there in person to see the scope of the work. It is very common to not start talking about price until he is right there in your house.

edited to add: woops! I just noticed your location. You are in the UK and I am in the U.S. In the U.S. workmen rarely know how much something will cost until they come there in person so it is normal to get the quote after they visit rather than before. Hopefully the convention is the same in the UK. In any case it ought to be ok to modify the scope of the job to fit your budget.

Yeah, in Canada (our Laws and practices are sometimes like the US and sometimes like the UK) you'd normally have the contractor come and look around then do a quote after seeing what the situation actually is (taking off 2 outlets for example to see if they need re-wiring or just replacing). Of course every contractors rates are different and vary from place to place, but I'd expect a days labour from a ticketed tradesperson to be around $800 CDN plus supplies and taxes.

When he arrives, and before he starts work, put the ball in his court by saying, "before you start, you haven't yet informed me of the cost", so at least if he is too expensive, you can direct some of the blame towards him.

Be aware, often these people expect a call out charge.

I would expect he would also need registered qualifications to legally carry out such work, maybe you should research this.

What exactly is he doing to your sockets?
Is he replacing your old sockets with new ones?, have you provided the new ones?, will he charge you more for the new ones if he provides them than if you bought the same sockets yourself?

What did you actually say to him in the first place?

Thank you for your replies everyone, they have been helpful.

I've had this company come over to install lights and an oven before, and they were fine, and my nan trusts them also. I've never had problems with them installing taps or the washing machine either, although they are different to electricial items.

The electrician from that company phoned me up Thursday and said to me about coming over Monday, and mentioned it would be an all day thing. I just said OK and didn't think about it

Usually people from this company do come over and give a quote first with no charge. I could just say to him I thought there would be a quote first.

What he's going to be doing - installing a plug socket in the hall, plastered flat to the wall, and another two in the living room. They will be providing the plug sockets, and he probably would charge me for them. I guess it would be cheaper if I bought them myself - I didn't think of that.

Turned out it was just for a quote! I asked him about buying everything myself including stuff for the fuse box and he told me what to buy, which should make it a bit cheaper. Some of the work I decided not to have done in order to cut the cost more.

Are you just changing the plugs out? That is really easy to do yourself.

I'm having a couple recessed into the wall, and one new one installed. There will be lots of drilling and some plastering done.