this is like asking how long is a piece of string.

if you are a fully complient electrical company...you shouldnt be charging less than R400 per hour...however the electrical industry is like the worse trade to be in...the lowest paid...with every man...his uncle and dog doing electrical work....why because there is no regulation...no policing...you cannot be charged for anything you do wrong or should i rephrase that...you can literally get away with murder...because the people who are suppose to regulate and police the industry still havent figued out how to do it yet...chances are they retrenched all the skilled people or offered packages..to get rid of them...then took over and years later are still try trying to figue out what they are suppose to be doing...and no...i cant see it improving anytime soon...or they are too busy eating the cream while it is still available...i also get the feeling that the cream is coming to an end and now they are trying everything to scratch for every last penny from every nook mand cranny...hence the fica and other documentation we have to fill out down to your employees and their bank accounts...just a pity the rest of the all the departments werent as efficient as sars...just my opinin...i could be way wrong...from wher ei sit...thats what it looks like.

there are also to many people trying to be the big chief but no actually knows their arse from their elbow...you have the likes of the AIA who are trying to take control...but i dont know where that will end up...i just wonder how much money is being shuffled around to keep everyone happy.

an example a tool maker...cnc operator/programer earns around R40 k per month a highly skilled electrician earns around R20 k if he has agood job...in fact i know of some who earn as little as R15 k...but most companies dont employ electricians because you dont need to...you just ride the elconops for as long as you can....keep them down at elconop 1...drop them on site charge the customer electrician rates and exploit them until they report you to the council then loose their job or just keep quiet and who knows the wiser...i see it every day working on site...especially in the big companies which use contractors...it is an absolute joke and we all complain that the industry is falling apart...

so...if you want to know what to charge...the highest amount the customer is willing to pay...and now with the rest of africa moving inot SA we now have all the so called skilled workers from other parts of africa to compete against...for example the last factory move i was sheduled to move...the other fellas came in at R120 per hour for 5 "electricians" ...so gues who moved the factory...the fact that they blew the main db into smitthereens is not important nor the fact that the new factory location has an illegal COC signed over by a metro employee who was never involved in the moved but signs over COCs as a part time job on weekends when not working for the council...and the old factory premises was left in an unsafe conditions for the new owner who is still fighting to get the transfer done months later due non compliance of the old electrical installtion is also not important....

enough said...at least i have vented for today...not that it will ever improve the industry...but like my driving...do as the africans do ain africa...and you wont need to stress...some will say i am a pesimist but ask chris geager who spends his life trying to improve the industry where he is at present...worse off than he was 20 years ago...

by the way a tp for driving in peak traffic stick to the left hand lane as far as possible...even go into the emergency lane if the left lane is moving tooo slow... then push in at the front...it cuts back your travel time by at least 20 minutes...and someone will always give you a gap at the front