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What price for an aerial installation?

What prices have you been quoted and paid for an aerial installation?

What prices have you been quoted and paid for an aerial install
Published on by 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?





Your comments: most recent posts are at the bottom

firstFirst comments prevEarlier comments  ◊ 

Your comments are always welcome. Please use the form below to add your thoughts or questions to this page. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

Andrew Brown
Sunday 10 February 2013 5:30PM
Mazbar: This happens to me all the time. I give fair prices to everyone but then someone else comes along and undercuts and does shoddy work. (Aerials on plastic fascia boards with loft brackets anyone?)
What people don't realise is how dangerous our job can be. "you've only got to run up on the roof" I frequently hear! If it was that easy then you would be up there I feel like saying!

Anyway mate the cowboys always get found out with the good installers lasting for years!
jb38
Sunday 10 February 2013 5:35PM
Mazbar: Well if this persons aerial is installed as you have described in an area noted for high wind, then its maybe on the cards that come the next storm you may well receive call out of desperation with this person willing to pay anything to have the problem sorted out, the cowboy installer not being contactable.
John
Friday 15 February 2013 11:56AM
£40 - £50 pounds so am I to presume you would like an uninsured, unqualified cowboy that probably pays no income tax or vat and provides a guarantee that is not worth the paper its written on? also £10 for an aerial maybe a non approved DIY store aerial nothing that will last and yes cable does cost 50p a meter but that's what the installer pays! so really your happy to pay £1000+ for you Tv and surround system but you expect an engineer to turn up to your house with all the right kit and risk his neck for no return!!.. £150 is a fair price for a quality installation from a CAI approved company that you should expect to last in excess of 10 to 15 years.
Mazbar
Friday 15 February 2013 3:36PM
John: you make some great points but as you can see from my posts what you get depends on where you live as you say do some of these riggers have all the right insurance ,pay there tax or have the right equipment. People should only use a land line not a mobile number( I put my landline onto transfer to my mobile so I don't miss a call) I have been rigging for over 25 years the business has been going for over 30 years if I have a recall I do it straight away keep the customer happy. Some of the rubbish I see now makes my heart sink like the use of SSB or wall brackets in chimneys riggers who haven't a clue .
Ryan B
Sunday 3 March 2013 9:58PM
Hi everyone,
Im an installer working in the Leeds area,
iv been in the trade for 10 years now and run my own small business since 2009.

To be honest iv never known things to be as bad as they are at the moment,
I usually charge a flat rate of £110 for a "standard" aerial install, this includes either a chimney lashing kit with upto 6ft mast or a c bracket on gable depending on whats needed etc. I charge £150 for a DMX10 on a 10/12ft mast with a masthead amp if required for weak signal areas,
it goes without saying that CT100 or WF cable is used, galvanised brackets and 12 months guarantee on all my work.
I like to think these prices are fair and im not out to rip anyone off.
i just dont know whats up lately though, im quoting on jobs and can tell straight away that people arent interested, ive had to drop my price down to £85 yet im still struggling to get work in,
The most annoying thing is there is a bloke in my local paper advertising "digital aerials" fully fitted for £40!! how the hell can anyone compete with that? how on earth he manages to do jobs at that price i just dont know.
I had a call last week from a guy saying his aerial had fallen off the roof and how much to fix it, over the phone i told him around £40, (thats for me to drive to his house, set up my equipment, climb on his roof, assess any damage, replace snapped lashing kit or mast, re-align aerial, test and tune TV, pack away all kit, take on any problems that he has for next 12 months free of charge etc etc.
His exact reply to my quote was "fu**in hell £40...il have to have a ring around"
What i want to know from any other riggers is are my prices too high? and how just how cheap can a job realistically be done before its not worth doing!
Sorry about the rant but things are getting desperate to be honest,
Cheers guys, Ryan
NICK ADSL UK
Sunday 3 March 2013 10:13PM
Ryan
i got ripped off buy a top class installer to the tune of £650 down here on the south coast
they normally charge a minimum of £300 and their still number one on the south coast
a bit odd but people in the south are otherwise they would never have gotten to the number one position and wealth

just do your best and what's right as that's the best way
Andrew Brown
Monday 4 March 2013 7:31PM
Ryan what you are charging is fine. You can guarantee that the guy doing £40 installs is using poor quality components. The problem is getting people to realise the worth of the job! It may be something you have to ride through because eventually what the other guy is doing will go wrong he'll get a bad name and then people will come looking for a real installer who uses the correct equipment.
Because times are hard people are looking for the cheap solution but I can tell everyone now you only get what you pay for, and if you don't want the hassle of having to get your "new" aerial system repaired/replaced after 3 months then I suggest paying more than £40!!
Mazbar
Tuesday 5 March 2013 3:35PM
Andrew Brown: I went to chorley today and they had a keep it local mag in the house in it there was an advert for " arial and satellite " with a local phone number if they carn't spell aerial right would you really want them fitting one to your house.
Andrew Brown
Wednesday 6 March 2013 7:09PM
Mazbar: No I certainly would not! I have seen many (mis)spellings of satellite too! How's work for you at the moment?
Mazbar
Wednesday 6 March 2013 7:26PM
Andrew Brown: very quiet, no wind = no work could do with a good hurricane how is it with you.
Ryan B
Thursday 7 March 2013 12:11AM
Thanks for the replys guys,
well what a difference a few days can make, im now booked up until the end of next week and have a few more jobs to go look at aswell.
Morale is back! hopefully its just a hangover from christmas/january and things will remain "steady away" from now on.
With regards to the £40 aerial tosser, he only advertises with a mob number and this frequently changes, he also changes the company name slightly every few weeks but the advert stays identical.
its just really annoying as prices like that make our trade look mickey mouse.
Hope it picks up for everyone, Ryan
Andrew Brown
Thursday 7 March 2013 6:45AM
Mazbar: I'm steady at the moment. A hurricane would be quite nice, you know just a small one. I am lucky as I have a contract with the council (two rivers) to move satellites and aerials when they erect scaffold. I have been very ill over the last 2 days and had to have a day off yesterday! I hated it! Back to it today though!
Ryan: That's the way it goes in this trade it seems it's either all or nothing! I have been self employed for 3 years (in the trade for 6)and find a few quiet spells in the year (about now, summer holidays etc) as long as you do a good job you will always have work, the trick is not to panic and keep yourself busy when you don't have work (fence need painting? your own aerials need attending to? I know mine do!)
Andy
Malc
Friday 8 March 2013 11:17AM
Ryan, my mate has an aerial installation business in Manchester and has seem recently similar problems to you. His prices are similar and he offers a three years guarantee on some installations.
The trouble I think is we want the TV working now and don't actually think about tomorrow or the day after. Crazy I know.
Mazbar
Friday 8 March 2013 4:08PM
Andrew Brown: my own aerial need attention you must be joking I have a great system ( log aerial, fm,dab all on a 2" mast going into a loft box with magic eyes on all tv's) been doing aerials for over 25 years have seen cowboys come and go the only problem is there is always another one there to take there place. The worse thing is I have Merseyside on my doorstep and they carn't wait to lower there prices .
Mazbar
Friday 8 March 2013 4:40PM
Andrew Brown: one other thing have you tried the new fm omni dab omni all in one aerial. Used one of these in a loft near ormskirk split between two points, on the dab got bbc radio stoke and on the fm got bbc radio Wales not a cheap aerial but great, also have you seen the new antiference 75 range of splitters cheap and very good quality just got some worth a look.
John
Monday 11 March 2013 3:54PM Bedale
I'm after an installer to put an external aerial on a new build in Letchworth as a moving in present, the house has all the cables installed for the rooms and the ends are in the loft.

Any Recommendations of installers would be appreciated and what sort of money I should be looking at.
Peter Kilbride
Monday 11 March 2013 4:28PM
Hi we just had a new metal roof put on which has sent our bt vision haywire. BBC channels work fine. Will I need a new outside aerial.
Andrew Brown
Monday 11 March 2013 9:00PM
Peter Kilbride: Whenever I have come across metal roofs the aerial has always had to go outside. Even Kingspan can send an aerial crazy! Get a reputable installer to come and have a look.

Andy
Andrew Brown
Monday 11 March 2013 9:08PM
Mazbar: I have used the fm omni dab omni all in one aerial it even worked in a weak signal area (albeit on a 12ft mast!) great bit of kit!
As for the antiference splitters I have yet to come across them yet. Which supplier do you use? I use about 6!
As for the aerial side of things I have just installed a new log and 80cm dish picking up astra 1, 2 and Hotbird feeding SKY and polish TV into every room! Had a bit of a quiet spell and decided to get something done! Will add DAB at later date, I don't even own a DAB radio!
Mazbar
Tuesday 12 March 2013 3:53PM
Andrew Brown: I only use one supplier grax I find them very good used one of the antiference splitters very good and cheap
Mazbar
Saturday 16 March 2013 5:38PM
I have just had a look at an advert on this site for an aerial company in London offering buy one aerial get one free I have seen this before they charge more than any other company normaly by more than double. They also give you a 5 year guarantee but there t and c exclude almost every thing but the best is they cover distrobution amps, big advert, big web page big rip off?
Andrew Brown
Friday 12 April 2013 12:11AM Cinderford
I offer a 2 year guarantee but pretty much everything is covered apart from lightning strikes!
steve h
Saturday 4 May 2013 3:05PM
the main thing the public need to understand when getting quotes for aerial work is that a " starting from" price, often given by the big national aerial firms to get their foot in the door can often double or treble. a local installer will normally be able to give you a more accurate and realistic price
Dave
Monday 6 May 2013 11:01AM
Hi
This trade has always been riddled with under cutting of supply and installation charges.
If your a well established business that has a good reputation I suggest you keep things as they are and don't get bullied into trading standards like allot of the big boys and or cow boys of this world, otherwise it wont be long till you are out of business.
Just keep in mind these boys are desperate for work and the public in general are not stupid, its the oldest tale in the book that you don't get anything for nothing unless your extremely lucky.
If when quoting a customer over the phone give them a bold part figure and explain if its going to be anymore you will tell them before work commences,If less when job is finalized then happy days for everyone, If they are trying to chop your prices before you even look at the job then you have to decide whether you want the job in the first place, I personally would be reluctant because it would mean cutting corners before you even start the job, luckily they are far and few but it does happen.
Customers who ring around are often just wanting the job done as quick as possible, which is understandable, my only warning to them is a business that can do your job by the drop of a hat obviously has no work, so you should be asking your selfs why?

Regards

Ian
Saturday 18 May 2013 9:10AM
***** Good post Dave. *****

Anybody who wants something done at the ‘drop of a hat’ is leaving themselves open to being swindled.

Most of these big firms with 0800 numbers and ‘we have installers in your area daily’ advertising pay their fitters a minimal wage, they make their money up by overselling on things like ‘High Gain Aerials’ when a standard 10 or 18 element benchmarked aerial will suffice, and charging way over the odds for ‘extras’.

Take a bit of time and research the company you are looking at, an hour spent on Google might just save you a fortune in the long term.

I have a friend who I use to work with 30 years ago who works for the 0800 crowd. He’s on £360 per week plus commission. That commission kicks in at 10% after he has cleared £1,200.00 So for the first couple of days each week he is overselling to reach the £1,200 target, then he is on 10% of EVERYTHING he takes.

They don’t tell you that in their adverts do they?
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