I agree with you Roger on most of what you say, however, £600 on 400 sq mtrs which would only take 1 person half a day is an awful lot of money and may be perceived by some (not by me though) as a little over the top.
The job I was referring to in my email was just trying to draw a comparison with the job raised by Richy at the beginning of this topic as they were similar surfaces.
Discussing prices is always a dangerous game on this forum as we all have different needs/wants/ideas on what is a fair price.
My opinion is that earning £400 for half a day's work is a very good amount for a company to be earning.
When I was in IT, my company charged me out at £750 a day which was at the top end of what people were prepared to pay back then (10 years ago). For us to be able to earn the same as that now in an industry which is generally perceived by the public as a 'lowly qualified' industry is pretty good in my opinion, trying to earn substantially more than that is starting to take the mickey.
Of course, all of our companies need differing amounts of money to survive and make a profit so it is very difficult to say what we 'should' be charging.
You and I have proved to be of a similar mind set in the past and it appears we have a strong wish to improve the professionalism within the industry, this responsibility also entails having a grasp of what is and isn't a fair price for the job in hand. Charging what equates to £1200 a day for one person is bordering on theft in my opinion and should be discouraged, it only serves to draw less scrupulous and more greedy people into our industry, the industry we are trying to raise the image of.
Just my thoughts.