Billing Electrician Trainee

Hello everyone. Our electrical work was/is being done entirely by an apprentice. When I asked the boss if I should then pay less (apprentice hourly wage), he just said no, because the apprentice takes twice as long. He gave us a quote beforehand. So the price neither decreases nor increases because of this. What do you think about that and what is the situation? According to the boss, the work was checked periodically. The apprentice is in his third year of training and this is his first independent construction site.

Why should it be cheaper? In our company, apprentices are also employed and the service is not cheaper or inferior. People are trained, the work is supervised, it is accepted. Where is your logic?

An apprentice simply does not cost as much as a journeyman. That is why I wonder whether he can be billed like a journeyman. I have read online about billable costs of, for example, 65 percent in the 3rd year of training. Of course, always depending on the situation on site (whether the apprentice just watches or does everything, etc.) I also wonder whether the argument is correct that I should pay the same amount just because it takes twice as long.

He can also charge double working hours at 65%. Would you be more satisfied then?

Why should it be cheaper? He does the work surely just as well, maybe not as routinely, but still decently. It just takes him longer, the master looks over it afterwards and that’s that. After all, he has to learn it somehow and somewhere. Therefore, why a price reduction?

An apprentice simply doesn’t cost as much as a journeyman.

Do you also ask the baker whether the bread was made by the master baker, journeyman, or apprentice? Or when buying a car? Or wherever else?
You ordered a piece of "electrical installation for price X." Did you receive the service you ordered? If yes, the previously agreed price is due.

No matter whether a Nobel Prize winner in physics conjures the electricity to the switches and sockets or the trained chimpanzee painstakingly laces the slots by mouth.