Tipping tradesmen. How much?

[HurdyGurdy19]

We have had our downstairs cloakroom refurbished this week.

The quote from the plumber, for the whole job, was £3,500 plus VAT.

He has brought in other trades - carpenter, tiler, and plasterer. All part of the quote.

How much would you tip?

10%, as in restaurants, or a fixed amount?

My husband suggested "enough for a couple of rounds", but my leaning is more towards a couple of hundred pounds.

What, if anything, would you tip?

(I hate this tip culture, and resent feeling obliged to offer any extra, but always feel that you should look after a good tradie for when you need them again.)

Nothing. You've paid him what £4200 for a job. That's a price he set & is presumably happy with. Why on earth would you tip him???

I'd thank him for a job well done & tell him you'll recommend him to anyone needing his kind of work

Tipping is madness

1. I have never tipped a tradesperson. They charge what the job is worth.

That random bullet point was a zero!

Nothing

Tipping tradespeople is not a thing. They set their own rates!

And yes I always say I will leave a positive review if happy with their work. That's got to be more valuable?

nothing. Offer them a cuppa and biscuit.

Nothing. You've paid them to do a job. Up to the person who subcontracted them to buy a few rounds.

I've never heard of someone tipping a tradesman unless they went above and beyond. Or perhaps if they're doing long-term work and you give them some kind of Christmas bonus (like the postman and bin men - but I don't think people do that any more!). £20 for a round on you would be a nice gesture but not really necessary

You don’t tip tradesmen.
When they’re working, you give them drinks and snacks and maybe a bacon sandwich etc. Basically just be nice while they’re working. You don’t tip them. Who told you to do that?

Oh wow. Thank you. You've just saved me a decent chunk of money 😀

They did get copious amounts of tea and coffee, biscuits, and home baked cakes

I'm pretty sure my plumber has got more money than I have.

ExDH is a builder. Absolutely no need or expectation to tip, it's not a thing for trades at all.

Coffee / tea / biscuits whilst they're there are much appreciated. Paying promptly too.

If you really wanted to push the boat out a 4 pack of beer / bottle of wine etc at the end of the job would be the absolute icing on the cake. The number of times that happened in the 20+ years I was with DH you could count on two hands and was more linked to it being near Christmas, one of our children being born or him really going above and beyond.

I tip the apprentice if there is one. £10.

What fresh hell is this? I consider myself a decent tipper in other industries but not in
the trades exept for when they’ve gone above and beyond and I’ve given them 20/30 quid ‘for a drink’. Example - a decorator came round recently to repair some other trades balls up and he charged me his daily rate but but I gave him another 30 as he did a great job.
Sadly, I tend to attract rip off merchants and cowboys so they’re never getting drink money, just the agreed price.

This is the uk ,unless you are upper class, do we have a “ tip culture” for tradespeople??

Nothing. I don't tip trades (and I've worked with a lot as doing up houses is my thing) - I tip movers say £20 each but a tradie usually works for themselves. I did have some guys working near Christmas time and gave them all a decent bottle of wine each.

On occasion I’ve given them a case of beer or an extra £20 for a drink if they’ve fitted me in at short notice etc but for a scheduled invoiced job no tip needed

No, no, NO!. Do not start that!

@Clickncollect but surely you're just tipping the thing you're calling fresh hell? In your example he is charging his daily rate, what has the fact it's a correction got to do with anything? You say you mostly get cowboys so you don't tip them, so you tip anyone who seems better than a cowboy? But they're just doing their job? So should just get their rate?

And what is "above and beyond"?

Nothing. Just provide tea and biscuits.

I think if you're really happy and impressed then a gesture for a round of drinks is a nice touch, definitely not 10%!

Generally doing "emergency" work at short notice, in an evening, weekend or bank holiday. One phone call from a valued, existing customer was on Boxing Day morning. Ex was with them within 2 hours and spent 4 hours fixing the problem. We rearranged family plans that day because they were in a shit situation and were lovely people that he wanted to help.

@FruitBadger do you not charge a call out fee or more for bank holidays?