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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Tradesman's quote includes his petrol - AIBU to refuse to pay it?

55 replies

Sidge · 02/05/2016 22:44

So we had a chap do a small job for us. Finally received his invoice.

Labour costs - fine (but I hardly think 10-12.30 counts as a half days work...)
Material costs - fine

But he's included a charge of £20 for petrol. I mean who does that? He lives locally and got the materials locally so how he used 20 quids worth of fuel I don't know. And surely your fuel costs are included in your labour quote?

So AIBU to pay the invoice minus the £20 for fuel?

OP posts:
Blondeshavemorefun · 03/05/2016 18:58

£295 - 50 for materials and 20 petrol so 70

so he charged you £225 for 1/2a day work

Omfg 😡😡😡

Cheeky bastard !!!

I was thinking more £100 labour if charged £200 a day - not £450

Christ !!!!

Next time check their hourly /daily rate

bibbitybobbityyhat · 03/05/2016 19:09

Yanbu. He clearly doesn't know what he's doing. People like him give self employed tradesmen a bad name Sad.

Sidge · 03/05/2016 19:52

He's not even a carpenter, just an odd job man really!

I have every respect for tradespeople and pay them well, acknowledging their skills and time as well as costs for materials. I have many friends who have their own businesses such as plumbing, gas engineers, sparkies, chippies and general builders.

What I don't appreciate is some wide boy trying to rip me off. I think they see the 65 plate car on the drive and think I'm loaded. When actually it's a Motability car Hmm

OP posts:
Janecc · 03/05/2016 20:54

Then a very expensive one. At least it didn't cost you too much. We all make these kind of mistakes along the way.

drollandoriginalusername · 04/05/2016 23:20

Charging for petrol is amateurish. If he has a reasonable appreciation of his costs, he should be able to factor it into his hourly/daily rate. And, given that he seems to be charging £200 a day, he's clearly taking the piss!
I work as a handyman, and the only extra I ask customers to pay is parking - if they haven't got a voucher for a resident's parking space, I'll add the parking to the bill. But petrol is included in my own costs, and I wouldn't dream of passing that on to the customer. And even when charging just £150 a day in London, I find I can comfortably afford my own fuel.
And to whoever it was earlier who said that only idiots become tradesmen; I won't bore her with my own career history, but it's possible that I was once her boss before getting off the hamster wheel to pursue a more rewarding and less stressful (if significantly less remunerative) career. And I did have to look after a lot of chairborne idiots who weren't even as useful as tradesmen.

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