Did we misread this or is he being a bit cheeky?

[Paraballa]

This could go either way but this is just for opinions as we are paying him anyway.

We had some cupboard doors that were sticking as the frame had moved. We know a guy through our church who is a carpenter but he mainly does artisan stuff, making furniture.

Anyway DH was chatting to him and mentioned the doors and he said he'd take a look. Which he did. And he refused payment. All very lovely.

Unfortunately it happened again and the doors stuck again. DH mentioned it in a "we need to get our doors fixed again" way and the guy offered to "come and have a look". This was last summer.

He never came but kept mentioning it to DH: "oh I need to come look at your doors".

Last week he finally did. He came and literally looked at them (although they are the same as last year) then said he'd come a particular day but turned up unexpectedly sooner without notice.

All fine. I didn't mind. He came in and trimmed the doors, I asked if he could look at another one and he did, then also did some other cupboard doors he said were sticking but I hadn't noticed and I use them every day. "I did those one too for you" was what he said.

As he left I said thank you and to let us know what we owed him. Because we didn't expect it totally free.

Last night he sent an invoice for £140 covering "2 visits". (The actual work and the coming to have a look.)

We are totally shocked. We would have never agreed to it if we'd known he'd charge that much (£40 an hour apparently). He never said he was treating us as a client and as we asked him in July and he only just came we don't feel we were treated as a Client.

We've decided just to pay and never mention anything carpentry related to him again but did we misread? Or is he being a bit cheeky?

I'm autistic so may well have misunderstood as I often do but DH thought it was a favour too.

Honestly? I think your DH was cheeky to mention it to him a couple of times obviously expecting a freebee.

Oh dear, there might be a CF here and it's not him. £140 not unreasonable so you need to just pay it and move on.

By saying "let us know what we owe you" that means 'we want to pay you, tell us how much'... it doesn't mean 'we're pretending to be generous but really hope you don't actually charge us for your valuable time'. That was your mistake. Next time just say 'thanks, bye'.

I pay £30 an hour to our local joiner and that's Yorkshire.

He did it once at no charge. Then you asked again... He’s probably charged you to prevent you expecting a third freebie, tbh.

Also this

Sorry, but I agree with pps; I think you are the one being a little bit cheeky tbh.

I don’t think you’re miscommunicating on here. You’re making yourself perfectly clear. But I do think yabu tbh.

YABU.

I understand why you were surprised. He should definitely have told you how much it would cost, BEFORE he started the work, and I don't think he should be charging you for coming out to look at it. Other trades people (like decorators) wouldn't do that. They come round, have a look, then give you either a quote, or an estimate for the work, so you can decide whether to go ahead with the job, and use them, or another tradesperson.

He is VU for not doing that.

However, I do think you should now pay it, but tell him you're disappointed that he didn't tell you the cost before he started, and that he's charging you for the visit to assess the doors.

Might also be an idea in future, to check costs before anyone else does you a "favour" to avoid being caught out again.

I also suspect he's given her a discount given he does artisan furniture as his main line.

I strongly suspect your husband hinting and asking again has pissed him off, and you did say how much do we owe you.

Well he told you. So pay him

Next time don’t be so British and say things you don’t mean. You invited him to bill you. He did and now you’re complaining? Your disingenuousness just confuses and embarrasses people, often non-Brits who don’t know the ‘code’, but also Brits who are just more straightforward in their ways, and probably people with autism who are more literal. Try to be politely honest instead.

lf he's a carpenter "but mainly does artisan stuff", you're probably talking cabinet maker level. That's what my ex did before he had his stroke. And the prices they can charge are eye watering, because of the level of skill involved. They're extremely highly skilled craftsmen. lf you'd just wanted someone to unstick your doors, you could have got a joiner. l appreciate you thought he was doing it as a favour, but three visits? That's about the equivalent of a working day for him. Here in Yorkshire you'd expect to pay £150-£200 for that level of competency.

A few things here.

Don't expect professional favours from church members (or anyone), unless they are very close friends or relatives (and even so) and you actually have done or do favours for them.

Don't offer to pay only after whatever work is done as if money didn't matter to you.

Always make sure any work done for you is free or charged, and discuss how much.

Yes, tradespeople often show up at odd times, particularly for small jobs that aren't emergencies. They tend to fit them around bigger jobs.

Once is enough for a freebie, you can't expect him to work for nothing and he should have made clear beforehand what his charges are.

My apologies, two visits. l misread the original post.

I agree that you should pay but I personally think the charge is excessive.
I would have expected something around the £100 mark

Its a reasonable fee
He did the first one as a favour and came back to fix again.. and when he got there you asked him to do other things on top of that.
I get that you feel if you's known you were a paying client, he should have come sooner, but I think like pps that you need to confirm these things up front before people start work.

How is it cheeky to be paid for work you've done?

Come on! Your husband kept mentioning the doors to him- that’s hinting at him coming out!

FWIW that’s not a bad final bill you’ve received at all actually, for what you’ve had done and the time he’s taken to come out.

Asking him to do all the extra bits would have been SUPER cheeky if you hadn’t offered to pay tbh.

And what favours have you done for him recently? Maybe the whole church has been asking him to do favours lately and he’s had enough 🤷‍♀️.

I wonder if the surprise, OP, is because now you see how much free work you got before. I think this is a misunderstanding and in future get a joiner or learn to do it yourself. Sanding down isn't that difficult.

Well it's a lesson learned OP and it didn't cost you dearly. Could have been much worse.
Next time maybe open with "we need some work doing, could you come and give us a quote please?"
That way everyone knows where they stand.
And dont trust Church folk!! Our DS was offered some extra singing lessons by a member of his Church choir who he is friendly with. At his usual rate of £50 per hour I would expect Gareth Malone himself for that .
I wasnt informed of the cost at first, only invited to bring him round on "such a day". It was only when I asked how much the cost would be that I found out.
Always ask OP.

Oh and as for ‘mates rates’, you are lucky if you get any. Dp avoids working for family and friends as far as possible. Not because he’s mean or selfish. But because he would be doing it 7 days a week, and wouldn’t actually earn a living. So easier to charge them the same. Their choice if they want to use him. A LOT of those in his trade do the same, for the same reason.

Some classics-

I’m looking to have an extension built, just a small down stairs, I was wondering if you’d do it for me and I just pay for materials?

I’ve just bought a new kitchen, could you come around on the weekend and fit it for me? Because I don’t have any money left to pay a carpenter now I’ve bought the kitchen.

My bathroom needs tiling, so I bought the tiles a few weeks ago as they were for offer in the sale, but I’m not very good at it. Would you do it if I buy you a box of cider?

And I could go on. This is happening week in, week out, off everyone.

All this mates rates stuff and through the church sticks in my gullet to be honest with you. So what if he does artisan stuff, if this is his job that's what he does. Unless he made it crystal clear he didn't expect payment you're being cheeky to think you don't need to pay him.

He's done 3 visits (1 complimentary) and on the third one did the work, his visits especially the second one would be to have a look and give a rough quotation (which is seems he didn't do) and the third one was to do the work. He should have quoted you properly, for the work and visits and whatever he's charging you for e.g. extra doors doing. and you of course should have agreed his costs or not.

I’m surprised everyone is saying you’re being unreasonable OP. I completely see it from your point of view. He said he’d come as a favour and he did. You offered him money the first time and he refused. The second time, even if he planned to charge you or did only because you essentially offered to pay him, he should only have charged for the second visit. He had already agreed the first visit was a freebie.

It doesn’t sound quite right to me but maybe he forgot he’d said he’d do it for free or maybe he suddenly needed the Monet!

YANBU

money not Monet!