Aibu to not want to pay the full amount?

[gingerginger2]

We had a quote for some work in our garden, which was £1300. we agreed to it, mainly through inexperience I think.

The Gardner’s came to do the work today and it took 3 of them 4 hours.

Given that materials could be bought for £300, aibu to not want to pay them £300 each for a half day?

I‘ve questioned the invoice and they said they estimated it would take a day, and they only quite by days.

We did agree to the quote. But it feels like a total rip off.

The work they did is ok. Sufficient. No above and beyond, just sufficient.

DH and I rennovated our own garden after quotes we had were out of our budget.

We hired tools to knock down walls, break up concrete, shifted 6 tonnes of stone, filled 2 skips, laid new lawn, put new flower beds in....saved around £8000 but fucking hell was it HARD work.

If we had to do it again and could afford it....I'd happily pay a professional. They'd have done it in half the time, too.

Just working out how to do it, the research, the organising, let alone the physical work...I think landscaper's and gardeners are very skilled grafters.

You agreed with the quote, you need to pay. That being said, years ago I had my conservatory replaced and the guys assumed it would take 2 days to take the old one down. On the day they discovered it was so rotten it came apart in their hands so it took a few hours and they gave me a discount on that work. I thought that was a nice gesture but I would have paid in full.

It was a fee for a task
Yep, it was expensive, but you need to pay it as you agreed it
They will have had to allocate a whole day to the job - as they might not have been finished. They couldn't plan chargeable work for the rest of the day as they might not have got to it.
If you are not happy with the quality of the work that is a different thing.

If it had poured with rain and they had difficulties doing the job and it took a whole week, you wouldn’t pay extra because it took longer than expected.

Exactly what is written above is what I was going to say. Unless you can hand on heart say you would have paid the more if it took longer, which would be rubbish as no one would do this then why are you complaining?

If it had taken a week they would be earning £60 a day and you would be more than happy paying them just the £1300 as it was what was quoted. The job with 1 person would have taken 1 and a half days so they brought in 3 people to get it done quicker its hardly rocket science.

You've accepted their quote, so you have a contract. You do have to pay, good value or not. Always get 3 quotes for any kind of building or gardening work. Then you negotiate from there.

For what's it's worth, I work with someone who is now on about quote number 8 for landscaping because they simply can't accept how pricey it is, so yours might be more normal than you think.

You have failed to understand the difference between being a freelancer and running/owning one’s own business (with all the attendant insurances, NI contributions, pension contributions and other overheads).

If you are not entirely happy with the work then give them a snagging list (with photos if possible). You are entitled to a job well done and to your satisfaction. You are absolutely not entitled to re-negotiate the contract.

I honestly as a freelancer would never charge for more hours than I actually worked.

then.. you're doing it wrong? I always charge what I estimate, if I find a quicker way to do it or have a burst of efficiency, then good for me. Clients agree to a price for the final product based on an estimation, doesn't matter how I get there.

What was the work that they did? Plant knowledge etc?

They did the job to a satisfactory level. You accepted the quote. How unreasonable would it be for someone to come on here and say - "I accepted a quote but now that the work is done, I don't think I should pay what I agreed to pay...."

The point is, they lost a whole day - they can't go and pick up a half days work elsewhere. There is also travel time.

Don't renege on a deal. Don't be THAT person.

If it took them twice as long, would you happily pay twice as much as you were quoted?

Of course not.

You were charged the agreed price for the job. If it took them 10 hours, or 10 minutes, you got what you paid for.

You agreed to pay it.
i think it's a lot of money,though

I had the same issue a couple of years ago, Gardener said is twirls take two of them 2-3 day, 3 of them came and did one short day. - most of which the gardener wasn't even working! We paid as they'd done what they said they would but I'm still pissed off about it now and felt ripped off for sure

"£300 each for a half day"

It's possible that they had a van, which they have bought, taxed and insured.

They might have got good quality tools they have bought. They may have professional indemnity, and accident insurance, and they may need up-to-date training.

Your payment has to cover a proportion of the holiday and sickness pay, and the pensions, of the workers, and the Employer's National Insurance, and to prevent them starving on the days when there is no work or the weather is too bad.

As a rule of thumb, a person charging £300 a day is about as well-off as an employee on a £30,000 salary, even if they have 220 earning days a year, which is about the most you can manage. Time spent on quotes, travelling, administration and cancelled jobs is not paid.

Seems a fair price. They will need to pay tax and national insurance out of that too. You have only seen the work gone into work today too, what about time taken ordering materials, quoting for the work, replying to emails, traveling, organising other workers.

I run my own business and doing so much behind the scenes that customers don’t see, I would soon go out of business if I didn’t take this into account!

What was the work?

Sounds like they have been cheeky as fuck. I’d try negotiating with them.

Were they using any hired equipment?

What materials did they use. Obviously there is a massive difference in quality and cost with lots of things.... for example there are cheap crappy fence panels and excellent quality expensive ones?

Did they include travelling costs? Or the cost of fetching the materials?

Was it work that required expertise.

Where did you get them from? A recommendation or local advertising or somewhere else?

Are they members of any organization?

You had your moneys worth it seems op. If I go on a cleaning job where I'm required to clean for let's say, two hours and I take another cleaner with me, we can easily get everything done in an hour. It's the same thing. They weren't going to stay there and jet wash your patio (unfortunately :D )

£300 doesn’t seem much for garden materials that would take 12 hours work. What did they do?

However the quote includes the hours spent planning the garden, sourcing and buying materials, unless you planned and sourced your own materials.

Did you get more than one quote. My brother has his own business and sometimes quotes a job based on working alone but then gets help in so it takes less time.

In answer to your question can someone just quote anything, well yes if the person agrees to it. Is the job well done, is it as you expected it to be?

@RedPink

Sounds like they have been cheeky as fuck. I’d try negotiating with them

You can't negotiate with them after the job has finished! Quite apart from anything, you have no negotiating power. The time you negotiate is when you're obtaining quotes.

The lack of comprehension about how businesses work here is astounding!

So you can just estimate what you like and if it bears no relation to the time you spend then you get paid the same?

yes

say you order a birthday cake
a new dress
a painting
You agree a price, you get the product, you pay the price. You don't even ask if it took 30 minutes or 5 hours to decorate the cake.

If you prefer a job quoted in hours, go for that next time.
It's a recurring theme about cleaners leaving early on MN: if you pay them per job, then they can leave when they are done. If you pay them per hour, then they should work their hours. Neither is a rip-off.

You were quoted a price for the job.

You accepted the quote.

You pay the bill.

If the job had taken 4/5 days, would you be willing to pay an hourly rate then? Or would you be on here asking for advice because you've been asked for more money than you were originally quoted?

I'm the Wife of a Tradesman and I now roll my eyes when I hear "I've looked and we could get the materials at a different price" as a way to try to get the price down.

... and just to add, you're not only paying for materials and manpower ( in terms of numbers of hours/days), you're also paying for someone's training, knowledge and expertise

I‘m freelance too. I‘d never dream of invoicing for more hours than I actually worked. If I overestimated in my quote i‘d Be embarrassed and modify the invoice.

You are paying for their expertise, experience, knowledge, training etc, on price as well.

You wouldn't be complaining if you paid 3 men £1300 and it took them 5 days so pat what you agreed. This is how price work, works.

Landscape gardening is hard work, not only are you paying for their time to do the job, you are paying for clean up as well.

RedPink
the time to discuss a price and the content of the service is BEFORE the work is done. If the work is satisfactory, you pay what you agree.

How would you feel if your boss decided that you slagged off a bit this month so he's only paying you half your salary?

The time for negotiations are before the work is done. If it is not done to an acceptable standard then you would be justified to go back to them with a list of the things wrong and ask them to correct them or withhold some payment.