Is my partner overcharging my mum for work he has done?

[Lleeaahh1992]

My mums house was in a state of disrepair and needed plastering painting and lots of old furniture getting rid of her house hadnt had anything done to it for 25 years. My mum isnt in the best of health and is also a carer for my dad who is bed bound.

My partner offered to do the painting and get his dad to help him as his dad is a retired plasterer and painter. My partner isnt a painter but is pretty good at it, but he cant plaster thats why he was getting his dad to help. Anyway it turned out the housing association done the plastering so she only needed some things polyfilling and the house painting. He said he would get his dad anyway as it would be quicker that way.

It was agreed they would be paid £10 per hour each, he said they would probaly be working 10 hour days but if it varied they would only charge for the hours worked.

Anyway my mum waited two months for my partner to start as he kept putting it off but finally started last week and has just finished. The thing thats bothering me is most of the days he has worked, he has finished at a half hour or less so e.g 7.5 hours, 6.5 hours and so on and his dad only worked 3 days out of the 7. He has now said any day that he finished part way through the hour even by 10 minutes he is charging the full hour because thats how it works he says. So altogether he is charging for 6 lots of half hours that he didnt work, and 3 lots of half hours for his dad that his dad didn't work. And he is charging 39 pound for his dads travel for the 3 days he worked. So altogether it is £84 added onto the bill. Im not happy about this because he agreed with my mum he would only charge what they worked and said nothing about travel for his dad .

When iv broached it with him he has told me to keep out of it as he is the one sorting it out and he done some bits an bobs for free a few months ago like dismantling and removing furniture because my mum was struggling. Shall i stand my ground and say this is unfair and was not agreed to or just leave him to it?

F

I'm so sorry OP, what a horrible side of him to discover.

In your shoes I would tell him that you are now dealing with this matter, and you will pay him on the basis originally agreed. Tell your mum that you're sorting it out, it's X amount and under no circumstances is she to pay him a penny that isn't via you.

I'm not sure how this relationship would continue after this.

God knows what happened in my last post.
I've reported it!!!

I'm trying to imagine my partner charging my Mum for work and us still being married after that... nope! can't do it!

My husband and my sisters fellas have all done "work" for my Mum from assembling sheds to fencing to decorating her house and all sorts in between. Of course she offered to pay but quite rightly they said no!

@pepsicolagirl

I'm trying to imagine my partner charging my Mum for work and us still being married after that... nope! can't do it!

My husband and my sisters fellas have all done "work" for my Mum from assembling sheds to fencing to decorating her house and all sorts in between. Of course she offered to pay but quite rightly they said no!

No neither can I. My husband would have went and done it for free, as it’s not his trade, but to help out. I can’t imagine he’d charge, never mind try to rip them off. It takes a special type of low life to do that.

@Somethingkindaoooo it was his sibling not son and it was 100 hrs worth of work
Not all tradesmen can afford to goi doing work for all the family for free
I find it strange that so many on here would expect a family member to come and do work for free
My dh saved his sibling well over a thousand pounds than if he had got someone else and it wash't something they could do or just a bit of diy
Also its really none of your business anyway

@yearinyearout only on mumsnet do they on the whole house painted for £1000 that size
Tradesmen round here are mor like £150 to cover all other costs etc , ones that are putting through the books anyway

Some of this is difficult. Trains can be very expensive at peak time. The travel expenses might be real.

If you are looking at 100 per man per day (which in many areas is not that much then the overall cost is looking to be about 1000 plus materials.

Your mum’s house sounds as though it really was in a state and a lot of work has been done there and perhaps she is really pleased with it.

Perhaps your partner is terrible with quoting/billing.

I think it would be reasonable for you to sit down with him and go through how the total has been arrived at.

If you then determine that he’s taking advantage of your elderly parents then get rid of him.

@Eleganz ha don't usually decorate that for the tenant

He’s a CF and there’s no way in the world I’d let anyone-especially not my DH, rip my mum off!

Cheeky git.

I can't believe how many on here feel so entitled that they would expect a family member to come and work for them for free
We aren't talking putting a couple of shelfs up but some here would expect there family tradesmen to do hrs and hrs for not a penny
The op mum was obviously unable to do and happy to pay, maybe the op partner as well as that would help them out also
What is wrong is that he is overcharging and really would of been better if he just agreed a price at the beginning and you then incl things like travel! In to the cost.
Also you may of got someone professional round to quote and then do it for a substantial amount less and not qualified

[quote donewithitalltodayandxmas]@Somethingkindaoooo it was his sibling not son and it was 100 hrs worth of work
Not all tradesmen can afford to goi doing work for all the family for free
I find it strange that so many on here would expect a family member to come and do work for free
My dh saved his sibling well over a thousand pounds than if he had got someone else and it wash't something they could do or just a bit of diy
Also its really none of your business anyway [/quote]
I agree with you here . Posters saying their DH would not take money off any family and friends EVER for any job must be incredibly financially secure. Sure we would never take money off parents. But who can afford to work full time on a job for their friend for 4 weeks and not take penny for your time simply because they are family and friends .

@pepsicolagirl maybe you don't need the money though?
Your talking out odd job here and there not a whole week , maybe op parent offered to pay them as knew they needed money as well and this say she got work done
My dh is a tradesmen and mates rate and family is a pain in the arse , family expecting work for nothing , when actually we loose out as he could be doing work for someone else paid , so actually it costs us .
Ok in tHis instance he isn't in the trade but we have no idea if he works and has taken a weeks holiday , the OP doesn't seem to mind the charging , its the charging for more than was done

I painted and decorated my mum's small bedroom and main bedroom after my dad passed away, it was pretty yuk, hadn't been touched in 20 years and was nicotine yellow. I bought all the materials. I also spent a whole weekend jetwashing her huge patio which is bigger than my entire garden. It wouldn't have entered my head to monetise this..

@donewithitalltodayandxmas

I can't believe how many on here feel so entitled that they would expect a family member to come and work for them for free We aren't talking putting a couple of shelfs up but some here would expect there family tradesmen to do hrs and hrs for not a penny The op mum was obviously unable to do and happy to pay, maybe the op partner as well as that would help them out also What is wrong is that he is overcharging and really would of been better if he just agreed a price at the beginning and you then incl things like travel! In to the cost. Also you may of got someone professional round to quote and then do it for a substantial amount less and not qualified

I don’t know about anyone else but I’m not saying DH wouldn’t charge because my family is entitled.

My mam would absolutely try to pay him, and he would absolutely point blank refuse to take money from her.

He’d do whatever work she needed in the evenings/weekends and keep his day job going.

He should stick to the agreement. I think charging for the whole hour if you've gone into it by more than 15 mins is fair enough but not for family! And as for telling you to keep out of it that's horrible. He wouldnt expect you to keep out of it if your mum had used someone else.

@Peppafrig yes thats the thing what people don't realise is whilst doing the free jobs he could be doing a paid job
Now he doesn't mind going and doing a little thing here and there for nothing but a large job he has to charge.
Also tbf apart from his sibling none of my family would take the piss , my mum insists on paying him if its a large job as well as how she sees it , is she would rather give us the money than a stranger plus she gets someone she trusts
Same as he has charged his own mum again way cheaper so we lost out as he could of been working for a stranger on £150 a day
We don't have family members in general who expect free work ,if your friend was a cleaner you wouldn't ask them to come and clean your house for free

@OhCaptain he has a day job some don't or a trade is their day job

@OhCaptain has your mum got your dh to paint her whole house though ?
Or had him round doing over a weeks worth of work

Blimey, my BIL (sister's husband) is in the trade and regularly does work for my mum, he would never dream of charging her, even though he could be doing a paid job instead. He says that my mum raised his wife and the least he can do is do work for free for her. Your partner doesn't sound like a very nice person.

@ImInACage then they must be financially secure for him to do that and i bet its the odd job , or you saying he has taken a week off paid work to do this for your mum

He should stick to the agreement. I think charging for the whole hour if you've gone into it by more than 15 mins is fair enough but not for family! And as for telling you to keep out of it that's horrible. He wouldnt expect you to keep out of it if your mum had used someone else.

Plus - the £1400 quoted included plastering, which they didn't do.

So all of you expecting that family should do free work and a large amount
If your family member works as a cleaner would you expect them to come and clean your house For free ?
Surely thats the same thing as if your bil is a tradesmen and expecting them to work for free

[quote donewithitalltodayandxmas]@OhCaptain has your mum got your dh to paint her whole house though ?
Or had him round doing over a weeks worth of work [/quote]
Yep. My sister, too.

He’s not a painter but he’s very good at it.

And OP’s partner doesn’t do this professionally either.

I have a BIL who’s an electrician, another who’s a plumber. They’ve done work for me. I’ve tried to pay them, they never take it.

When DH paints for them or does IT for them, they try to pay him - he won’t take it.

Maybe it’s different where you are but around here we tend not to charge family. 🤷🏻‍♀️

@OhCaptain you are very lucky that your DH can take weeks off unpaid to do that then I wish I was in that position.