Lawn mowing - please tell me he was taking the piss!

[TattyDevine]

Running round like a blue arsed fly this week and the lawn was looking pretty lush, but I just didn't want to find the time to do it. I would have let it go, but DH is hopefully coming home on Friday night from a long and unpleasant trip abroad and I don't want him to get up on Saturday morning and look outside and feel a sense of obligation - just a sense of being glad that he is home. Nor do I want to feel that same sense of obligation after a busy week.

So I put out a shout out on our local community group did anyone want to mow and strim a not that big lawn sometime this week.

All the usual crap with people tagging their mates and linking to non lawn related businesses and then an eager chap messaged me and said he could do it today. I gave him my address and he dutifully turned up.

He did the job, was nice and thorough, but was here less than an hour. No talk of how much the job would cost took place before he did the job.

I asked him what I owed him. He said "eighty"

I said "18?"

He said, "no eighty ....errr... is that too much?" (looking sheepish).

I told him that my previous bloke cost £20, which was about 2 years ago.

I pay £20 to get my car cleaned
£15 an hour for my cleaner
I'd expect to pay about £80 if I got an electrician or plumber round to look at something. Or some of bushes chopped down with disposal.

But not a basic lawn mow on a garden of this size. It ain't Downton Abby.

AIBU?

Taking the piss.

I get mine done every 3 weeks for £20 a time. £80 is taking the piss.

Taking the piss but YABU not to check the price beforehand

YANBU
But you should have discussed costs up front

Oh yes, it's 120 foot by 20 foot so not a postage stamp.

£80 is well and truly taking the piss but unfortunately, you must agree on a price before the work starts otherwise you end up in this situation!

Surely to goodness you check beforehand!

But yes £20 is about the mark.

He asked was that too much, he knew full well he was taking the piss.
But why didn't you get a price first?!

Did he bring his own lawn mower with him?

I think that’s incredibly expensive but the last time there was a thread about gardeners, loads of people ploughed on saying ‘ah but you’re not paying for their time to mow the lawn. You’re also paying for their time to get to and from your house, to maintain their machinery, to renew their insurance’
Most of which is applicable to lots of other trades and services who don’t charge anywhere close to that
Eg my window cleaner has to travel, have insurance, maintain equipment but charges £15

I pay £15 a fortnight. Large corner garden on the corner of a cul-de-sac

How long does it take them to cut your grass @LandGirlJudy?

DP is a gardener and charges £20 an hour but he doesn’t do 1-hour jobs because he doesn’t need to - he gets booked in for a morning or full day so no travelling/fuel etc needed. But still wouldn’t charge £80 for one lawn!

You should have agreed a price before he started, but yes, he was taking the piss. How much did you pay him? Maybe add a comment back to the post so he doesn’t fleece anyone else 😐.

Absolutely taking the piss.
In the longer term, just tell OH that Monty Don said that we shouldn't be cutting our lawns so often to give some respite to ground burrowing insects, including bees.

Job done.

My lawn guy spends about 45 minutes strimming and cutting my large-ish back lawn and front lawn combined, and charges £15. He spends 10 minutes, if that, On my NDN’s tiny front lawn and charges them £5

I’m self employed so I understand costs are higher but £80 sounds like a complete rip off

You should have made him leave you the lawnmower!

Always agree a price beforehand. Did you pay him?

Jesus...that's ridiculous.

Schoolboy error nt agreeing the price beforehand.

And you don't say what you ended up paying?

How much did you give him? I think £20 an hour for a gardener is reasonable.

Surely the first question is how much do you charge?!

@Palavah

Taking the piss but YABU not to check the price beforehand

This

I wouldn’t have let him start without knowing a price.

Our gardener is £15 per hour.

£15 an hour here too. £80 is taking the piss and he knows it when he asked if it was too much. Did you come to a compromise, OP?

He did the job, was nice and thorough, but was here less than an hour. No talk of how much the job would cost took place before he did the job.

So you didn’t ask? You assumed it was going to be xyz but didn’t confirm?

If that is the case, YABVU.

Why didn’t you ask before he came? How would you know how to pay him if there was no conversation about money at all?

All the usual crap with people tagging their mates and linking to non lawn related businesses and then an eager chap messaged me and said he could do it today. I gave him my address and he dutifully turned up.

When he messaged you, this was the perfect time to ask about his fee.

He was also unreasonable for not giving a fee and doing the work before it was established.