£52 to put together a chest of drawers - ripped of or reasonable?

[Fedup2311]

chest of drawers from Argos - 5 drawers. Had for 3 months, husband said will take him 3/4 hours to put together and doesn’t have time. I hired a professional to put together and he did in 2 hours and charged me £52. Is this reasonable? I feel worried as DH will be home soon and will say I’ve been a mug as the chest of drawers only cost us £85.

Good point, it certainly takes up a lot of time if you're doing his fair share of work around the house as well as your own. I couldn't afford that so tend to just do it all myself.

That seem fair. Are you okay tho? Is your husband abusive? X

On the cost, I always consider whether x amount is worth an hour of my time or not when deciding to pay for services.

I'm self-employed so it's easy for me to put a figure on a weekday hour but my partner is employed and does this too.

It doesn't matter the exact amount he charged, all that matters is what it was worth to you to get it done and not spend hours on it.

If neither of you wanted to do it what choice did you have?

You'll know in future to buy solid furniture.

I just couldn't bring myself to pay somebody to do that for me, I would totally 100% consider it wasted money. But that's just because I'm very independent, all of my kids have been taught flat pack and basic DIY. By 12-14 they could all do basic Ikea type flat pack, walk paper, prep for paint and gloss and lay laminate and beading. For us it's been out of necessity though.... my dad taught me as a kid and I'm a tight wad. Then I became disabled so taught the teens to save money and pass on life skills. They actually thanked me when they started leaving home 😁

If your DH. Didn't have time it's a fine price. I'm assuming you are disabled or Ill and couldn't do it yourself?

Well at least you can use the drawers now!

If neither of you were ever going to get round to doing the job, £52 sounds like a bargain.

I recently bought a bed from John Lewis, the building charge was £50. DD and I put it together in less than 20 mins, had I paid £50 I would have felt ripped off unless it took 2 hours.

It doesn't matter the exact amount he charged, all that matters is what it was worth to you to get it done and not spend hours on it.

As above. Your chest of drawers cost £137, probably still cheaper than buying a ready assembled set. Just bear in mind next time that an economy (e.g. cheap flat pack furniture) is not always the bargain it seems once you factor in time, energy or other costs associated. Sometimes it’s worth just paying the higher initial price for convenience.

If this guy works 8 hours a day and earns a grand total £400 p/w, less insurance and fuel you would find this acceptable would you ? If you aren't happy, do it yourself.

No, but a handyman does other skilled work. If he wasn't on this job he could have been other work, so you pay the going rate for his time.

A few years ago I paid £150 for two people to put together a large PAX wardrobe from IKEA. It took them 2 hours so they earned £75 an hour each.

To me that was worth it as there was no way I could have done it. It definitely was a 2 person job.

DD bought a chest of drawers from Argos last year. The instructions were really straightforward and she put it together herself in an evening.

Another one wondering why you didn't have a crack at it yourself.

She did call in an extra pair of hands when doing the wardrobe as it is a bit tricky hanging doors by yourself.

Very reasonable. We once turned down a similar service to put a bed together. Was the worst decision of my life. It was such a nightmare that I would pay twice the price of the bed if I was ever in that position again.

I agree.

I didn't realise this was a job I thought people put their own flat-packed furniture together. I don't think the price is unreasonable for 2 hours work but I'm struggling to understand how it took 2 hours to do this

I think it's a reasonable price. To the person who thinks gardeners are paid less: I'm not so sure. I am a gardener and my rates start at £25/hr and go up to £45 depending on the job.
There's lots of passive aggressive comments along the lines of 'have you broke your leg, why not do it yourself?'. Assembling flatpack doesn't need a degree but it not something everyone feels they can tackle or wants to tackle. There's a reason people can make a living doing it!

Why are you so aggressive? 😳

Very reasonable!

If your husband could have easily done it himself and saved money then he should have done it himself. If he's angry at anyone it'll be at himself.

Seriously - you've never assembled an IKEA anything then.

I had a professional assemble a bed for me recently. It took him over 4 hours. (Totally the issue with the IKEA product + assembly details).

Exactly.

It doesn't sound too much to me - but quite a lot relative to the cost of the units.

However, set against the cost of spending £85 for something you were not going to assemble, it seems excellent value!

Who would you have called to do it? what price per hour is your local handyman?

Why so aggressive and angry to someone asking for help. For all you know she’s disabled.

There are tradesmen in my town who specialise in putting flat packs together - no idea what they charge as we always do them. DS loves a flat pack!
However you might need to hire a skilled tradesperson even if the job itself isn't especially skilled. They might gave a flat rate of £xx per hour whether that's putting together a flatpack or doing something more complicated.