£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.

How on earth can your DH be angry when he refused to do it?

It's a reasonable hourly rate but I'd be asking why an experienced handyman takes 2 hours to put a set of flat pack drawers together

Having just assembled a CuddleCo nursery wardrobe, I beg to differ!

Yeah, the ikea twin double wardrobe with mirrored sliding doors I did was a bit of a beast (I think its supposed to be their trickiest) as was the single bed with pull-out bed.

Hiring someone for fairly simple jobs always costs a lot, people pay to have washing machines and dishwashers put when the plumbing is already there and they just need connecting so in the scheme of things it was reasonable.

If you were my neighbour I'd happily have done it for £10 an hour, or sent my teen around. I think you were unreasonable to call a professional.

That's not true.

I put a 4 door/6 drawer wardrobe together several years ago.

I was in my early 60s at the time and working on my own. It certainly took me more than 3-4 hours.

Because it's probably not worth his time to do a one-hour job once he factors in travel and other costs.

£1,040 a week you mean?

I think it’s very subjective/personal … for me that’s expensive but can understand why others view it as good value - and I also agree with their reasoning.

Yes, this is it. It depends on how much the job is worth to you and how easily/willingly you would do it yourself. Regardless of the straightforwardness of the job, the main cost is a person's time - and not a friend, but a professional earning their living.

I always think this when people object to paying for a cup of tea or a sandwich at a cafe, when they moan that they could make it much more cheaply themselves at home: your choices are either to do it yourself for very little cost or to pay somebody else to do it for you and pay their livelihood-earning rates.

I also wonder if this is what goes through the heads of employers who cavil at having to pay minimum wage to their staff for relatively unskilled work - they want to have it all their own way in that they're thinking how simply they could do it themselves in their floccinaucinihilipilification of the job, and yet they nevertheless wouldn't dream of actually doing it themselves.

Was he fixing it to the wall as well? Ours certainly didn't take that long but they are only three drawers high so not fixed.

You paid them £150 each you mean? Otherwise they were paid £37.50 per hour each.

£1,040 a week you mean?

Regardless of the maths, though, I highly doubt that's the kind of job you can guarantee a solid regular 8 hours of work every day.

I put together DH's new pretty modest flat pack shed last week. I'm qualified as a carpenter and work swiftly. It took 4 hours.

I agree on the face of it 2 hrs seems a long time for a chest of drawers, but without knowing how big or involved they are, who knows?

You could have saved the money by doing it. No point blaming your husband.

If your husband is fussed about the cost he should have found the time to do it himself. I don't think it's bad when you consider he had to get to you etc, would you go to someone's house and assemble a piece of furniture for 25quid? Seems like so little that you wouldn't bother. Personally unless there is a disability at play I think you should have given it a go yourself, you probably would have surprised yourself.

Some years ago I was self employed in the building trade and I can think of two instances when I built flat pack furniture.

The first was when I was asked for a price to fit a kitchen, I gave two prices, the first was for fully assembled units and the second, a lot higher, was for assembling them myself.
The lady of the house said her husband would assemble them.
I arrived to start the job and she asked if I would also assemble them, her husband had been up until 4 that morning and all he had managed was to incorrectly assemble one unit.
I assembled and fitted that kitchen.
Another time a regular client asked if I would assemble a wardrobe for him.
(I had refitted three restaurants for him so he knew my work well)
I gave a reasonable quote and it took me about four times as long as I expected as it was a very complex and fancy wardrobe.
He was delighted with the result and asked if I would do the same job for his brother, for some reason his brother did not want to pay four times as much.
Sometimes an experienced person can do an assembly very quickly, but you are paying for their knowledge and for their tools, electric screwdrivers make it quick but a good quality one casts a lot.

I love doing flat pack-if this is what they can charge i need a career change! I’d be annoyed if DH did this

It took him 2 hours because he's good at it and experienced at it. It would have taken you or DH longer, and I guess the guy had to travel to yours to do it. And the job is now done. So I think it's an OK price.

£26 an hour is a perfectly acceptable rate I'd say.

We pay for all out jobs and decorating to be done by a professional, it saves loads of stress. Neither my DH and I are good in this department.

Bloody hell do people pay for others to do this? Might get a side hustle!

It doesn't seem particularly expensive to me. Not sure it should have taken 2hrs though but I'd expect to pay same if it took him 30mins or 2 hrs really. Its a one off fidly job and he's had to travel to you to do it. If I was doing any 'small job' like maybe putting up a shelf or a blind, maybe swapping handles on a few doors, plumbing in a washing machine etc, I'd want £50 just for turning up. He's unlikely to get regular work from you.
Now if you had him in for say 2 days I wouldnt expect to pay £26/hr for an unskilled person.
The trick is to mention a small job that they might wanna do for £20 while they're there. I bet the 2hr job would run 'remarkably well' and be done in half the time.
Of course the real trick so you don't need to rely on OHs and paid help is....😉

I wouldn't be making flatpacks but fortunately DH likes doing them.

The first was when I was asked for a price to fit a kitchen, I gave two prices, the first was for fully assembled units and the second, a lot higher, was for assembling them myself.
The lady of the house said her husband would assemble them.
I arrived to start the job and she asked if I would also assemble them, her husband had been up until 4 that morning and all he had managed was to incorrectly assemble one unit.
I assembled and fitted that kitchen.

I trust that she stumped up the higher price without complaint - and wasn't one of these people grumbling at having to pay for a 'stupidly easy' job that they have conclusively proven isn't easy at all?!