How much is 'a drink' in payment terms for a tradesman?

[cockapup]

My elderly parents contacted a tradesman on a local FB group as needed an outside light replacing. The tradesman said he'd pop round after finishing another local job to assess. As it turned out it was a bulb needing replacing so took him less than 10 mins. He kindly said no charge but just give me a 'drink'.

How much would you give? Just wondering if what my parents gave was excessive- I'll reveal amount later.

Oh for goodness sake, of course they aren't 'dickheads', what a horrible post. I would have been flustered too, the only way buying a drink would make sense is if they regularly see this man in the pub! He should have either said no charge or asked for an exact amount, asking for a drink was very unclear if he's not a friend.

Your poor mum op, I'm sure you've advised them to involve you going forwards, when engaging with workmen.

Thank you for all the replies. Just to clarify, my parents weren't expecting him to fix it there and then. He was called to provide a quote as mum thought the fitting was broken and would need replacing.

When he arrived he took the fitting apart and saw the bulb casement had come away. Mum had one of the bulbs so he replaced it. He said no charge as it was on his way home anyway. But then took £60!

I don't think I will contact him as if he had quoted £60 I know my parents would have accepted that price. It's only that he said 'a drink' that set us wondering what others would have thought/ done.

£20, time travelling and appreciation for his honesty.

Sorry, I'm not sure if you are confused or I am.

The OP talked about, whats beer money.
You only give "beer money" in place of what the job is worth.
Therefore, 5 to 20 at the very top end for a decent amount of work

I live in a village with one pub and have known all the tradesmen that we use for years (since childhood in many cases). I suppose if you live in a big city things might be different.

This

Def contact him

Thank him for his quick work and say next time a price would be more suited to your parents

And please warn your parents , be very wary of showing all cash

I would also contact the admin on the Fb page. Assume local town group

And mention that he he'd said a drink and then took £60 and give his name

Be interesting if any other complaints about him

Thats a bit harsh.
Op only has one side of the story. He asked for a 'drink' which can also be taken as - donate me what you think my time is worth to you.

The Mother took her money out her purse - he possibly thought she meant him to take it all - and he took it.

What Op could do is contact him quietly and ask - Did you really mean to take as much as £60 for 30min work, from my elderly parents. He fixed the fitting and changed the bulb.
But if he'd been working to a minimum call out it would have been probably £70 for the first hour. And £60 isnt that unreasonable.

Not harsh. Just ask admin in private has there been any mentions /messages /queries about this man

I'm not saying do it on public forum via post ans ruin his name

But our local admin Fb group does say if any issues with tradesman let them know and they keep a private note

I would say £10-20. It's 5 minutes work.

He took £60😳 that’s just terrible, he’s taken complete advantage of your parents & without doubt, I’d name & shame him.

Hes totally ripped them off!

Yes but he didn't do a quote, he said no charge, then drink money. That isn't £60. It's £10, maximum £20.

Eventually those guys will die out and then you’ll all deserve what you get - which is a call out fee and then an hourly rate including going to get the fitting and the vat on all of it.

as I said above, at least £100 in todays climate.

£100 to put a bulb in? Yeah OK 🤣🤣

He could have charged a call out fee but he didn't, he said just a drink so he should have taken £20. I suspect he thought OPs mum was offering the £60 but anyone decent would have taken £20 from them and been on their way

You do realise £100 is more than a lot of people make for an 8 hour shift with a commute there and back? These people just can't afford to give someone £100 for a 5 minute light bulb change. It's not insulting to not want to give someone £100 for 5 minutes when you have just worked all day for less.

Sounds like Brumhilda may be the tradesman 🫢

You do realise that of that £100
£20 would go straight to the tax man

So that leaves £80
Small businesses have Expenses
Fuel & maintenance of the van.
Tools
Accounts fees
Advertising
Money set aside to cover holiday pay and sick pay
Pension (someone employed will have employers contributions self employed won't)

Someone who is doing smaller reactive maintenance type jobs may have days with no or little work, they also need time to go and price jobs up thats time thats unpaid.

It's not a straight forward comparison between someone self-employed and someone employed

£20

I'm even more confused now.

Beer money is what you might ask for a small extra job that only took a few minutes and didn't seem worth the bother of invoicing.

Unless it was helping out a good friend or family member, I can't think of any tradesman who would work for an entire day or more and then just say "Oh, buy me a drink" instead of stating the actual cost.

Beer money is for trivial things; if it's a major job or a valuable asset changing hands, the transaction would not just be beer money.

Did he fix it with his sonic screwdriver?

But at least that's honest, and people know where they stand and can either budget for it or manage without the work being done for the time being.

He'd offered to pop in on his way home, to help two very elderly people, and the work was the simplest task for virtually anybody (tradesman or not) who is fit and healthy.

If you worked professionally in waste management and your elderly and/or disabled neighbour mentioned that they struggle to move their wheelie bin out for collection, would you figure that they should pay you dearly (or even at all) for a couple of minutes of your time doing something extremely easy (for you)?

Of course, the electrician could have just turned down the job/say he couldn't fit them in, or told them his standard call-out and part-hour terms - however, some tradesmen would see it as establishing their reputation and cheap advertising.

If a friendly local electrician popped by to change a bulb for you (assuming you were frail/vulnerable and not just lazy) and only accepted a token small amount for doing it, who are you instantly going to think of as trustworthy and clearly not a rogue trader for the job when you need your whole house rewiring a little further down the line?

If he'd really wanted to be dishonest, he'd have sucked air through his teeth 😬, oh it needs a new fitting, I can get you one at £x plus my standard call out charge £79 plus VAT...

The more I think about it the more I think he thought she was offering the full £60.

Exactly what I thought hence my prices for "beer money."

IMO, some FM are confused and failing to understand the meaning of 'beer money.'

He asked for Beer money which is basically an alternative to paying the full cost of minimum call out fee plus vat.

So that's what you have to compare it to.