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.

£10 if they're on their uppers, if they have a nice pension, £20.

I would give £20 but feel I was being generous

£60 was too much. I would have expected him to say so and give £40 back.

£60?!

That’s generous of them, if they have the money to then it up to them I guess. It’s their money!

For me personally though that’s excessive.

Edited to add: Another reason why I like people to be specific in their pricing so I don’t go overboard OR shortchange them.

Blimey I'm glad I love in the north if that's how expensive a pint is.

That said would give 10-15.

Okay thanks, friends husband is a tradesman but I suppose is also sort of a friend too so maybe that’s where it gets confusing? I agree it would feel weird giving him cash for minor jobs, he’s done things like put up shelves or change bulbs and the wipers in my car so not really jobs related to his change. Very confusing though, I think even if it was a tradesman I didn’t know if they said give me a drink I’d have given a drink. Things like this are such a minefield!

£60?! And he accepted it?? Blimey. I mean, he wasn’t wrong exactly to accept it because it was offered and everything but that’s a heck of a lot!

£60 was a bit much really, however, he will be available at other times and will prioritise your parents hopefully. I mean, it COULD have been a real emergency. He'll be a good contact to have if nothing else.

Wow £60 was a lot- I'm surprised he accepted it from pensioners. I would give £20 personally (south).

Just to add, they are not well off and the £60 was their shopping money. My mum just got the cash out of her purse and showed him the notes and he took it all - I too would have expected him to hand at least £20 back!

I’d give £10 for a lightbulb. £20 if he’d been there a while.

I now think he was pretty rude to accept the £60! He should have handed some of it back, especially as they supplied the bulb! He asked for A drink, not a whole bottle of Moet!

He doesn’t sound like an honest and trustworthy person to have around your parents. I wouldn’t use his services again.

oh dear, your poor dm

Agree. Doesn't sound like a trustworthy trade person. Not one I'd have back again, at least.

she needs to ask around in case they need a tradesperson again, but not him!

Yeah in your case even though he is a tradesman by profession, I would still expect to give a drink or a box of his favourite chocolates etc as opposed to handing over a tenner since he’s also a friends husband so I really doubt he expects that. My friend has did little things for me which are loosely related to her profession and to say thanks I’ve picked up the tab for coffee or lunch. It wouldn’t cross my mind to slip her a tenner!

I wouldn’t have known it meant cash either in OP’s situation. Very confusing indeed! I’m not autistic but also ND, and the lack of clarity would annoy me 😆

I've rationalised it by thinking if he said up front I'll come and look at this job to quote but my call out is £60 they may have accepted those terms.
I think it's because he said no charge and then took £60 that it seems a rip off.

My husband is an electrician and has a £50 call out fee (deducted from any work that needs doing)

I doubt he'd charge it in this instance though but I also doubt he'd have accepted £60 if he had just added it onto his day and it was on his way home.

£60 for a call out is reasonable in my book.

That was at the very least a mean thing for him to do and at worst he was looking to rip them off in the first place. Sadly there are many who are happy to make money in that way.

Did you tell your parents that wasn't a sensible thing to do? Are they likely to get into the same (or even worse) situation again? Or was it just an error of judgement and they now realise they were conned?

£60?! To change a bulb. That's too much. A tenner would have been enough.

For those mentioning call out charges, these have to be stated and agreed in advance and the guy didn't tell OP's parents about any call out charge, just said give me a drink then took the money he was offered. Call out charge doesn't come into it, on this occasion. He was a chancer.

OP- I'd also speak to your parents about showing their cash to tradesmen! He shouldn't have taken the £60, but what if your DM had £100 or £200 in there? Would she have got that wad out and showed him the lot? 😬

Just read the updates. OP, that’s sad to hear they gave their shopping money away! Do you know why they did that?

I asked a friend how much one of her handmade goods costs, she said “how much do you think it’s worth? ” I told her to just let me know how much you want then I’ll pay that. I wasn’t happy about being asked to put a value on her work. It’s like extra work for me having to figure out what they think is a reasonable price!

I dislike these open-ended requests for payments because it’s human nature not to want to appear stingy, but you can easily get carried away and be ripped off . I believe that’s why some people do make these request tbh.

Next time that happens, please ask your parents to insist on some sort of guide price. £60 isn’t “ no charge!”