To have called out my gardener

[Whenindoubthugitout]

I have had a gardener this year. I have been really pleased and happy with the work he has done.

I asked him to reseed my lawn. Which he agreed to do.
The price he quoted was for 2.5 days work.

he reseeded it within a day, and I asked if the price would be reduced to reflect that it hasn’t taken him as long.

he said that - whilst it was reduced slightly - he would come out and water it daily for me whilst we were away, and that this was reflected in the pricing - which was fine.

we have been away all week, and he sent me a text this morning telling me I was due him the full amount.

however - I have a ring doorbell - and he hasn’t been out all week. (Tbf - it’s rained every day)

I called him out, and said I was unhappy to be paying for a job he hasn’t carried out.

he has now backtracked and said - oh yeah - but I plan to do three more trips (cynically I don’t believe him) and that he just didn’t want to bother me on holiday.

Aibu -to think he is trying it on -and the extra 3 trips are now because I called him out. And if he had initially intended to do these - he would have said so upfront……

I feel really sad. And let down
and slightly stupid for trusting someone to do something whilst I wasn’t there.

I have learned a lesson in this.
I hope he has too.

we have worked on an hourly basis from the start. So I had expected the £600 to be an estimate of cost and not a quote.

I should have clarified.

he should have also made it clear that it was a quote and not an estimate of cost.

the trust has now gone I would imagine.

all he needed to do was drop me a message saying - listen it’s rained all week - but I will do further aftercare to make sure it’s all ok.

but no - he waited til the Saturday and dropped me an invoice with no explanation of what had happened and what was still to happen.

Thanks - I needed that kicking.
Hope it made you feel better

I wouldn't have paid him. He did the job in less time that he stated and you pay him by the hour. I don't get other posters comments. And did I read it right that he lifer about coming to water it everyday but you saw on your cameras he lied! I don't trust a lot of trade people, they just want your money.

£250 a day?! That’s a huge salary. YANBU.

I live in south east and pay £25/hr which is fine as he can’t fill the day as has travel and bitty jobs. I’d never pay £250 for the day though.

*lied

I don't know if I'd pay him or not but I'd certainly not keep employing him.

Unless you live in a small stately home I’d get a new gardener - £600 for reseeding sounds a lot.

Why would he water the grass if it has rained every day?

And “call him out”? Seriously…how old are you? That’s playground talk.

What does the quote say?

Was he just labour or did he quote the job and supply the seed/ any required machinery / top dress etc.

I think you are probably being unreasonable here but I don’t know without the details

This is why you agree an hourly rate with people. Our gardener comes out for 3 hours on Tuesday and 3 hrs on Thursday every week at £20ph.
I just let him get on with it, he knows what needs doing. He's actually a God send and helps out with jobs that aren't really in the bounds of gardening such as splitting logs for the wood burner.

I’d be annoyed too OP. He must have known how long it would take him, and he deliberately exaggerated how long the job would take. When you challenged him, he backtracked and said the extra 1.5 days was actually for the watering element of the job. But then it rained every day, so he didn’t need to water it. Again he would have known that in September it’s likely there might be rain. He also lied to you about watering the garden, and you only knew that because of your Ring doorbell.

He’s a dishonest chancer, who knew you didn’t know enough about gardening to question his initial fee.

I would tell him that I was unhappy, that I would pay him because I had agreed to, but that I no longer wanted his services, and I would definitely not be recommending him to anyone.

I would pay him £250 and tell him I didn’t need him to come back, then find another gardener. If he had asked for £500 but immediately explained that as it rained he planned to come back later to maintain the lawn or whatever then I would pay him £500 and continue with his services.

Wow… my DH reseeds the lawn himself (big job this year as we were away for 2 weeks in the heatwave and it killed 50% of the lawn). It took quite a few hours one afternoon (quarter of an acre lawn) and regular nightly watering for several weeks afterwards. Even the reduced rate seems a bit steep, unless it also included the seed? But then, that’s £10-12/25sqm.

I’m afraid I’d find another gardener as my trust would be gone - the lying and the overpricing would undermine our relationship hereafter. Hate dishonesty.

Btw I just asked DP as he’s a gardener. He quoted a 10m diameter circle last week. Seed and materials came to c. £250 + he’s also on £250 a day. No hourly rate that’s the price for a visit.

materials included 10 bags premium topdress, wetting agent and a big bag of premium seed plus some complimentary prep on previous gardening visits of weed killer in preparation. 10% mark up on material costs.

No after visits

So depending on the size of your lawn it doesn’t sound far off tbh.

Take no notice of the bitchy comments. I totally understand why you feel lot down.

Of course you shouldn't pay him £250 for work he hasn't done.

He obviously thought he could get away with it. Didn't bank on you having a ring doorbell.

If it leads to needing to find a new gardener, they're 10 a penny. Why would you want to continue to engage someone whose tried to screw you out of £250?

He's a CF. And you've taught him that FAFO is real. He would have made more money if he'd compromised because you'd have kept him on.

He's an idiot.

@FoggyFriday he didn’t get the job done quicker than expected. He knew it was a smaller job than he said, and he was trying to get as much money as he could.

Someone on another thread was quibbling about paying a cleaner an extra £25 for work she'd actually done. You're well within your rights to expect not to pay £250 for work that hasn't been done.

In your shoes I would’ve done exactly as you have OP, paid him and look for a new Gardner. The trust has gone. Hope he understands why.

100% - OP doesn't want opinions, she wants to be told she is correct.

I think he should have adjusted his invoice allowing for the fact that he didn’t need to come and water it as it rained.

Since there’s a dispute with the cost, I’d ask to see a receipt/full breakdown of the costs of materials and labour etc. If he feels justified to charge £500 for his work, then the receipt should show proof of that. If not, he should be adjusting the price according to the work he has actually done.

Sorry to hear that you paid him OP. Hope you find yourself a new gardener coz this guy was clearly taking the piss. Very short-sighted of him to con you like that. Hope the £250 was worth it for him.

If he'd taken over the 2.5 days, would you have paid him extra? Probably not because you'd be saying he said it would only take X amount of time
He's charged you appropriately.

If you finish all your work early, you expect to be paid because that's your hours.

My joiner has a daily rate, if he finishes early I pay what we agreed and if he finishes late, I pay him what we agreed

I see you've paid him , that's the right thing to do xx