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.

Not getting into the price paid for the work but he gave his opinion on the amount of time it would take and the estimate of the total price, OP agreed and he went ahead on that basis. If he’d dawdled and dragged the job out, would that have been better? Instead, possibly due to his unique lawn laying expertise or something I dunno, he completed the job more quickly than he’d anticipated. It wouldn’t have been fair to only pay him half imho.

Just pay the guy! Because of he was booked in for 2.5 days that's 2.5 days where he wouldn't be able to book in any other work!

You're also paying for his expertise not just his time!

Who supplied the seed? I think YABU. He quoted you £500 for the job. Just because you pay him an hourly/daily rate usually if he quoted £500 that is the cost for this one off job.

also I assume if anything doesn’t go right with the reseeding he’ll be back to correct that too.

Did he supply tools, equipment and seed?

I feel if a tradesman gives you a quote for a job that's the price, regardless of the time taken (obviously within reason). Some tradesmen don't take breaks, some work at a faster rate than others due to experience/weather. I do feel you are being unreasonable here. If it had taken him longer would you have paid more?

I also feel you are looking for justification from others on here and aren't listening to those that have a difference of opinion. If you're not willing to listen, why ask?

YANBU. I would almost certainly have done the same as you.

You agreed to the amount. Pay it. Get a new gardener.

Edit - I see you paid him. Good.

Nah you’re being unreasonable. You were quoted a price for a job, not per hour. You agreed. The fact that he took quicker, shouldn’t penalise him. That would mean anyone really experienced who’s quick at their job would get paid less than someone on their first try because it would take them less time.
you complained, totally not right, so he reduced the fee by £100. Now it’s rained so he couldn’t come to water or didn’t need to, you want to reduce the fee again. That’s not how it works! You paid for a JOB/PROJECT. NOT per hour!

The gardener has lost your trust so you need to find another which is a pain. My parents have had difficulty finding one who is reliable despite them always paying properly no quibbling.
As to zero hours contracts I work one and there was a time when the company would send us home when we had finished the job generally 15 minutes to a half hour before our shift was scheduled to finish(8 hour shift). This was very annoying as we were losing maybe £5 a day and some people complained. People stopped wanting to work faster so sometimes the job wasn't finished at the end of the shift. In the end the company stopped doing that and whilst we are sometimes sent home after half a day we are not if it's only half an hour.

I'd pay him for the hours he worked then block the bastard.

That is a ridiculous comment Jellybunny56. This is a discussion. Isn't OP allowed to discuss?
Perhaps you don't like to hear from anyone who doesn't agree with you?

I see where you're coming from OP, and I'm not tight with tradesmen. I'll often tip an extra £50 if I'm happy when they're finished, even on a small job.

The same thing happened to me with a new painter recently. He quoted £600 saying it would take him a full two days and he was done in under a day. I felt duped. We agree a price because we think the daily amount is fair. It's particularly annoying when you're used to paying the gardener by the day.

When he normally does a daily rate for you, he should have said it took him less time than he thought (and no helper needed) and reduced the quote.

They don't like it up 'em Pike. 😂

The 'job' was reseed the lawn + 3 visits. He only reseeded the lawn with NO visits. You only pay for the completed job on a job rate. The angry misinformation on here is crazy.

If you hired a company to replace all the windows in your house, and they start packing up after only replacing one, you'd query it. If they shrugged and said, 'Oh we decided the rest of the windows didn't need replacing, but here's your full bill anyway as it's a job price,' would you pay it?

A fixed job price comes with fixed services. If the price is fixed, the services are fixed. I can't be any clearer. It's not 'here's the price, which is fixed, but I'll decide what I'll do, and when I'll do it, if at all, later...' That's not a job rate, it's a blank cheque.

If the gardener wants flexibility on deliverables, he can't have a fixed price, he needs hourly or an estimate. It's that simple. He's committed to the three visits if he wants the full 'job price'.

You're right, Manthide.

I've lived in my house for over 15 years and now have a gardener and a cleaner I can trust.
But it's taken a great deal of that time. to find an honest person and to build up a relationship with them, such that they're not always doing things in a way that's problematic for me.
You now can't trust the gardener; you were right to complain. It's up to you whether you feel you can now build on your existing relationship, such that you can get a working relationship you are happy with.
It may be he will be more careful in future.
Perhaps offer him the amount you think is fair, see what he says and then pay him what he wants reluctantly if he won't come down and find a new gardener.

You are splitting hairs over this.
He gave you a price for a job, which he has done. What would the point of him arriving each day to ‘water’ the lawn if it was raining anyway?
Are you on a water meter? That would have been an extra unnecessary expense to you if so.
If you have had the job done (I agree the rain did the watering) then be happy.
It’s probably better for your mental health to let this go rather than stew over it.

I would take advice from the Citizen's Advice Bureau as it sounds to me like he is in Breach of Contract.

You have proof he didn't stick to the agreement, which is a good start.

Do you have anything in writing or was it a verbal agreement, as they are more difficult to enforce ?

OP, I think you’ve been so unfairly treated on here. The gardener saw you coming alas. Anyone who has done gardening as a hobby knows that £500 for reseeding a lawn is extremely pricy. He thinks you’re a soft touch and he is highly resentful when you question it.

I’ve had the same experience with a handyman (charged a full day when he worked 11am to 5pm and didn’t finish the job).

like you, I will never use that tradesperson again so they lose years of custom due to one incidence of piss taking.

at the risk of over generalising, I have only had this happen with male trades, never women.

OP, you have learned a horrible lesson but know it’s not personal, some people will take advantage regardless: it’s in their nature. Best to never have anything to do with them again.

I think that you will lose the gardener that you have previously been very happy with if you continue to argue and pursue a sizeable reduction in cost.

I’d tell him that you are really disappointed that he lied to you, that it has damaged your trust in him, and that you will be looking for a new gardener since you can’t trust him any more. I would not pay him the extra.

Stupid, greedy man, trying to get more money for doing nothing.

I think people are being really harsh on here.

If the job took him less time than he thought, he should have said so and reduced his fee. That way the customer is happy and is likely to recommend him to others. This way he has lost a good customer, and she should leave bad reviews for him all over social media.

I recently had a guy come to paint our garage doors. He quoted for two days work. In the end the job took 1.5 days and that’s what he invoiced for. Excellent and honest.

I don't think you're in the wrong at all, OP. His note says quite clearly that he is giving you an estimated cost based on working hours. If the job had taken him longer, I would have expected the final bill to be higher based on what he wrote, and so less as he spent fewer hours on it than he estimated.

Yes but he has had to be available to water it if it hadn’t rained.

Id sack you as a client.