I've been done but he's my friends husband

[Mottledhellibore]

My friends husband is a tradesman. I asked if he could cut and screw 3 lengths of planks to a small bedroom, cladded ceiling. I had bought the wood. He took and hour and 20 minutes to do it. I will be painting. He charged me £80. I feel this is excessive and want to ask if he had included the planks in the price
The issue is he is my friends husband and I don't want to cause any awkwardness but equally I feel hurt that I've been taken advantage of. I didn't expect it for free, just not that price. Any thoughts? Thank you

My DH is a heating engineer and tbh I tell people now that his domestic cards have lapsed (he mainly does commercial at work) because it was getting ridiculous (and awkward!) how many people expect him to work for mates rates/free. He already does a full working week, the last thing he wants to do in his spare time is work as a favour to others.

Good on him for charging the going rate - he’s probably done that so you don’t ask again

£60 per hour, and its normal to charge for the full hour if you go into another hour or kinder folks charge for the half hour, sounds like he's charged you for the 20 minutes, not the half hour or full hour, which may well be your 'mates rates' favour.

It hasn't cost him less because you're friends with his wife, its taken him the same amount of effort and time as working for a stranger 10 minutes away.

Ultimately if you don't like what tradies charge, learn how to do the jobs yourself and invest in all the tools... most folk don't want to, or can't, do that.

You should have agreed on the price beforehand

I was thinking it might have been a strategic (minor) overcharge to put the OP off ever using him again! He probably didn't want a bitty little job like that in the first place but the friend talked him into it.

That sounds very reasonable indeed. Have you looked at the price of planks? Get real, you were charged 'mates' rates' and very good ones at that.

OP explains in her very first post that she bought the wood herself, so yes she has looked at the price.

It's not an hour though. He'll probably block out half a day for travel time and so on, so it's far from unreasonable.

I'd like to see you try to find someone who is prepared to do it for less.

It’s actually 40 as they will round up the time.

That’s not at all expensive.

Bet @Mottledhellibore expected it to be free.

Freeloader type of friend.

Second the poster who is a heating engineers wife. My husband works very hard during the week so will reluctantly do "homers" for friends and family. I say reluctant because the majority expect it for free or will "sort him out with a couple of pints" next time they see him out. He went to college for 3 years to learn his trade and now has decades of experience. Can't really put a price on that IMO but yet they expect him to drop everything (often late at night) to run to their aid. I've often said he should charge them an emergency call out charge.

How much were you expecting to pay ?

Some of these men charge £200 for their specialist techniques.

I think you need to reframe this as you were probably expecting 'mates rates'. Always best to get the price nailed down first before anything begins.

Remember that extras will cost more.

That's not all profit though. Tradespeople buy and maintain their own tools, have liability insurance, pay NI and taxes, VAT, transport costs etc.
And some of those costs will work out more per hour if the job is short.

An hour and twenty - £80 sounds like mates rates to me. We live near London and would definitely have been charged more than this. It's a skill.

£80 seems very reasonable to me.

From my experience, tradespeople prefer bigger jobs than 1 off small jobs. It's a much more effective use of his time and less effort staying at 1 location for a few days/ weeks than managing 2 hours here or there (including travel time in between jobs).

What would you consider reasonable?? I think £80 is fine. Next time agree the price upfront. If you complain about this you’ll look very bad imo.

Do your friends with PhDs have to spend thousands on tools and a vehicle to move them around in?

I had a similar experience but with a friend, she charged for something I didn’t ask for and my DH paid when I wasn’t here as he didn’t know. I don’t see her anymore, I don’t want to be friends with someone grabby.

I've got a self build going on that I am managing and the cost of timber is crazy. I would expect to pay £80 to sit and chat to a tradie currently. If you can find one.

I don't think £80 is excessive. I wouldn't assume he's over charged given the time spent. Did you expect mates rates? That's hardly fair. Here a locksmith would charge far more and spend much less time. A plumber might charge that just for the call out, if not more.

Hi
mu husband is a handyman and that is a reasonable sun to charge for over an hours work, although I admit it sounds a lot-it is the going rate.
unfortunately it is problematic when employing friends to do work for us - my husband will slightly reduce his rate for friends/family but still has to earn a living.
maybe ask the price up front next time?
😊x

Just to confirm it was a handymans job of using 9 screws to fix 3 planks onto the edge of a ceiling. Nothing skilled.

Then why didn't you do it yourself then?

Perhaps OP if it's "nothing skilled" you could have done it yourself in just over an hour?