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

The price sounds about right. Though I'm surprised you didn't ask him about costs beforehand and also surprised he didn't mention cost when you didn't ask.

Were you assuming he would be doing it as a favour or did he give you that impression? I once had this from someone laying carpet. The house was a complete renovation so we already agreed a quote of over £3k i think. He said the floor felt a bit wobbly in one place and told (rather than asked) me that he'd "have a look". Then later told me he'd had a look and found a split in part of a floorboard and fixed a small piece of wood underneath as a batten to strengthen it. I expressed gratitude. Then a week later got his invoice and he'd added £300 + vat for it. I did pay it but I felt annoyed as he had never reverted and asked if he should go ahead, never mentioned an additional charge or what it might be and 300 seemed a lot.

Sounds reasonable rate to me.

My comment wasn't aimed at you (or anyone, I didn't call anyone out) it was aimed at the whole ridiculous concept of the mumsnet martyr that always pops up on these threads.

You (I figured) where making the same type of point.

My partners day rate is pretty large and I asked him about this post and he said you did get mate rates and more than fair

I think that most people think their DIY skills are better than what they are (due to places like Homebase etc) so they think ah I could do that but I will get x in to do it for ease (which really probably is the subconscious a knowledgment that no they can’t). Most people undervalue tradies years worth of experience because they think their skills are somewhat on par with the tradesman . Until they do some dodgy DIY job and then often get a tradie to come in and fix the botch job.

i do get the feeling though that op didn’t expect to be charged at all or it was a case of I will get him some beer.

Thing is that some tradies spot people who take the piss (having probably dealt with chancers all through their career) and tend to price their jobs high so they don’t have to do them because they think that person will be difficult. My partner does this and is booked up fully until summer - if your good at your job and skilled - work comes to you not the other way around. So you aren’t doing a tradie a favour getting them in for a hour or so and slinging them a fiver is what I’m saying

Sounds like he charged half a days rate (still cheap)

did he do a good job ?

The problem is when you have a trade the world and his wife except “favours and cheap rates”
Probably charges full rate to avoid this as you said you won’t ask him again as he’ll be pissed off with doing “favours” for everyone

Yes, but on a job like that he’s not going to be working and charging for the hours either side of that so what you’ve worked out is not an hourly rate by any means. There’s the obvious downside of small jobs that you don’t walk straight from charging someone on a job before and to straight to charging someone as soon as you finish !

If he has another ‘small’ job then possibly he can do that too in a day and maybe be able to charge out a couple more hours that day.

Likely he has to set aside a morning or afternoon to do that small job.

People have no idea how hard it is unless they do it and then come up with a calculation like you’ve done that they’re earning a fortune ! It’s not like that.

What do you mean you want to know if he included the planks in the price? Who provided them? You or him?

My son is a multitude construction worker, so yes little jobs unless you pack them together and they're local can be more expensive. And c£500 a day is pretty standard today. What Im saying is white collar professionals can earn s lot less and that to me is the madness of it.

@Booboobagins Yes my son does similar. I don’t think it’s ridiculous that these sort of skills should earn less and have less reward than white collar skills. That’s what needs to change. They are so undervalued. Why?

Plus, there’s so much risk being self employed and having to line up work as well.

Nothing wrong with that price

That sounds very reasonable.

You’re not paying for 80 minutes work, OP. You’re paying for his lifetime of practise, learning and professional skills.

£80 sounds reasonable to me.
Trades people generally charge upwards of £100/hour depending on the task.

Some missing information here

What is his usual trade? Labourer/have a go at anything simple man, would be a lot more economical than a c&g qualified high end joiner for the same job.

What is the level of risk of the job? And I don't mean falling off a ladder, I mean risk of arguments over paying(!), getting parking tickets, tools stolen in the area, drilling through pipes, broken tools, ceilings collapsing, getting sticky from a partner for doing their mate etc. These are all things that happen and need to be covered by what they charge.

What area of the country? The rates for labour vary massively, South east and North east are completely different worlds.

How did the conversation go before hand? Was it, Hi I hear you're in the trades, please can you do this job? Or, how much would you charge? I know it's awkward discussing money but tradespeople do it every day so they would be happy to estimate or explain their pricing.

I think being"done" is more of a feeling rather than describing what actually happened, but I'm sure you can handle things better next time something similar comes up.

My goodness that's a very fair price!!

£80 is really cheap OP

For that price I would ask for a new roof.

a handyman came and boarded half my loft for £80. Took him 3 hours so yes I think thats pricey!! Write if off and don’t ask him again

Exactly. How much did you expect it to be out of interest?

If you feel this way, pay up and don’t ask him to do any more work in the future. Chalk it up to experience.
However, on first reading I thought it seemed expensive but after reading other posts I think I am behind the times.
Tbh I’d rather have a good job done than a cheap, crap job. I’ve experienced both and I’d much rather pay more for a good job.

Then do it yourself next time

£40/hour is about right for a handyman they will usually charge by full hours to cover travel, wear and tear on kit.

Most charge by the day ( 200 min) or half day if you do a regular amount of work with them. He's had to gather tools, travel to and from yours..plus 1.5 hours work? Sounds a lot but that's what spot jobs cost. And a tip for the future- don't use friends of friends. Ever. Get objective references for anyone. I've been stung employing people for office work and handymen on friends recommendations ..each time b/cos the person 'needed the work' or the recommender 'felt sorry for them '.

how long ago? and Where do you live? If London and in the last 10 years, you got a bargain

£80 for 1 hour & 20 mins?! I get that it isn't just time, it's skill/insurance etc but £80 is excessive. I need to change professions so I can charge such rates!!