Is a two hour lunch break normal during a bathroom refit?

[AchillesLastStand]

I have a downstairs cloakroom refit happening this week. We’re on day two and so far my plumber has taken a lunch break that lasts over two hours each day. Today he was gone from 10:50am - 1:00pm, about the same yesterday. Is this the norm for plumbers and other tradesmen? Yesterday he started at 8:45am and then left at 4:00pm which I didn’t mind as it meant I could get on with things inside the house without him under my feet. I’m not paying him a day rate but have been priced for the job so I’m not that concerned unless he does a poor job, but so far the work looks okay. I’m well aware he could be fitting in other jobs during his ‘break’.

He's not only going for lunch. He's going to quote for other jobs and/or going to the plumber's merchants.

I wouldn’t care if priced for the job.

He's not just working on your job, he's running a business, with everything else that entails.

If he's doing a good job for a fair price and it's not glong to drag on for weeks, you've done well.

I presume you're paying for the job as a whole, not per day?
We've had a couple of small plumbing jobs needed over the past few weeks (tap needed changing, immersion heater needed fixing) and our plumber has popped in for an hour each time whilst on another job.

We are planning to get him to replace both our bathrooms later this year. We fully expect he will.be popping in and out to get other small jobs fitted in.

Or shagging his bit on the side!

If you are paying him for the job, and he’s getting the job done, then it’s really up to him what breaks he takes and what else be needs to fit in throughout the day.

The only time it is an issue is if, in broad strokes, he says " it will take around 5 days so that's £1k". When if he was better organised and took a shorter lunch break it could easily be 4 days...and if he thought about it as a 4 day job it would only have been £800. If that makes sense.

We run a business and when quoting for jobs a day is 7 hours.

he will be out measuring up for quotes, kaulking/grouting and other small jobs.

Ime yes normal. Emergency call out for leaks, Job quotes etc.

as long as it’s not increasing the price what’s the issue?

I had a bathroom done last year and our plumber regularly disappeared, once for 3 days! He did explain first though that as we had a second bathroom, were we ok if he fitted in other jobs around it as there was no immediate need in our case.i think the 3 day absence was a disabled person who needed emergency plumbing work for their accessible bathroom.

You have contracted him to do a job for a price. You are not his employer. He is self employed and can manage his own time. He is charging you a fixed price, the only person who would lose money for a long lunch break or leaving early is him. So I highly doubt he is doing that.

He could be doing other jobs or getting materials.

Most tradesman start early and leave early. Tha doesn’t mean they work short hours. Trade counters open at 7am so he might have already been working before he gets to you and no doubt has paperwork to do in the evening.

What other posters have said. Eg, assuming it's a fixed price job, no problem as he's no doubt quoting other jobs, picking up materials etc.

Just don't be like the customer my DH (a conservation builder) has at the moment - when he popped to the builder's merchant for something she accosted him on his return, saying "I didn't say you could go out!"...and he never takes more than 30 mins for an actual lunch break 🙄

As long as you're not paying him by the hour for when he's not there, then I can't see the problem.

Sometimes they have to leave things for a bit anyway, to set hard or dry out or whatever, before they can go on to the next stage.

I do get that if you have errands to run, etc and don't want to leave the tradesperson on their own, or have them return and not be able to get in because you're not there, it would be good to know when they'll be back.

Thanks for the replies everyone. When I received the quote for the job I was told it would take a week, now when he left today he was suggesting it would be a week and a half. Thankfully it’s not a problem for me as I’m WFH but if you’d taken time off work for this it might be inconvenient and like most people I would like the job to completed as quickly as possible. But I can’t complain as he’s completing the work to a high standard and he works extremely hard when he is here, and even told me he’d be here on the bank holiday Monday. I would certainly employ him again.

I think most people just let them in on day 1 and then leave them to it. I’ve been overseeing a reno for 4 months so I kind of had to trust them not to rob the house or I’d not get anything done.

there also might be things like plumber's putty/glue that needs drying in between steps.
one and a half week is reasonable for a bathroom refit.