Builder overcharging?

[Whitespirit66]

What was the total bill? You say he quoted total £200, then itemised labour as £200. Did he add more on top for materials?

He may have only spent 3.5 hours actually doing the work, but add up the hours spent on; coming to assess job, pricing mats, putting together quote, ordering mats, collecting mats, accounts, cleaning tools and clothes, etc, etc, etc - the list is endless. When he finished early, what was he supposed to do with the rest of the day?

This case may be why many builders aren't interested in small jobs. It's better to be nickel-and-dimed on a big profitable build than a small beer- money job. Just not worth the aggro.

 

[pampers]

you come to a forum and ask for a opinion but it doesn't match what you want to hear.

So you're either wrong or every one else is ,you decide.

 

[Bosswhite]

The only thing you can legally contest the builder on was the fact he was going to supply new blocks price included in the estimate, which you have said he did not supply, (Used the original ones).

The possibilty that using new blocks could have spoilt the appearance of the wall should have been bourne in mind when discussing the original estimate,

you could deduct the cost of the new blocks required from the account to show that you were not satisfied with the work.

 

[noseall]

That's £40 an hour. Seriously, is that the going rate for a builder these days? That's about £80,000 per annum!! Staggering.

What is this world coming too, how could anybody work for that!

I wouldn't even bother getting out of bed.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

That's why there are programmes like Rogue Traders.

It's about time they did one on rogue customers!

 

[HERTS P&D]

We always supply workmen with ample cups of tea and quality chocolate biscuits, even a sandwich for lunch if they have nothing with them.

Tea and biscuits don't pay the bills.

Andy

 

[Bosswhite]

We always supply workmen with ample cups of tea and quality chocolate biscuits, even a sandwich for lunch if they have nothing with them.

Tea and biscuits don't pay the bills.

Andy

I dont expect my customers to supply tea, I always take a flask !!

 

[libby lou lou]

What's your job pippy ?

Try another forum then get back.I think your a wind up

 

[Bosswhite]

That's why there are programmes like Rogue Traders.

It's about time they did one on rogue customers!

Totally Agree,
I was called by a person that rents out a flat a couple days ago at 10 o/clock at night to say their tenants tap was broken and unable to turn the water off, they had turned the water off at the mains, so had no water or heating, could I call first thing in the morning and help them,
When I arrived I found the Taps had isolating valves so a two minute job turning the isolating valve off with a screwdriver and turning the mains back on solved the problem as a temporary measure,
I felt embarrassed to give a call out charge, but felt the cost of replacing the taps would be part of the deal, the owner at the time said OK go ahead,
I was going to pop back Monday and refit the new taps,

Got a telephone call from the Owner to say they have now got a friend who is good at DIY who will fit the taps for free and will sort it out next week !!!!!!!

So I have given my knowledge, time and costs for FREE

Bl**dy Customers can be con merchants themselves at times.

 

[cajar]

Got a telephone call from the Owner to say they have now got a friend who is good at DIY who will fit the taps for free and will sort it out next week

At which point you say...."my call out charge is £xx.xx then"

 

[Bosswhite]

Got a telephone call from the Owner to say they have now got a friend who is good at DIY who will fit the taps for free and will sort it out next week

At which point you say...."my call out charge is £xx.xx then"

They were too bloody quick to hang up!

I was not going to ring back and get into a verbal disagreement with them.

Have sent them an account for the "call out Charge" instead, stating they have broken an accepted verbal contract

P.S. The tenant did give me a bottle of wine because THEY were grateful because they could have the heating/water etc back on , but they were not paying the Bill

 

[Nige F]

Would appreciate some advice on the following.

My mum is 75 years old and needed some repair work doing to a garden wall. She has had problems in the past trying to get builders around to quote for small jobs because they don't seem to want to know. .

Wouldn`t happen in Sussex - not if you asked me to do some work My dearest colleague is £150 a day - dearest as in most expensive

 

[hazetimesfive]

Don't think I could survive on 150 a day, and I'm not exactly blingin it.

I do get fed up with the publics maths, ie job cost to hourly rate to yearly income.

 

[skotl]

Pippy, I can empathise that you may think that you're being ripped off (but that may have more to do with lack of transparency in the final bill).
I can also see that you think that you're being attacked on this forum for asking.

But. as Freddy says, we need to educate not remonstrate.

Your mum reckoned that £200 was a reasonable price for the job and that's what it ended up costing. So, assuming that the tradesman did a decent job, then it stands to reason that you/your mum was already comfortable with the £200 estimate.

Thinking about "estimates" for a while; by definition, this is an inexact science - the guy literally came away with "dunno, about £200 maybe". It's not the same as going to Tesco and buying a tin of beans.
It's also worth bearing in mind that for ever five jobs that a tradesman visits (paying for diesel, and taking up hours that he can't charge to someone else), he probably only gets one paying job.

So, there is also an element of the supermodel "I don't get out of bed for less than $20,000" - if your man spent half a day with your mum then he probably did not get any other work done that day (maybe he got a couple of other quotes in) so he earned £200 that day (excluding materials).
In a perfect world, he may earn that every single work day (48 non-holiday weeks a year) so that could mean an income of £48k a year. Of course, he's not working every single day, so we're probably closer to £30k.

That's the "educate" part of my post.

However, I think the argument is more straighforward; your mum was quoted £200 for the job. She/you were happy with that and the guy delivered a decent enough job for the quoted amount. Where is the argument?

 

[datarebal]

In future get written quotes.. pay by cheque .
To be honest, £200.00 including materials would not cover for a whole day.
In this case we have no real idea what work was actually done.
Ref the debris, he is a trades person and is not allowed to simply pay £2.00 a bag to dump debris as you might be able to. He should also have a permit (which is not free) to transport his waste.