In my industry, Various Business Management positions, I often had a contract were i could not approach any existing customers for 6 mths, and in 1 contract a year after contract/employment finished.
In the past year or so I have had to deal with so many scammers and liers trying to rob me/my friends. One American guy robbed some of my friends of around £70,000, my old landlord robbed my belongings (long story), a takeaway owner tried to steal my tools, another guy had me pay for his plane ticket as a temporary "one day loan" when he got in a difficult situation - but never paid me back (long story) ...
If someone is taking the mic, and I see that it is intentional I will usually go down hard on them.. I am trying to control my temper though, even with scammer types.. life is certainly a test!
If you worked 35 hours a week for 8 weeks = 280 hours.In the past 2 months, I have spent around £1700 on expenses
Tell them to pay the amount you originally invoiced (which was actually far too low anyway).So with this agency, I feel they are just mistaken, probably a bit scared to charge landlords (who like to haggle) propper prices for repair jobs as it is, so don't want to go back to a landlord and increase the price (although really they now need to stick to the £200 they agreed with the landlord), but once the agency realizes they made a mistake with me I think they will correct the mistake they made.
They are taking the p***, all agencies do it. Never good people to work for, the less they pay you, the higher their profit level on every hour you put in. They charge the customer a great deal more than they pay you, but the customer has the advantage of just being able to ring the agency when they need someone.
Have a word directly with the customer, they might be willing to tell you what they are paying per hour for your time via the agency and ask if they might be willing to bypass the agency for the work. Maybe better, if they don't suddenly stop using the agency completely, rather they gradually transfer to employing you direct - a bit at a time.
In my life, I only ever once worked via an agency and that was strictly for a limited term of 3 months - I made that clear at the start, after which I said I would be gone. At the end of the three months, I made it clear I would not be there next week to the customer (a company), unless they offered me a contract within the week. I had my contract within the 7 days.
If you worked 35 hours a week for 8 weeks = 280 hours.
£1700 over those hours is £6 per hour.
What you charge people is totally different to what you are getting paid.
If you charged £10 per hour, you were only getting £4, the rest goes on those expenses.
If you wanted to get paid £10 per hour, you would have needed to charge at least £16 per hour to cover those expenses.
Minimum wage from next April is £9.50 per hour. If you really want that, there are plenty of jobs which pay that with no expenses at all. Turn up, do whatever the work is and then go home. With paid holidays included.
Tell them to pay the amount you originally invoiced (which was actually far too low anyway).
They are not making a mistake - they know exactly what they are doing, which is paying you £200, and billing the landlord £500 plus their £15% charge on top.
For the future, 'customers' who want everything for nothing and haggle the price down to zero are the ones you never want to do any work for, because it will always end up with a pile of problems.
If they start complaining about the price, walk away. They can find someone else to do over.
I only ever really see the tenants of the houses, as the estate agent is the one dealing with the landlord and I've just been going to the houses to do the repair jobs. I wouldn't ever try and take the client from the agency though, a bit unethical, but I completely agree with you and the others on £10 per hour (or rather £6.90 per hour on the last job lol!) is very much taking the mic, and not acceptable at all.
You are in business. You have a right to expect that if you do a reasonable job you'll be paid a reasonable amount - and promptly. If they have messed up - that's their problem. You have to be a bit harder or they will continue to walk all over you. What's the betting that the branch manager of that estate agency is driving round in a £30k+ motor - and who do you think has paid for that (at least in part)?...when they found out that my invoice was for 29 hours, the staff member who was dealing with the landlord was probably a bit scared to negotiate it with the landlord, and instead wanted me to take the loss as Im much friendlier and easier to deal with as they know me on a more personal level...
I didn't means estate agents, rather I meant agency work - but the principle is exactly the same. The work is not worth having, if you are working at a loss, even if the do seem friendly. Set a viable rate for your time and stick to it.
Just for interests sake, this is what the local guy around here charges....
https://www.thewindsorhandyman.co.uk/Prices/
Thanks for the advice. I am based in Preston. There is a wealthy area here called "Fullwood" - lots of Rolls-Royce and Bentleys drivers.
East or West Sussex ?What sort of work do you like doing?
are you in an affluent area?
Around here in Sussex, People are crying out for handyman services - jobs that tradesmen cant be bothered with.
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