Rules when paying by day rate

[Mr M]

I am going to have some rendering works completed on my house. A tradesman who I have used previously, albeit a couple of years ago, said he would complete the job but rather than price it, would prefer to do the work based on a daily rate and I pay for the materials. I am more than happy to do this and I know the simple answer is for me to ask him but are there any ground rules which you guys work to regarding the likes of Inclement weather, when working on a day rate rather than price work ie

1) If its raining 1st thing and he turns up for work and the forecast is for rain on and off all day, am I obliged to pay him anything?

2) If the weather is ok say till about mid morning but then it rains for the rest of the day, what do I pay him? Half a day?

3) If there are only light showers intermittently throughout the day, even though he knocks on and off, do I pay him for the whole day

I am not trying to get something for nothing here but just wondered what others views on this subject are before I take it up with the man himself

 

[squowse]

i am used to no work, no pay!

unless you are very happy with the progress in which case give him a bonus, but i would be careful to keep it that way - a bonus - ie not to be taken for granted.

in this way if he does his best to be productive during the good weather he can recoup some of the money he loses when he can't / doesn't want to work.

it's possible to do most jobs in the rain if you're desperate, tough or well paid!

roger

 

[^woody^]

You want a days work for a days pay. Ask him how many days it will take, and then make sure that work gets done, rather than the job drag on. If you like, work it out like ... day one up to this point, day two this bit will be finished , etc

But likewise, it is possible to do a days work by 1 o'clock. So you both have to be fair.

But normally if it rains and he is sitting about, then he would not expect to be paid. But if an amount of work is done for part of the day which is dry, then it may well equal a full days pay.

What you don't want to be doing is trying to deduct an hour here and there.

He really should be checking the forecast, and if it is forecast rain, then he should know not to turn up

I would try and get him to work out how many days it will take him, and then give you a fixed price based on this.

 

[noseall]

day rate is just that .

if he works for a day, pay him his days pay.

if he gets rained off, pay him the hours he has worked based on his daily pay.

he is placing the onus upon you by requesting a day-rated payment.

if he is not happy about being paid for partial days ask for a price.

 

[Thermo]

i still cant get my head around why a customer would want to pay someone on day rates and why a decent builder would not be able to judge a job properly and give a fixed price on most jobs

 

[mattylad]

But likewise, it is possible to do a days work by 1 o'clock.

If he is finished at 1 o'clock then its not a day is it?, if the work can be done in 1/2 a day then its not a days work.

When agreeing to a "day rate" then surely the "day" needs to be defined.

I'd have though that a normal day would be 8 hours long (not including lunch).
So the only way to finish at 1PM then would be to start at 5AM with no lunch?

 

[^woody^]

No, it is possible to work very fast and over and above what would be normally expected.

There is lots of info on accepted time scales for particular tasks.

If say, this renderer is expected to do 30m of scratch coat a day, then if he does his 30m by lunchtime, then he has done a days work.

And as a client, you would not expect him to do 60m in a day for a normal days pay

 

[DCC]

Woody surely what you're referring to is piece rate pay, not daily or hourly rate. If someone is on a daily rate then they work a day irrespective of how fast or slow they work (and thats the problem with day rates). If a certain quantifiable amount of progress is expected to trigger the pay then technically thats a piece rate.