rip off?

[Dhropta Guli]

A "friend" of mine has just replaced the two springs on my garage door and bolted a bracket to the bottom of both frame supports as the old ones had to be cut off to get the old springs out. Took him and his mate about four hours, his mate didn't appear do do much except stand around smoking. I bought the springs (£90) he supplied the two brackets and the screws etc. He now tells me he wants £140 for doing the job, which the missus and I consider excessive. What does the panel think? Is this reasonable or is he "avin' a laff"?

[Martin]

Sounds a lot - especially for a friend in inverted commas...

That said, those springs tend to be very strong, so I suppose you could argue there's a risk element.

Also, as often quoted, "it's 10 bob for clouting it with a hammer, and £10 for knowing where to clout it".

IME, the rate (or a pretty good estimate) for any job really should be agreed in advance - whether from a friend or not.

I suggest you quibble about the number of actual man-hours worked, and check what he paid for the brackets (or did he spend time making them?).

Others here will doubtless have better ideas.

[reg]

as Martin says seems a lot from a "friend" ive just helped my mate plasterboard his ceilings, he supplied all materials & all i asked for was endless cups of tea & lunch.

[Joker7]

To restore balance to the world Dhropta Guli wrote in rDoEl.74367$ [e-mail]

Sounds fair to me, but you should always ask first- 17.50 hour not taking in to account the cost of the brackets.How much would you pay yourself an hour?

Chris

[Dhropta Guli]

To be honest, I didn't even want him to do the job in the first place but he thought he was doing me a favour as I am unable to do it myself. The brackets were just a couple of cut down items from Selco, probably cost a couple of pounds each at most. He's no expert, he's a retired plumber who to be fair does know his way around odd building jobs but he'd never done anything like this before, I had to download him a set of instructions from the site where I bought the springs. I never expected him do do it for free, even though I have spent a lot of time and trouble in the past sorting out his computer problems (for free, where I come from you generally don't charge friends unless there's actual expenditure involved) I was going to bung him £50 or so. £140 came as a bit of a surprise! I haven't paid him yet, I'm going to ask for a cost-breakdown first. I will be deleting him from my life though!

[Clive]

Very reasonable. In business there is no such thingas a friend. Report him to the Inland Revenue for not declaring tax.

[robgraham]

I never

In which case, why don't you remind him that you've done work for him for nothing?

Rob Graham

[Peter Andrews]

I've just changed two springs on a Garador, £100 for the springs, and it took me and my wife an hour and a half - and we've not done it before! An hour for the first spring - 15 minutes for the second and 15 minutes to clear up.

Peter

[Rob]

Indeed, I'd try that. And ask for a receipt 'for tax purposes'. FWIW (not a great deal) I'd probably just pay and move on.

Rob

[robgraham]

And how much did you charge your wife for inviting her to join you?

Rob Graham

[Ash]

Not much use now after the job has been done but my rule of thumb is BEFORE anyone does any work for me I always agree a price in advance with the understanding that if it's going to be more than 10% more it has to be agreed in advance. Not only does this rule of thumb work it avoids embarrassing haggling later ... and especially when it's with 'friends'.

It's really hard after the job has been done to dispute the price because 'The Job has been done and that's the price". Obviously if you'd known your 'friend' was going to bung you a high price you'd have said no thank you ... is it worth loosing your friend over £70? (the difference between what you hoped to pay and what your friend is charging) ... if your 'friend' is indeed a good friend then either try and negotiate a lower price in the spirit of friendship or just pay and put it down to experience. Next time you fix their computer just bung them a bill for £70 :o)

Ash