An agreement should be a freaking AGREEMENT!

Lesley · 2005-12-17T16:00:17+00:00

In late November I hired a guy to shovel my driveway for the 2005-06winter season. I live southeast of Buffalo, NY so it snows quite abit. He first quoted me $250, and then he changed it to $300 when hesaw that my driveway was longer than average. I agreed to pay $300,and I agreed to give him $150 up front and the balance in January.Last weekend he showed up unannounced asking for the balance. Hereally caught me off guard, and I had company and didn't want to getinto an argument, so I just paid him. Meanwhile, it has snowed acouple of times since I gave him the first installment and he onlyshowed up once to shovel my driveway/sidewalk. But since the snowwasn't too deep, I let it go. I know the snow was deep enough toshovel because he shoveled the driveway/sidewalk across the street (heworks for them too). Now today he shows up (and we had some lakeeffect snow last night) and he wants more money. He says that I have areally long driveway and I should pay him more money. I tell him verynicely that I understand he has a business, but that I agreed to pay$300 and that is all I am willing to pay, and if he feels that it isnot adequate, he can refund the rest of the money I already paid himand I'll find someone else. He says, let's talk about this again whenI finish your driveway, and then he goes out to shovel. While he's outthere I'm inside steaming because this is the second person who hasdone something like this to me (the first was a drywaller who quoted meone price and then demanded more money after he had done just enoughwork in the room to make it impossible for me to scrap the whole job).But I decided that I wanted to be reasonable, so I decided that I wouldagree to pay him more money under two conditions: First, he would domy driveway so that I can leave the house by 8:00am on weekdays (thetwo times he showed up he didn't even get here until after 9) andsecond I would pay him the new balance due some time in February. Wellhe had a fit. He wanted...

Dec 17, 2005 47 Replies

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oren 20 years ago

They might make a deal to shovel snow for a season, take a deposit and when they find the price of the coke habit has gone up they demand more money up front. A local "day labor" office can provide "labor" from ex-cons, etc... and even provide worker's compensation - you pay the office and they pay the labor (a pay as it snows plan).

I agree with the OP... it prolly would be different it a husband or boy friend would of made the deal. Not to say the results would have been any better, though!

Oren

"My doctor says I have a malformed public-duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fiber, and that I am therefore excused from saving Universes."

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Christian Fox 20 years ago

I've never had a problem. I'm happy to give another payment as a materials draw, but only AFTER the materials have been delivered.

I'll NEVER give more than 15% as an initial, "hold my spot in line" deposit, and I've never had a problem finding a contractor to agree to those terms.

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Dr. Hardcrab 20 years ago

I guess we won't be doing any of your work....

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Dave Balderstone 20 years ago

Paying anyone up front for anything other than materials is foolish.

If someone asks for advance payment for a service, it's a big red flag that they are insolvent. If they are insolvent, there's a good chance that they will never deliver the service.

If you pay up front for materials, pay only on delivery of the materials to your property. You can always get a material list from the person you're hiring and buy them yourself.

If I'm contracting with you, and don't know you, I have to calculate my risk. You need to do the same.

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SteveB 20 years ago

"Dave Balderstone" wrote

Darn good post. Thanks.

Steve

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TURTLE 20 years ago

This is Turtle.

What does a Snow Shovel look like ?

TURTLE

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Dr. Hardcrab 20 years ago

formatting link

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LJ 20 years ago

Lesley -- women like you make me cringe.

It doesn't have anything to do with having a husband or boyfriend around. It has to do with the amount of initiative & brains you have.

If I have to pay someone to do something for me - I always get a WRITTEN contract. Duh.

Stop being helpless, and shovel your own snow. Or buy a snowblower. That's what most real grownups do. Especially living in Buffalo, with all that lake-effect snow.

I don't have a husband or boyfriend, and I manage very well. I shovel my own snow, cut my own grass, fix my own plumbing, etc etc. These aren't mystical skills that only men have. Women can learn them too.

Sheesh -- evidence of the dumbing-down of our school system.

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