We're nearing the completion of our kitchen/dining room conversion/extension and our builder has been just great! (No, really) What should we get him as a thankyou gift? We know the following about him:
We're thinking £50 max. So far all we can come up with is champagne and maybe a toy for the little one.
He might be teetotal.
His wife might be.
Don't you make anything yourself he'd like? We always find that my beeswax candles are very well received.
Mary
Offer to babysit for an evening and pay for their meal. Parents with young kids often never get out.
In these situations I find that vouchers can solve the problem. And perhaps especially if he has a young family where you don't know specifically what he's already got in terms of playthings for the youngster.
Obviously they can be a bit naff in terms of personal appeal, but to be honest if someone wanted to get me something but didn't know what I had/wanted I would be delighted to receive a voucher, thus allowing me to get something I really wanted rather than put a brave face on saying thank you - knowing that I already had another of those items at home.
Possibly another thing to consider - did he do this job on his own or did he have some helpers? If helpers are involved he might want to share the rewards with them - a bit difficult if you've got one item!
Perhaps do a half-and-half? Bottle of nice wine + voucher?
PoP
Sending email to my published email address isn't guaranteed to reach me.
So often we hear horror stories about builders here, that it's a pleasure to hear that you are so pleased with the results.
I like the ideas of a personal something or an offer to babysit as they are creative. More boring ones might be John Lewis or Marks and Spencers vouchers.
Does he have a photo portfolio of his work? If the work he's done for you is in any way unusual, then how about getting a photographer in and starting a portfolio for him. This could be a real help for him to get future work; plus of course the good reference that you will give to future customers. To a small builder, this is worth a great deal.
He won't be expecting anything so almost anything should be appreciated.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
I went skiing in a group of 10 people a couple of weeks back, a few of which would fit in the small builder/tradesman category. One of them took a few photos one day and that night we sat looking through them on his camera, after all the snowy ones there were half a dozen he'd took of a new summer room he'd built and every one of us agreed that he ought to keep a copy of them and use them as an example of his work. Up til that point he'd always thought of that idea as having no merit as no one would be interested but after all the feedback he's now going to take his camera with him on a job and document most of the build to give a good record of work to use as part of a presentation for future jobs. It's one of those ideas like catalogueing the house contents that we all should do but never get round to I suppose.
Hear hear!
Careful - John Lewis isn't available everywhere :-(((((((((((
That's a smashing idea! Original, unusual, useful ... congratulations!
Mary
Just got my joiner a £50 Screwfix voucher for doing a super job. He was over the moon as he claimed that he wouldn't have to justify to his missus the purchase of a new toy for his collection...
Exactly. I selected a guy to do some tiling that way. He had a portfolio of work done complete with references, some of which I checked.
To me it represents an understanding of his business and likely customer base and also that he does things in an organised way.
I'm not so much interested in the detail and colour choice of other customers but the quality of work.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
In message , Mary Fisher writes
There's an answer there
... but I'm not going to say what it is
Ummm - we're talking about a present for a builder not your girlfriends :)
Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines
I have two "gifts", Cash, goes down well if the guy on site is a worker, and his boss is keeping the profit Beer, a couple of crates of stella / boddies. I have found the boss gives his share to the lads he has
If its a single one man band type guy, then I would choose a good brand of spirits, if he does not drink himself, he can give to visitors.
Rick
No substitute for a present, but you could post his contact details and locality here as an extra thanks, there must be lots of people here who could use a good builder for those jobs that are too much of a stretch for a diy-er.
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