Advice on overcharging?

I am a TM, and I have every sympthy with the OP. If a price is for, say, a central heating system to a specific spec, one knows what they are being quoted for. The job may go a bit quicker, or a bit slower, but the end prouct should be the same. However, with repairs, the client has no idea as to what is involved, and can only go on trust. He said it would be 2 days (we presume) and he worked less than a half. So he clearly did not have to do what he quoted for, or is making up the need for time.

OP: did you have a written quote c/w T&C's? Did itoutline work to be completed?

If the boot were on the other foot, and he said 3 hours and it took 2 days, would you accept him coming back and saying "er, you know I said 3h, and X quid.. can I have 5X quid because it took 5 times longer?

Is the damp because of faulty pointing ? Could it be faulty flashings ? Or could the top of the stack be damaged and leaking ? The top of the stack is where the pots sit and they will sit over the flues coming up from the house. To hold the pots in place you use concrete and cement topping. These tops can get weathered and crack up.

I wouldn't pay anything until you know what has been done and to see if the fault comes back. If a guy says it will take 2 days then this should be the length of time it will take. This is a chimney stack repair which is straight forward. He should have gone up to look before hand and so will know what needs doing. I pay my trades on a day rate and will supply the materials. Had a roofer re slate the final course of slates before the gutter once. It was £120 and took him 2h's plus 1/2h break. We never discussed times, but i felt ripped off. I paid him, but would never use him again.

Well with out getting into specifics but

suppose the job would have taken 3 days & he only allowed 2 would u pay him for that extra day ???

probably not ??

trevorbayliss said:

I pay my trades on a day rate and will supply the materials. Had a roofer re slate the final course of slates before the gutter once. It was £120 and took him 2h's plus 1/2h break. We never discussed times, but i felt ripped off. I paid him, but would never use him again.

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Yeah, coz I'd genuinely get out of bed, drive 10 miles to someone's house, find out that installing product X was actually a 5 minute job, take 10 minutes of the agreed half day and say "actually just give me 10/240ths of what I priced for because that's how long it took" and go home again..

Try and look at it another way, how much worth of material, workmanship etc would it have wrecked if it had ****ed down in the two weeks it might have taken to get another roofer to come out to install those tiles? That's what he saved you, really.. Plus, if you'd given him a days work, rather than a few hours it probably still would have been 120..

trevorbayliss said:

Had a roofer re slate the final course of slates before the gutter once. It was £120 and took him 2h's plus 1/2h break.

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You say the 'final course ... before the gutter'. Wouldn't that be the 'first course'.
And if so, you're saying he stripped and re-slated the full length in two hours?

Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but sound like more than two hours' work to me.