Presumably, then, if the jib took a couple of hours longer than the quoted time, you would have offered him extra?
Just before Christmas, I got a guy in to do some boarding and plastering. He stopped on a few hours more on a couple of evenings to get the job finished before Christmas Eve even though I said he didn't have to. I paid him what he asked for (a day rate based on the number of days, omitting the overtime) and bought him a turkey from the farm down the road as a thanks for getting the job done; it worked out about even in my mind, as the bird cost about what his hourly rate would have been for the overtime, and he was incredibly chuffed. Even made his wife happy, as it turned out to be he best turkey she'd ever had
Not all customers are twunts; some of us value keeping a good relationship with a quality tradesman higher than saving a couple of quid
In terms of a half day becoming a full day, I do a lot of work myself so I've a reasonable idea of what constitutes a good day's work. If a tradesman absolutely kicks the **** out of a job and gets done in 5 hours what would take me 8 to do, I'm happy to pay him a day. If he's priced a day and it takes 3 hours I'll pay him, but I might not use again or recommend him to anyone else.
I think most of the problems come when people have no idea what a job entails and can't see where the time has gone.. The other day it took me 3 hours to bolt three 4 metre wallpates to a wall, 25 six inch concrete screws in each plate. "What did you do today darling?" she asked.. "Screwed 3 bits of wood to the wall" I replied, kinda disappointed with myself when I put it like that. How did that take 3 hours? Well, it was two minutes per screw and a bit of faffing around supporting one end so I could hold the other on my tod.. Suddenly seems more reasonable when it's put like that but the customer's mind might be predisposed to thinking like the former description, especially if they know a bit of diy/think they could have done it themselves
Another related story; recently had a floor tiled, and the agreed rate was 20 quid a metre. I did all the surface prep, levelling, the tile layout plan drawn onto the floor (there was a specific pattern), all the tiler needed to do was prime the screed and lay the tiles, and they were big tiles. End of day one I said to him "if my little boy pulls all the tile spacers out for you, will you give him a fiver so he can buy a toy car next time he's in town?" - 'yeah I'll do that' he said.. My son really enjoyed pretending to be a crane, pulling the tile spacers out with a pair of pliers. I didn't tell him about the pay agreement; he doesn't understand money anyway
It took 3 days in total to do the floor, which included about 15 minutes to grout an area in another room that he hadn't been able to complete a few weeks before. I'd asked for this as a "while you have that excess grout mixed and going spare, would you mind.." Guy measured the floor to be 59 square metres, rounded it up to 60, and asked for 1200 quid. I reminded him about the fiver he promised to my 3 year old, and he said "**** your fiver, tell him it paid for my grouting the other room"
Now, on a day rate this guy charges 250 (160+90 for his labourer) so having completed the flooring job in 3 days he was already well up compared to his normal day rate, and could have easily forgone five quid..
I'd have really appreciated him knocking some percentage off given that it was clearly an easier and quicker job than he'd priced for but (barring the rounding up, which perhaps I should have objected to) it was what was agreed. I also think I got good value out of him from the previous job as it was on a day rate but he works like he's on price, even on day so it balances out a little.. The thing that will really make me reconsider giving him more work though, over and above the several times he said he'd turn up then didn't, was that he effectively made a promise to my son that wasn't fulfilled. That was mean, and needlessly soured a customer relationship..
When does a half day become a full day? I suppose it depends on the relationship you want to keep and the word of mouth you want them to spread..
