Wall/fence repair for neighbour, no idea what to charge! (lots of photos)

[smg496]

Hi everyone,

I've replaced three rotten fence posts that were embedded in a wall along with some parts of the wall that were crumbling around all three posts aswell as part of a gate frame.

Materials (£70):
2 bags of sand/sharp sand plus cement for bricks and refilling wall cavity
Three fence posts
15 arris brackets
150 stainless screws
Few other small bits
Cleaned up and reused most of the bricks
Disposed of waste materials

I'm not in the trade but have done this kind of thing before so took me quite a while but it is now complete and he's 'happy to pay anything'.

I just want to charge what would be a reasonable price so would any trades in the chat be able to give me a ball park figure as I really have no clue what to charge him?

Any professional advice would be much appreciated.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

How long did it take you including researching/ordering & getting all materials to site and disposing of any waste?

 

[Scally-Ho]

I presume you are friendly towards your neighbour, so have no wish to take advantage him/her. Therefore, perhaps as the minimum wage is set at £12,21 per hour, what about considering £14 or £15 per hour for your time spent + all materials at cost. That seems fair to me considering you are not a tradesman doing the repairs etc for a living. If your neighbour asked a bricky or groundworker to undertake the job, the rate would be a huge hike on that £14 or £15 per hour.

 

[smg496]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I do get on with my neighbour but haven't kept track of the hours as I knew it would possibly bankrupt him if I charged by the hour considering the time it takes me compared to a tradesman.

I'm really just looking to find out what a professional would have very approximately charged if they were in a good mood and I'll then charge him something less that I'm still happy with.

 

[Scally-Ho]

Then go by the average day rate for bricklayer. In my area a bricklayer would be looking for and accepting £170 to £250 per day depending on the work involved. As you are not a skilled bricklayer, what about halving that rate as a compromise.

 

[Mottie]

I'm not in the trade but have done this kind of thing before so took me quite a while

Looks to me like you've made a very nice job of it.

 

[smg496]

Thanks Mottie, I am a bit of a perfectionist with an Aerospace engineering background, don't have too much to do with walls in that field hence I can't really charge by the hour.

The problem is I've never used a trade for anything so I'm totally in the dark even knowing what a bricklayer would charge daily as I don't know how long it would take them plus all the post work, etc.

Really just looking for group concensus on a figure to the nearest £100 including materials (£70) a trade would quote.

 

[johnny2007]

I would've charged £600 to a stranger, including the £70 for material.
I think if you really get on with your neighbour, £300 would be a gift to them, £400 very fair price.

 

[Koolpc]

Superb job!!

If you not bothered too much about the price and you get on well with your neighbour just tell him £200 will suffice....

 

[jj4091]

Better yet just be a good neighbour and just charge for the materials, if you have done it in your spare time and had nothing better to do. You must have enjoyed it and gotten satisfaction from it.

 

[smg496]

Thanks everyone, very useful information, much appreciated.

We did speak about me helping sort this out but I never have any free time with an ongoing backlog of work which he appreciates so I do unfortunately need to charge him for all the time.

£300-£400 is a figure we should be able to agree on, as you say it saves him money whilst being the helpful neighbour.

 

[smg496]

I did forget to mention I have previously done a very similar job to his adjacent wall a few years back just for materials cost and a bottle of wine so he wouldn't accept another favour.

Thanks again, great forum and commenters!

 

[Koolpc]

£200 would be the figure i would go for.

 

[smg496]

Thanks, I'm going simply let him know what a trade would likely charge and let him come up with a price he'd like to pay, money really isn't an issue for him but simply finding someone he can trust to do the work reliably was his priority.

I had a minimum £500 trade quote in my head as a wild guess before £600 was mentioned, wouldn't expect a trade to do this for less and I'm guessing quotes could be considerably higher but as mentioned I have no experience here.

Can check back in when we've agreed a price in case anyone is curious.

 

[johnny2007]

Bear in mind that if you're in London the £600 figure will easily double.