The little jobs we do

We all at sometime have had them little jobs that stay in our mind, such as this one of mine, i got a phonecall from an old lady who said she got my number from a family member, and asked me if i could give her a price to fit a new back yard gate as kids were getting in the back of her house, not something i normally do but i felt sorry for her, so i asked for her address and it was 40 miles away, so off i go on a saturday morning to measure the gate and i get there 90 mins later, to find she wanted me to hang the original gate which had been removed from it's pins, 10 seconds later job done a cup of tea is what i charged her, another 90 mins home.

A few weeks later she phoned to ask if i could fit new curtains, i declined.
Anyone else have similar or worse ?

If you felt sorry for her, consider the job a good deed done for someone who knows your family. Don't feel .

As for the curtains, are you up for another good deed? Who is this lady to your family? Does she know how far you came?

securespark said:

If you felt sorry for her, consider the job a good deed done for someone who knows your family. Don't feel .

As for the curtains, are you up for another good deed? Who is this lady to your family? Does she know how far you came?

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It was somebody in her family who i worked for previous, didn't really feel angry, but i have a feeling she knew what she was doing just to get me there.
Another little story, at home i had an empty skip outside my house and and an old lady(again)neighbour asked if she could put some rubbish in it from her garage, i said ok only to come home later to find she had half filled it all by herself.

Charlie George said:

We all at sometime have had them little jobs that stay in our mind, such as this one of mine, i got a phonecall from an old lady who said she got my number from a family member, and asked me if i could give her a price to fit a new back yard gate as kids were getting in the back of her house, not something i normally do but i felt sorry for her, so i asked for her address and it was 40 miles away, so off i go on a saturday morning to measure the gate and i get there 90 mins later, to find she wanted me to hang the original gate which had been removed from it's pins, 10 seconds later job done a cup of tea is what i charged her, another 90 mins home.

A few weeks later she phoned to ask if i could fit new curtains, i declined.
Anyone else have similar or worse ?

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I would at least expect a thank you from the family member who gave you number.

A fella once called me as his mum had a problem in her loft. I dealt with it and charged her nout. The least I expected was a call from the son yo say thank you..... I'm alot tougher since who I help and who I don't.

But the lady you did the job for was grateful, no?

When I was S/E, I did countless jobs FOC and I always had gushing thanks and offers of all sorts of things as well as money in recompense, but I always refused.

Whenever someone asks me to attend any job, I ask for pictures first.
50% of the times I can guide them to the fix over the phone.
A classic is wardrobe and kitchen doors not aligned and scraping something.

Charlie George said:

It was somebody in her family who i worked for previous, didn't really feel angry, but i have a feeling she knew what she was doing just to get me there.
Another little story, at home i had an empty skip outside my house and and an old lady(again)neighbour asked if she could put some rubbish in it from her garage, i said ok only to come home later to find she had half filled it all by herself.

Click to expand...

I try to keep my DIY skills and range of tools quiet locally. I used to get lots knocking at the door for help, in my younger days and they do expect the help for free, as it's your 'free time'.

Made my granddaughter a garden mud kitchen a few years ago. A couple of her friends parents asked if I could them one as well.
"Yes, no problem. How does £65 sound?"
"But I thought you built them from scrap pallet wood?"
"Yes I do, but I also fill in any nail holes, sand them smooth, round off all sharp edges/corners, give them 2 coats of quality outdoor paint and 3 coats of outdoor varnish to protect them through the winter months."
Suddenly about 10 requests dropped to 2 or 3.

I was a late starter as far as DIY goes but 3 years in and I bloody love it, this site and folk on the forum have been an amazing help to me.

So yeah word gets round a little bit that I'm not too shoddy at some things. Two nearby neighbours have those posh shed garden building type things which were actually pretty badly built.

One neighbour did my family a number of favours in previous years so I've returned the favour on a few occasions, the biggest one being stripping, reboarding and putting an epdm roof on their cabin.

Other neighbour has had the same problem and paid some cowboy to patch their roof (talking sticking cheapo felt down with silicone, leaving gaping holes, clout nails sticking up or missing, I should have took some pics it was shocking).

They asked me if I could do theirs, I said I couldn't as I'm finding myself with very little free time out the moment. I said I'd give them a brief overview of what I did for the neighbour and wrote it up for them, advising them to call someone else. Nope they are calling the same cowboy, honestly...

Had to say no to a few big things to people wanting days of stuff for nothing.