I have a qeustion. Do you guys (contractors) do work for friends and relatives for
free,
regardless of how big the project, or do you charge your regular fees, a reduced fee?
Obviously I wouldn’t charge my own mother, but I just wondered what other people
are doing.
Merry Christmas to all and a blessed New Year!!
Replies
I'm in the situation now.
A really good friend bought a house. I got my painter for them, but one room had a really interesting(!) wallpaper which the painters refused to touch.
The room is now ready for filling and pole sanding but my time was 2 days which is about $500.00.
Yes, I'm going to bill them. And, if they are the friends I believe they are, they will realize that my time has value as well and I will make my mortgage payment.
At my age, my fingers & knees arrive at work an hour after I do.
Aaron the Handyman
Vancouver, Canada
First and foremost - THEY pay for ALL material costs. Somebody has to.
Second, you must answer these hard questions IN WRITING:
How proficient are they with plumbing, tiling, plaster and paint - basically the scope of work?
Are their expectations reasonable and do they have an accurate assessment of their own ablilities and respect for yours?
Who's going to be doing the bulk of the work?
Will you be their assistant or will they be yours? In other words who will lead and who will follow and is this a realistic scenerio?
Will they even be there while you are working?
Who will be responsible if something goes wrong?
Are you indespensible once you start? If Monday rolls around and the work is not complete, will you be able to go to your real job?
Is the work being done on the weekend or during the week?
Could you be earning money during that same time period?
Would you be using your own tools which will have wear and tear - chop, jig or tile saws, drill bits, paint brushes, etc.
Once you have answered those questions and you still want to proceed I have a few more for you:
Is hiring someone a MUST and they are trying to get something for free? Like copper tubing for HVAC and charging it with refrigerant, installing a new electrical service panel, or replacing all the copper pipe in their home?
Do they want something that is beyond their means? Did they just purchase a super expensive/ high end item and now want it installed for free? If they got the item for free, there may be a different calculation. Did you provide the free item?
Do they have something you want? Money, legal advice, medical care, lawn care, restaurant meals, car , etc.
Have they done something for you? Saved a family member's life, done your food shopping while you were sick, took care of your kids while you had to go away for a week.
Nothing is Free. If there was, you would not be asking the question. If you do it for free you must expect NOTHING in exchange while offering the same warranty, maybe even greater, that you offer Real clients. EVERY job I have done truely for free I have regretted. EVERY job I have done by bartering or reciprocating I have enjoed, remained friends and continue to do work with/ for.
Some typical requests:
"We're having a painting party next Sat at my new apt and we would like to invite you. We'll have plenty of beer. BTW,do you have any drop cloths or brushes/ rollers we could borrow?" - I don't even make a return phone call. This is what I do for a living. It's not a party.
I have painted more friend's apt.s than I care to mention and always have the same terms. I will paint with my equipment. They will be my helper - moving the drop cloths, filling the roller pan, doing all the grunt work, and buy me lunch/ dinner (NOT McD's, BK, or Pizza Hut). I had one "friend" go out for hero's from a great itallian deli and came back 6hrs later. I left after 1 1/2hrs.
"We are renovating/ gutting our bathroom and need some help." I get very specific as to what can be accomplished in the time frame and always under-estimate. Keep in mind the time you are prepping - have your friend meet you at your storage to help load the wet saw, and get stuff from the supply house. They won't appreciate the off-site work/ time required if you don't.
Do not cut corners which you would not in your regular work day. If you want to use Superflex thinset and they want to use a garbage brand without the acrylic additive, DON'T. It will cost them more up front and You won't have to pay for it later. The materials cost what they cost. Maintain your standards. Everyone who sees the completed job will not know or care if the lack of quality is due to improper materials. They will assign blame to you.
I used to well for material only until I realized when I needed help theywere no where to be found one guy paid for a remodel , didnt kick any to me then wanted me to help him with his contractor, another time he was pleading poverty wanting shady and me to build him a octogontal roof for his hot tub(we didnt do it cuz he was always to busy to help us) then a while later came bragging about buying a 47K suburban so well there you have. Inna nut shell Im saying as long as they reciprocate yes but dont be a fool for them.
At Darkworks Customer satisfaction Job One..Yea yea were all over it , I got my best guys on it.........
Thank you all for the tips. I've never had anyone not pay for materials, so that hasn't been a problem, its just my time, tools, truck, etc.. Its hard because I have friends/family who are very willing to pay me for my work and others who will not talk to me for 6 months at the mere mention of money. I do tend to work for those who understand the value of good work and all of my costs involved such as insurance, wear and tear, and time.
Thanks again.
Any time I did the work for free it just seemed to build resentment on both sides of the project. I did work for free for my best friend since 3rd grade and soon after the project at a party his wife was bragging how they got the job done for free by me and another friend in the crowd. Never gave him advice or made like I was interested in his house again. They want it for free and they want it on there time schedule if you don't do it on there time frame they cop an attitude sometimes and don't seem to remeber that they are not paying for the job.I always charge except my mother,brother, and sister - everyone else I have to charge - construction/remodel work is a discretionary/luxory items. You don't need to redo the bathroom - you want to redo the bathroom.
A house is the single biggest long term financial investment a person can make {it takes 30 years to pay of a house-what else takes that long to pay off?} If they can afford a house they can afford to pay you to work on it. Watch out also when working for family/friends that they don't give you the " I'm doing you a favor by giving you the job" routine. Work is work no matter who does it- if you don't do the job someone else is gonna do it and charge accordingly so you should charge accordingly. I'm not saying don't cut some breaks- just make sure they deserve a break and let them know there getting a break.
I don't see how the internet can help answer a Q like this for ya.
Some I charge full fare...some get a full free ride. LIke everything else in life.....it all depends.
Most at least have the materials there waiting for me after I give them a shopping list. Last big job I did for friends was a good size roof. It'd been a while..so I needed a reminder on why I avoid good size roofs. As a wedding present, I matched the low ball bid of the lowest bidder......was real underbid....I'm sure the guy had other plans.
I think I covered materials and went home with maybe $50/day for a weeks worth of work. My only demands to the new homeowners......they had to wait for a nice weather week when I could fit it in.
They got a nice new roof.....I got sandwiches left for me each day for lunch....and a coupla beers of my brand left to cool off after a hard days work.....
And we both became better friends that still refer to it some 3 yrs later.....I'll tell everyone he's a cheap paying bastard at weddings and family parties....he'll call late on a Fri nite when he knows I'm home and up ...waiting till it's raining good and hard....and ask just how much water thru the ceiling fan is normal.
Like I said.....all depends on the friend..and the friendship.
I have another closer friend...who's house I won't touch...because I told him I see how much his wife complains about him...and I ain't gonna put myself in that situation. I'll tell him how to do something..then laugh as she complains that he did it wrong..again!
Family get's free......materials if they're cheap too....they help me....I help them. Family I can tell to shut up if they ever decide to complain!
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite
Mostly no I don't work for free.
Someone mentioned the resentment thing.
volunteer work for the church bnut only if I can work alone. Otherwise I have people who think I'm too bossy ( only one there who knows what to do), people who don't think I did it to suit them ( when they are the smallest contributors to the project), and people who, tho their hearts are in the right place, can really mess up and slow down a work in progress.
I help my FIL sometimes but not too much because he always thinks he needs to repay the favor, which in turn creates more work for me repairing his "help".
I re-roofed a house for a couple in town who were really down and deserving. They became fast friends but then another old guy called asking me to fix his rotten old porch 'cause he heard someplace that I had access to some kind of program funding to do this kind of work. He got really nasty when I told him that I had only done one out of the kindness of my warm heart and that I had no way to freebie him.
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
piffen.. that's the old "no good deed goes unpunished"..
no,i don't work for free either.. i have in the past, but now most of my relatives can afford to pay, so they either hire me or they hire someone else...no hard feelings..
i can't conceive of asking one of them to give me some of their income, so why should i ? If circumstances were different, and the need were there, my response would be different.Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore