Hired a handyman chippie to do some framing up and demo work, paying by the hour. He sure knows how to waste time, never seen someone achieve so little in 7 hours. He worked while my husband was there working with him, but when he left he just filled in time. His hugely overweight physique didnt inspire much confidence when he arrived and I think he was very practiced in doing little. I came downstairs one time to check on him and he was sitting on the ladder playing with his phone. I was really livid at one stage as I came into the room and he had taken the electrician away from the task I had set him and wanted done first and was discussing which way he would bring the gpo wire down the wall. I said to him that 'its fine, I can deal with this, but he just stood there and proceeded to bring in red herrings (to waste time of course) I said 2 different ways that I could deal with this and he kept telling me where I should have the gpo positioned. Finally I said I have this under control and can make these decisions and gave him a playful shove on the shoulder and he took the 'hint'. then of course, you get the reputation of being a *****.
Such a *****
- Thread starter fernfurn
- Start date
Don't ever pay by the hour. Pay them fixed fee to complete the job.
It depends on the tradies and level of trust you have.
The two builders that I use for all my renos charge by the hour - and I wouldn't have it any other way. I usually have to question the fee for their labour at the end of each job because I feel like their under charging sometimes.
If they had to quote me for each job - they'd have to inflate their estimates by quite a bit due to the risk of it going over budget.
I guess it all comes down to trust. I left my guys with keys to my house for a month to carry out pretty extensive, structural renos. This doesn't sound like something I'd do with OPs guy though!
Cheers
Jamie
Well done on finding honest tradies - a genuine rarity I would say!
There's pricks in every industry
. I doubt they're any more concentrated in trades!Agreed.
Hit me up if you ever want their contact numbers - they don't advertise anywhere. Very old school/honest guys who have been building in Canberra forever. They seem to know everyone.
They're currently putting together a small basketball court in my backyard as we speak
Cheers
Jamie
Especially in Canberra, a good tradesman is worth his weight in gold. My personal experience is that it's the older ones who are happy to do a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. I haven't found many good ones. I am going to pm you Jamie!
