I hired Tim to complete some small repairs in our house - some drywall, some plumbing. While on site, Tim explained that what I had wanted done with the bathtub would require a plumber - which he wasn't. So instead, he offered to complete some other work I had pointed out while we were touring the condo (i.e. repairing the front closet sliding door). I agreed, but in hindsight I shouldn't have. The work was well done (especially the drywall), but the cost was excessive given that the plumbing, which was part of the original estimate, wasn't done.
Tim was here for 4 hours, including initial tour and clean-up, and the total cost was $795 ($703 plus tax) - i.e. around $150/hour + materials. Work completed included 3 small drywall patches, two small sections of trim, purchasing and placing a fastener between two pipes under the kitchen sink, and re-screwing a press-board sliding door in the entrance-way closet, so cost of materials I think was less than $100 (I supplied the paint).
In summary: If you decide to use Tim, don't renegotiate the work to be done on the fly, without also renegotiating the price. That was I think my mistake. Be very clear and detailed about what you want done when requesting the original estimate and stick to that, don't agree to change it once Tim is already onsite.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $795.00
- Company Response
Hi Brian,
we are very sorry that you don't feel that you received a good price for the work that was done. That being said, you did agree to the exact work that was completed, and as you have stated above, that work was completed properly.In the quote that you requested originally, we had given you a price and explained that that price was based on "no new materials being needed." You agreed to this in the emails, and that is why we came out to do the work. But when we arrived it became apparent that new materials would in fact be needed for the plumbing issues. We chose to ignore this part of the contract and actually go out and get you materials for the one sink issue which was an easy fix, but for your other ones you decided to trade that work for other items that needed completing in your house.
It is difficult for us to know what we should have done, when you agreed to this as we talked it through at your house. We also thank you for your payment, as you acknowledged that the work was done when we were finished that day.
We appreciate you acknowledging that the work was done well. We certainly aren't the cheapest people in the city, and nor do we aim to be, as we have developed several methods of completing complicated work in a shorter period of time that saves our customers headaches and complications of having contractors there for long periods of time.