Mates rates for bike tinkering

[mustang1]

A good drink = a coke. Jeepers.

A nice bottle of wine are some good beers !!

No. The choice is Coke or Diet Coke. It's the real thing. The TV said so.

 

[cardiac case]

I became a sole trader 7 years ago and vividly remember those early days.
The last thing you need is to be payed in tokens, i.e. wine, beer, coke, etc. That doesn't pay the rent, food, leccy, shoes for the kids etc.
If he's a mate, a real mate, then do him a favour and pay the going rate. He's done you a huge service by coming to your house to do the work.
If I need work done then it's time off to take it to the LBS, pay the rate, and more time to collect it.

I was asked to do a job for a mate. "I want to pay the going rate" he said.
Two and a half days it took. He came to collect and gave me an envelope. I thought it rude to open it, so I did so after he'd gone.
A £50 voucher for a meal at the local restaurant.
Next time I saw him I gave it back saying I couldn't possibly accept it from a mate.
He said he would now feel guilty if he had to ask me to do work in the future. No shoot !

Paul G

p.s
I didn't type "shoot"

 

[swee'pea99]

I'd go with £20. It's not really a matter of 'paying' him, so much as expressing your appreciation; and he didn't treat it as 'a job' as such - it was for a friend, and he got to play with the dog. A £20 note is a good 'thing'. No-one regrets having a £20 note! £25 or £30 and it starts to stray into 'calculation/payment'. Would he feel hard done by with a twenty? I doubt it; he didn't do it as a job. Would he do it again? I would have thought so. What you want to avoid is him feeling hard done by, or embarrassed ('cos he knows it's real money to you, and you're friends when all's said and done). I'd pass him a twenty and say 'I wasn't sure what to give you - is that alright?' My guess is he'd smile and say yeah, absolutely, thanks a lot. I could be wrong, but I think that's how I'd play it.

 

[midlife]

I guess the taxman isn't involved and he had no shop overheads. Would you put it through the till cardiac case?

Shaun

 

[Sandra6]

Thanks for the input. I paid £25 into his account. I think it's " enough".

 

[cardiac case]

I guess the taxman isn't involved and he had no shop overheads. Would you put it through the till cardiac case?

Shaun

I charge £15 per hour as a welder/sheetmetal worker and I don't see that bike mechanic is any more or less skilled than me,
so 2 hours = £30.

So he had a coffee, and cuddled the dog, but IMHO that's cancelled out by the traveling time, so yup, 30 quid through the books.


Paul G

 

[Paulus]

I would go with £20-£30. It was good of him to give up his time for you. As you have gone for £25 that seems to me about right.

 

[winjim]

A good drink = a coke. Jeepers.

A nice bottle of wine are some good beers !!

I would hope for a bottle of whisky, expect a bottle of wine or some nice bottled ales, and accept a four pack of regular beer.

Coke? Don't touch the stuff except as a tonic if I'm feeling a bit under the weather hungover.

 

[NorthernDave]

I once did a job for a mate.
Said to get me a bottle of something - he knows I like decent malts (he's helped me drink enough over the years).


You can imagine my joy when he turned up with a bottle of Bells...

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I would have paid him with some advice along the lines of "you're not helping yourself nor me, tell me how much or you'll get nothing ya big nobber"

 

[screenman]

I charge £15 per hour as a welder/sheetmetal worker and I don't see that bike mechanic is any more or less skilled than me,
so 2 hours = £30.

So he had a coffee, and cuddled the dog, but IMHO that's cancelled out by the traveling time, so yup, 30 quid through the books.


Paul G

If you are self employed you need to review your rates. Nowhere near enough for somebody with your skills, I am £50 and hour or more fixing dents and screens, and that is not rocket science unlike welding.

 

[doog]

I also never get mates to do anything for me. Or family. EVER. I suppose this post doesn't help you at all.Maybe
.

A wise post..Its been a good few years since the brother in law built the extension and a good few years since we last spoke...

 

[mickle]

£35 per hour is the very least you'd pay in a bike shop. Plus parts. Pay him the full going rate. If he doesn't like it he always has the option of giving some of it back to you.

 

[speccy1]

I could write a book about this subject, but I won`t.................

 

[cardiac case]

If you are self employed you need to review your rates. Nowhere near enough for somebody with your skills, I am £50 and hour or more fixing dents and screens, and that is not rocket science unlike welding.

Sadly people value different trades at different levels. I'm at the lower end.

A person that argues about the £35 p/h that the LBS charges gladly coughs up the £45 for ten minutes in a dentist chair.

The woman next door payed £2k to the vet when her cat got hit by the farm quad bike. Demanded her tumble dryer was
repaired free. Some issue with fluff in a filter apparently.

I once heard a plumber and painter talking.
Painter:- " If you spend a week doing my 'on suite' I'll paint the outside of your house. Should take about the same time."
Plumber:- " Not flippin' likely. My rates are four times what yours are."

I could go on.

Paul G