What is fair for the builder to include in the materials at the end of a job

Tom_Jones

Consumable items are chargable (paint brushes, saws etc) things like tarpaulins would be part chargable (50%) or fully chargable if you want to keep them.

leveller2911

bryanb wrote: »

The clue is in "Items bought on your behalf "
A builder should make his profit on the building work, not on buying tools etc.

Depends on the type of work carried out as cheap paint brushes are designed to be used once and binned.If a roof needs sheeting over with a tarpaulin once youve nailed it on with battens its not watertight so personally I would book it to the job.Having said that if the customer wanted to keep it afterwards then thats no problem, but I certainly wouldn't be showing them my receipts..

Does Joe Bloggs get discount at timber merchants? answer is if they do they wouldn't get the same discount as an account holder so why should the builder Not have profit on the tools if they were bought this way?......

Personally when I supply a kitchen I sell it for what I buy it for but because i'm VAT registered I would claim the VAT back against my VAT bill but I don't add pofit as such.I think its up to each person to decide how they run their business, but should perhaps clarify temrs of business at the outset....Just My opinion of coarse....:D

Party_Animal

A lot depends on what was agreed at the outset. I deal with a lot of contractors. Depending on the value of the works, I would ask for between 3 and 6 quotes. Consequently, the price would be agreed before any works commenced. Any unforseen additional works would have to be agreed. I've never seen paint brushes or sheets on any priced bill. A good painter will only use quality brushes, clean them after use, and resuse them on the next job.

Pont

God in heaven - some of you are pedantic! The OP stated that they were being charged for paint brushes, rollers etc which are surely 'tools of the trade'. I wouldn't expect a builder to charge me as an extra for him to use his power tools, saws, tape measures etc, I would assume these costs were built into the price for the job. As the builder is undoubtably being somewhat 'cheeky' I was suggesting perhaps the OP would care to be 'cheeky' in return. I'm surprised a builder such as this is still in business and hasn't been laughed out of town!

My partner's a builder and would never dream of including items such as these, which are 'everyday items' rather than 'specialist items', on a final invoice. If this builder has been so cheap by doing this I would be asking what else has he perhaps been cheap on. Just as an addition OP - what did your builder charge you for the brushes, rollers, ropes and tarpaulins?

mikey72

Depends what he's been doing with them.
If it's bitumen for instance, it's not worth trying to clean.
Having said that, I wouldn't bother charging for them, I just either put in a "lump" for consumables, or put it in the labour rate.

leveller2911

Pont wrote: »

God in heaven - some of you are pedantic! The OP stated that they were being charged for paint brushes, rollers etc which are surely 'tools of the trade'. I wouldn't expect a builder to charge me as an extra for him to use his power tools, saws, tape measures etc, I would assume these costs were built into the price for the job. As the builder is undoubtably being somewhat 'cheeky' I was suggesting perhaps the OP would care to be 'cheeky' in return. I'm surprised a builder such as this is still in business and hasn't been laughed out of town!


Without getting too Pedantic , most builders would buy cheap brushes and throw them away after 1 or 2 jobs whereas a good decorator will buy good quality brushes costing up to 20 x the price and would have them for years...Personally I wouldn't charge a couple of cheap brushes to a job....

Ive bought tarpaulins and charged them to the job used them once and got holes in and wouldn't dare use them a second time, been in business for nearly 25 yrs and as yet not been laughed out of town....;).


EDIT: I have to admit I have been told Im pedantic before, Keystone where are you?......:D

Al1x

I agree with charging for tarpaulins.. once there are holes in them they can't be used to keep a roof watertight.

fluffpot

Either way you end up paying - the builder will either add these on to his labour rates or have slightly higher labour rates to cover these costs.

The most important thing is are you happy with the work? If so I think the odd extra's aren't worth worrying about. If not, then take it up with him on workmanship not the cost of paint brushes