Price for laying decking ?

skye33

I live in Nottinghamshire Area and am laying a handman £130 a day to lay decking for me ( he ordered has it delivered to my house for me which I paid £500 for ) he has said that it is 3 days work he doing it by himself. His days work yesterday was 8.45 to roughly 3.30 pm and he says will be the same today and is definitely a 3 day job. Not sure if he stringing it out to get the £130 day rate. Works out as £20 a hour. He not a carpenter just a handyman but has installed quite a few decks before. Any advice whether this a fair quote please as I'm single mum on my own and don't have a lot if money so don't need to be paying over the odds ! Thanks. I did initially think it was a fair amount for the work involved but talking to few friends they think I'm paying too much and he taking too long to do it. The area is 15 feet by 16 feet already partly has a concrete base to lay on and only simple decking no rails or stairs etc

skye33

Sorry not laying the handyman paying ��!!

tiggerkid

I am not sure whether £20 per hour is a fair price in your area but one thing I would suggest is agreeing fixed price for the job, i.e. pay for outcome rather than time. Paying on a daily or hourly basis leaves you with no control over final cost. At the very least, if he said that he can do it all in 3 days, perhaps you could tell him that 3 days' work is all that you will pay however long it takes him to finish the job after that?

Don't mean to come across as all untrusting and suspicious but just being cautious because of my own recent experience with our garden. Our garden was supposed to be sorted in 6 weeks. The guy took 15 weeks instead and still left us with unfinished or poorly completed work. I am glad that we agreed fixed cost rather than time and materials because that would have been a proper nightmare.

Yours seems like a fairly straightforward job but nonetheless I really would suggest either a fixed price or an agreement that 3 days is all that you will pay for regardless of how long he takes to finish the deck.

Also, I am in Buckinghamshire and £20-25 per hour seems fairly common here for those types of jobs, so it may be a little too expensive for Nottinghamshire although, like I said, I am not sure. In this regard, would suggest to seek at least 3 quotes.

getmore4less

How much has he done on the first day?

the frame build will probably have to be done in the final position might be too heavy for one person to move.

How is he planning to level.

Silver-Surfer_2

tiggerkid wrote: »

I am not sure whether £20 per hour is a fair price in your area but one thing I would suggest is agreeing fixed price for the job, i.e. pay for outcome rather than time. Paying on a daily or hourly basis leaves you with no control over final cost. At the very least, if he said that he can do it all in 3 days, perhaps you could tell him that 3 days' work is all that you will pay however long it takes him to finish the job after that?

Don't mean to come across as all untrusting and suspicious but just being cautious because of my own recent experience with our garden. Our garden was supposed to be sorted in 6 weeks. The guy took 15 weeks instead and still left us with unfinished or poorly completed work. I am glad that we agreed fixed cost rather than time and materials because that would have been a proper nightmare.

Yours seems like a fairly straightforward job but nonetheless I really would suggest either a fixed price or an agreement that 3 days is all that you will pay for regardless of how long he takes to finish the deck.

Also, I am in Buckinghamshire and £20-25 per hour seems fairly common here for those types of jobs, so it may be a little too expensive for Nottinghamshire although, like I said, I am not sure. In this regard, would suggest to seek at least 3 quotes.

The op has already agreed to a daily rate, if she now tells him she's only willing to pay for three days he's quite entitled to walk off the job after three days whether it's finished or not. She cannot insist he finishes it however long it takes.

skye33

He has laid all the frame on the first day and is now cutting and laying the decking across it. He said it would be 3 days so will only pay 3 days as that's what we agreed maximum. What I'm interested to know is 8.30 to 3 pm considered a days work for £130 ? I expected him to work 8 hours for this? I'm going h to see what time he leaves today anyway as maybe today he ll stay later. Guess the lesson learnt is agree a price for the job before do t pay daily rate .... All a learning curve. Did think for this area his rate is quite high.

skye33

Thanks for the advice

bmthmark

skye33 wrote: »

He has laid all the frame on the first day and is now cutting and laying the decking across it. He said it would be 3 days so will only pay 3 days as that's what we agreed maximum. What I'm interested to know is 8.30 to 3 pm considered a days work for £130 ? I expected him to work 8 hours for this? I'm going h to see what time he leaves today anyway as maybe today he ll stay later. Guess the lesson learnt is agree a price for the job before do t pay daily rate .... All a learning curve. Did think for this area his rate is quite high.

If you have agreed that you can pay for 3 days max then he will work 3 days. I'm not sure it really matters with regards to the hours, as long as he gets the job done in 3 days.
It sounds like he would of quoted you a fix price of £390 anyway (3 days work), so the hours he works is irrelevant.

Hope it looks good at the end, i'm sure it will

skye33

Yes that's what I think really as long as the job is done in 3 days then i won't say anything as that is what we agreed. He said 2-3 days no more. Hoping I'll be sat out on it with a glass wine by Friday evening ! ::)

Carmk2008

I know people that charge £75 per meter and those prices were a few years ago, and they are always busy.

greenface

It's not how long he's there for its what he does while he's there . You haven't said how big the deck is . If handrails steps etc . Recently done one in a day . Recently about a week . Same size deck with different spec and cuts . A decent deck all in for under a grand (half materials ) isn't bad. 20 an hour is irrelevant .