Roof repairs: 1.5 days and £650, actually took 4 hours!

fatbadger2

Hello

I'm not sure if i'm being unreasonable , so I'd appreciate a second opinion from you wise people. A good builder/roofer quoted me £650 to repair our roof (about 25 loose slates, bit of motor to on chimney and other places, etc, etc). He's done a good job (as far as I can tell), and the work is guaranteed for 2 years. BUT, he told me it would take at least a day so I though £650 sounded reasonable, but for 4 hours it now seems quite steep. There were two people on the job.

What do you think??

I also have to remember that the other nearest quote was nearly double as he wanted to use scaffolding...

pramsay13

So let me check I have this correct; a tradesman did a good job for the price he quoted you and it was half the price of the next best quote?

Yes you're being unreasonable.

neilmcl

fatbadger2 wrote: »

Hello

I'm not sure if i'm being unreasonable , so I'd appreciate a second opinion from you wise people. A good builder/roofer quoted me £650 to repair our roof (about 25 loose slates, bit of motor to on chimney and other places, etc, etc). He's done a good job (as far as I can tell), and the work is guaranteed for 2 years. BUT, he told me it would take at least a day so I though £650 sounded reasonable, but for 4 hours it now seems quite steep. There were two people on the job.

What do you think??

I also have to remember that the other nearest quote was nearly double as he wanted to use scaffolding...

Yes, you are being unreasonable. You got quoted for the job, not a day rate and he completed the job to your obvious satisfaction.

Mojisola

If he'd been on his own the job might have taken the predicted time.

With two of them working, it's been completed more quickly - eight man hours instead of twelve for one person.

stator

If he used two people instead of one then it seems fair.


If he decided not to use scaffolding to increase his profits, then it's his silly risk to take.

Aylesbury_Duck

Yes, you're being unreasonable.

fatbadger2

OK, that's good to know.

regarding me being unreasonable... my point is did he suggest 1.5 days in order to justify the costs of a proper job, when actually he's done a slap dash job in 1/3 the time? I mean it looks fine, but then I'm not on the roof, just looking at it from 30 feet.

But if everyone thinks £160/hour or £80/hr for each bloke is ok, then I'll take that as case closed! (But it seems blooming steep to me...)

cheers

JimmyChanga

Roofers will get away with it because not many people want to go on a roof. Yes, he's made a nice sum but if you have no alternative that's the way it goes.

TELLIT01

As has been said, basically the estimate was 1 1/2 man days for one man. Often 2 people working properly together can do the work in less than half the time. You were content with the original quote and, assuming the work has been done well, there is no reason to feel otherwise now.

fatbadger2

TELLIT01 wrote: »

As has been said, basically the estimate was 1 1/2 man days for one man. Often 2 people working properly together can do the work in less than half the time. You were content with the original quote and, assuming the work has been done well, there is no reason to feel otherwise now.

OK, so 1.5 days is 12 man-hours (tho there was no mention of that being one person).
2 people working 4 hours is 8 man-hours.
So, if I give benefit of the doubt that he reckoned 1.5 days for 1 person (seems unlike buy hey ho) then I've paid 50% more than time estimated. That would mean £433. But, as long as it past 2 winters I suppose all is well.

cheers

Aylesbury_Duck

Was his quote for the job or for the hourly rate? I think you're confusing the two. Based on your original post, he quoted for the job with an estimate of how long it would take. He overestimated the time it would take but the job was still done.

If it had taken him two full days, would you be insisting on paying him an extra £217? I thought not. So when the job's done faster than estimated you'd prefer to pay an hourly rate and if the job took longer than estimated, you'd prefer a fixed price? Am I right?