Have I been ovecharged?

Skag

I ordered 4 white spray painted alcove cabinet doors (2 sets), and a small side panel, from a joiner. The dimensions are 90cm (2x45) & 125cm (2x62.5) and the small panel is 40x30cm. only the external area is spray painted (the internal is still white but coarse).

He charged me £600 to supply and fit (spend about 1.5 hrs to fit everything and adjust).

I'm based in London zone 2.

I said that's too much, and he said that they charge him a lot to spray paint (£270 for the lot, if I remember correctly), so he has to pass on the costs.

Have I been overcharged?

comeandgo

Surely you should have agreed the price before you bought them?  Are the indoor or outdoor doors?

Skag

comeandgo said:

Surely you should have agreed the price before you bought them?  Are the indoor or outdoor doors?

Sorry, I amended my post: that's alcove cabinet doors.

Yes, we did agree on the price, but I went with it anyway because I wanted it done.

We have more stuff to be done, so the question is, if we carry on with this joiner, he'll prove to be quite expensive overall! He did do a good job, but for a hefty amount of money, as far as I'm concerned.

Am I going to find cheaper prices of good quality or this is about the price that these things go?

jonnydeppiwish!

Skag said:

comeandgo said:

Surely you should have agreed the price before you bought them?  Are the indoor or outdoor doors?

Sorry, I amended my post: that's alcove cabinet doors.

Yes, we did agree on the price, but I went with it anyway because I wanted it done.

We have more stuff to be done, so the question is, if we carry on with this joiner, he'll prove to be quite expensive overall! He did do a good job, but for a hefty amount of money, as far as I'm concerned.

Am I going to find cheaper prices of good quality or this is about the price that these things go?

You agreed a price, got the work fitted and now you’re querying the price? You should have queried it before agreeing.

£270 for the spray
His daily rate of £250
£80 for materials

Seems a fair costing to me

Skag

jonnydeppiwish! said:

Skag said:

comeandgo said:

Surely you should have agreed the price before you bought them?  Are the indoor or outdoor doors?

Sorry, I amended my post: that's alcove cabinet doors.

Yes, we did agree on the price, but I went with it anyway because I wanted it done.

We have more stuff to be done, so the question is, if we carry on with this joiner, he'll prove to be quite expensive overall! He did do a good job, but for a hefty amount of money, as far as I'm concerned.

Am I going to find cheaper prices of good quality or this is about the price that these things go?

You agreed a price, got the work fitted and now you’re querying the price? You should have queried it before agreeing.

£270 for the spray
His daily rate of £250
£80 for materials

Seems a fair costing to me

Querying to find out whether I'll carry on with this person or look for another one.

TELLIT01

You were quoted a price and agreed that price. The price doesn't seem excessive to me.  Did he have to make the doors, or were they picked up 'off the shelf' in somewhere like B&Q?  If he manufactured them I actually thing the price is very low.  If you now think their charges were excessive go elsewhere for any other work. 

Skag

TELLIT01 said:

You were quoted a price and agreed that price. The price doesn't seem excessive to me.  Did he have to make the doors, or were they picked up 'off the shelf' in somewhere like B&Q?  If he manufactured them I actually thing the price is very low.  If you now think their charges were excessive go elsewhere for any other work. 

Yeah, obviously I am getting other prices, but this guy was suggested to me by a friend as a competed joiner, but I found him to be expensive.

The doors were made from scratch using MDF.

comeandgo

Skag said:

TELLIT01 said:

You were quoted a price and agreed that price. The price doesn't seem excessive to me.  Did he have to make the doors, or were they picked up 'off the shelf' in somewhere like B&Q?  If he manufactured them I actually thing the price is very low.  If you now think their charges were excessive go elsewhere for any other work. 

Yeah, obviously I am getting other prices, but this guy was suggested to me by a friend as a competed joiner, but I found him to be expensive.

The doors were made from scratch using MDF.

Then that seems very reasonable.  If you can trust the joiner and his work is good I’d pay .  you have a previous thread where you were let down by some other trader, sometimes it’s just not worth going to the cheapest.

Skag

comeandgo said:

Skag said:

TELLIT01 said:

You were quoted a price and agreed that price. The price doesn't seem excessive to me.  Did he have to make the doors, or were they picked up 'off the shelf' in somewhere like B&Q?  If he manufactured them I actually thing the price is very low.  If you now think their charges were excessive go elsewhere for any other work. 

Yeah, obviously I am getting other prices, but this guy was suggested to me by a friend as a competed joiner, but I found him to be expensive.

The doors were made from scratch using MDF.

Then that seems very reasonable.  If you can trust the joiner and his work is good I’d pay .  you have a previous thread where you were let down by some other trader, sometimes it’s just not worth going to the cheapest.

Indeed yes, this guy is trying to remedy the other's doing... However you won't know if someone's worth their money, or they're just expensive, until you've seen their work!

comeandgo

Skag said:

comeandgo said:

Skag said:

TELLIT01 said:

You were quoted a price and agreed that price. The price doesn't seem excessive to me.  Did he have to make the doors, or were they picked up 'off the shelf' in somewhere like B&Q?  If he manufactured them I actually thing the price is very low.  If you now think their charges were excessive go elsewhere for any other work. 

Yeah, obviously I am getting other prices, but this guy was suggested to me by a friend as a competed joiner, but I found him to be expensive.

The doors were made from scratch using MDF.

Then that seems very reasonable.  If you can trust the joiner and his work is good I’d pay .  you have a previous thread where you were let down by some other trader, sometimes it’s just not worth going to the cheapest.

Indeed yes, this guy is trying to remedy the other's doing... However you won't know if someone's worth their money, or they're just expensive, until you've seen their work!

Good tradesmen are hard to find.  If you want to keep him working on your jobs then you must give him some slack.  If he decides you are too much like hard work, and I don’t mean the physical work, he won’t come back, plenty of other customers out there.

TELLIT01

Skag said:

TELLIT01 said:

You were quoted a price and agreed that price. The price doesn't seem excessive to me.  Did he have to make the doors, or were they picked up 'off the shelf' in somewhere like B&Q?  If he manufactured them I actually thing the price is very low.  If you now think their charges were excessive go elsewhere for any other work. 

Yeah, obviously I am getting other prices, but this guy was suggested to me by a friend as a competed joiner, but I found him to be expensive.

The doors were made from scratch using MDF.

With the doors made from scratch that price is very cheap.  Measuring, purchasing materials, manufacture and time all have to be paid for.  The absolute minimum time required for all elements of the job is going to be a full day, and at London charging rates that's likely to be over £300, plus materials.  He has said that spraying cost £270 so the final price is an absolute bargain.