I am currently doing renovations on my house. One of which is structural so I needed to bring in an architect to draw up plans and spec a load bearing beam.
Both companies that I got quotes from said they could have their guy do the drawings and stamp them for about $200-$250. I told them not to worry about it, I have a friend who is an architect and will have him do them for me.
Now here is the issue. I asked him and he said he would be happy to do it for me, however neither of us mentioned price. (I know biggest mistake here, don’t need anyone dwelling on it, thank you)
I finally get the drawings back from him, which are now 2 weeks late, by the way, and he asks me for $500.
Apparently I assumed he would be around the same price range as the rest of them, and he apparently assumed $500 is a good deal. He told me that if his company had done the work, it would have been $2000.
Now I don’t want to be a jerk, but everyone was quoting $250 and he is at double the price. What would you guys do?
Agreed. Tell him how you feel though, you were quoted $250 from a few other places but it he really wants $500 you will pay him. Unless you don’t want him as a friend then give him $20 and his plans back and say you’ll use someone else.
Yikes. That’s a tough situation. Just talk to him about it.
Or give him $250 and tell him you don’t want to be a jerk but you were expecting around $250 since that’s what the other two quotes were and it might take you a little bit to come up with the rest. Maybe he’ll come down a little and just isn’t use to drawing and pricing smaller jobs or something.
I would have been surprised at the price, telling him that you had two other quotes for $250. If he isn’t willing to take $250, then I would pay the $500 and move on. Also, never ask for his services or recommend him again.
You should’ve discussed cost prior to cutting him loose on the work. I don’t know how much time he spent on them but I’m guessing it wasn’t 10 hours @ $ 50.00 an hour. I don’t often charge my friends for my time. We do favors for each other. I can usually draw up complete plans for an addition in 4-6 hours (plan, elevations, details, schedules, etc). Just a reference point.
This… I probably would just end up paying the 5, and not talk to him again. chalk it up to a lesson learned.
This, or the fact that one day down the road you can help him out in some way.
Or if you think he’s that big of a dick tell him no thanks and like another said, toss him a 20 so he doesn’t think you’re a total scum bucket. (when in reality he is)
Or tell him that you deduct 10% from the final price every day that it’s late. Oh he says you didn’t talk about that before hand? Well he didn’t tell you it was going to be some out the ass price either… Maybe he shouldn’t have taken so long.
If you want to be a dick perhaps talk to his company about it… I doubt they would like him doing side jobs without them knowing. Depending on the company/firm of course ;\
pay him $500, dont discuss other quotes, that was your fault.
you’re the dick any other way.
it’s surprising how with home renovations going with reputable companies with up-front quotes is often better than trying to get the ‘hook-up’ from a guy you know or through a connection. It’s the total opposite of cars where the dealership is basically always more expensive by a long shot.
every good renovation job i’ve had is with a legit business… every shit-show is with a ‘guy who does this on the side’
My current customer has a relative who’s having a basement remodeled by someone who’s not exactly legit. Guess he’s going on month 8… but he does good work.
Most of the times, yes, but for some skilled folks, I don’t mind paying. My initial thought was I’d rather pay a friend rather than someone else for the work.
Pretty much what I did. I told him how I felt and said I would pay him $400. I knew it was mostly my fault because I didn’t talk price ahead of time and he apparently doesn’t have any experience doing residential quotes. Definitely a lesson learned here.
He told me he had 18 hours in it.
This is the truth, I normally don’t deal with truck and ladder people as it is. I didn’t really think much of it but it’s kind of what I did for this. I went with a “guy” I knew.
Sounds like a good price considering, he probably did them away from his job AS AN architect. I know for a fact that computer people usually don’t like coming home and working on more computers, I’d assume the same goes for other professions. Give him the $500 and a case of beer…your mistake.
I don’t know, I think if you really like what you do, it’s not a problem. I love doing electrical. Every job is different. I think computers are different though. I know plenty of computer people and not many go looking for side work. Not that these people hate their jobs, just don’t want to take their work home with them.