Hate sending bills to friends

[llywelyn111]

sorry I'll repost in correct forum. Please delete

 

[kathwilcox]

yes it can be tricky sending friends bills!

We learnt the hard way, did lots of work on a friends house, never charged them a penny!

When it came to the favour being returned they wanted a hideous daily rate!

guess what we are no longer friends!

 

[llywelyn111]

Just finished changing a 10 way split and a 8 way sub main (extension) in a friends holiday house. Done a EIC the property, upgraded bonding to gas and water (5m away both of them thank god). Then sort four garage lights out for him, he supplied the fittings. and replaced a couple of sockets which had cracked faces.

Does anyone else find it hard to send bills to friends? My bill seems to come down every time I'm going to email it to him :001_9898:

I just have no idea how much to charge him now.

 

[Specialist]

There's an old saying: You've got no friends in business, sad but true.

 

[Dan23584]

Just remember you can't be expected to work for peanuts, also any discount you give him will be better than if he got some one else in charging full price. did you do it in normal workng hours or evening/weekends? If it was in normal working hours then you have to remember that while your doing discounted work for a mate you could be elsewhere earring normal rate. I suppose you might be better off giving him a ring explaining your feeling a little uncomfortable and see what he says. Most of my mates are pretty good with understanding that you can't do this stuff for nothing.

 

[llywelyn111]

It was done during normal working hours which has made it worse really. I play golf with him every Saturday which makes it a bit harder Oh well

 

[Dan23584]

Would he be likely/able to return a favour in the future? Would he appreciate the gesture of discount or expect it? Did you discuss payment before the work started?

 

[llywelyn111]

Might just charge him normal CU change and cert for the Split board and just the cost of the sub main and a hour labour ontop of that one.

 

[llywelyn111]

With regards to returning the favour, He works for HMRC, should I ask him for payment in cash? :wink5:

 

[rsp84]

Pity he cant make your tax bill smaller. It doesnt have to be money in kind to be repaid.

 

[trev]

As I said the other day, family and close friends only pay for materials but I slot the job in as and when I can, the system has worked for years and hopefully will continue to. There are others who get a bit of a mates rate because they have/would do the same. Everyone else pays me what I want or they get someone else.

 

[Specialist]

My Niece asked me to wire her house a few years back, told her i'd provide the labour if she paid for the materials. She got the hump with me because she had to pay for the materials & has'nt spoken to me since.

 

[trev]

I did some testing at my neice's place, reused to take any cash for it. When I got home Julia was waiting for me with a stern look "wth are you doing charging Sam?" she asked. The crafty bugger had nipped out to the shop alledgedly while I was having a cuppa and messing about with her kids, went to ours and said "there's the money I owe Trev for the tests.
She left £60 which didn't really cover it but the thought was nice. I posted it back through her front door. It went back and forwards for about a week before she gave up.

 

[Specialist]

I've got a mate that's like that, he knows I won't charge him but still keeps trying. So I annoy him when he repairs the car by doing the same to him, bugger still doe'snt lear though:biggrin:

 

[kathwilcox]

i have a small job to do for a friend and the deal is she pays for the parts, and the labour charges are one of the awesome curries that she makes, lol

 

[trev]

I do a bit for some restaurantuers, if it's a daft little 5 minute job I'll get them to deliver some grub too. Probably should declare a value for them on my tax return

 

[morph]

i do not have any friends so this is not an issue,

 

[kathwilcox]

i do not have any friends so this is not an issue,

Oh poor you, I will be your friend if you like.

Sent from my GT-S5830 using Tapatalk 2

 

[vjsmarwick]

Every customer has to be treated like a friend but no room for friends when in business. After saying that I have to be the worlds worst.
Even complete strangers when I value the job I work out what I would be willing to pay for it and if it goes over that price then I take a loss and charge what I would have been if I had given an estimate but I never supply materials so its only labour and as long as I can afford to love I am happy and customers keep coming back because they trust me. I know I never rip anyone off so a night out is usually quite cheap lol it has its benefits.

 

[vjsmarwick]

Oops afford to live not love drat predictive text lol.