Fair pay for tradesmen?

A questioning sort asks

I have just had my gas hob connected by a CORGI registered plumber. All he had to do was connect the hob to the pipe 40 cm away. He was a nice chap, but he couldn’t talk and work at the same time, and repeatedly went off to his van for miscellaneous objects. Now, I don’t think he was trying to rip me off, and I would get him back to do more work, but in total he did 10 minutes of actual work in a 40 minute period for which he charged £35.

Would it be acceptable to pay only for the work done and not for the chatting and walking back and forwards?

Mar 30th, 2009

2 lacklustre pieces of inspiration on “Fair pay for tradesmen?”

  1. Consultant K Says:
    March 31st, 2009 at 11:13 am

    No.

  2. A time and motion person Says:
    April 3rd, 2009 at 11:24 am

    You could pay them with a tool box so that they only need one trip to the van to gather the equipment they need and then one trip back

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