Fair Price To Pay

[catholic]

My garden fence needed a new post to replace a rotten one and my neighbour very kindly offered to do the work. The job was trickier than anticipated, two fence panels had to be taken down and it took him a day to complete. I paid for the materials but what should I offer him for his labour? I don't want to insult or embarrass him by offering too much or too little.

[bookbinder]

How about a bottle of beer, or whatever his tipple is? You could make it a joint celebration by sitting down with him, in the garden (his or yours) and that would the embarrassment of offering money.

[bookbinder]

...save the embarrassment...

[Gizmonster]

I'm assuming the neighbour who did the work, lives on the other side of the broken fence??
If so - you paid for all the materials and he's benefiting from the new fence, so I think bookbinder's suggestion is more than enough.

..... a full day to replace one post .... seriously ??

[catholic]

O.k. so he did have a couple of tea breaks but to be fair, he is 70. The bottom of the post had to be dug out of concrete. It was a cold day & I'd just feel so mean if I only bought him a couple of beers (sorry Bookbinder)

[viv41]

£20 ?

[ladybirder]

Could you ask him how much you owe him?

[catholic]

Thank you Ladybirder. I suppose I shouldn't such a wimp! I shall knock on his door clutching a bottle of wine and hopefully agree a fair amount. Thank you to everyone who responded so quickly. What a great site this is!

[ladybirder]

Thank you for BA catholic.
Let us know how you get on.

[alavahalf]

Let me tell you what a friend of mine would have charged you and he does fencing for a living. For a standard larch lap fence he charges £90 a post .. £90 a panel..£90 a post ..£90 a panel .. on and on...
It sounds as though your neighbour bit off more than he could chew.
Offering to do the job in the first place, it sounds that he was capable of doing it ... so fair play to him. It seems he wanted to do the job without thinking about payment... He just was'nt expecting to spend all day doing it.
He has learned his lesson now and wont offer quite so quickly again. I have been in the same position ... You never know how enthusiastic the person who fitted the post initialy, got with the concrete (Not everyone uses a weak mix). So if you dont have the right tools for the job, it is often not wise to proceed in the first place. You never know what lies at the end of a post until you start digging.
None the less he was good enough to do it and in the process no doubt got covered in mud and ended up with an aching limbs. He got the satisfaction of completing a job he knows he would have flown through 30 years ago.
I would ask him what you owe him for his efforts. If he says 'Dont wory about it' insist and ask him what wine he likes.
Personally I think a bottle of wine is a bit of an insult ... 2-3 half decent bottles would be more like it.
Think about what it may have cost if you got a fence man out !