Overcharging Tradie...

**Batpig** · 21st May 2008, 05:46 PM

Dear Gents,

If you’re interested in the whole issue of trying to avoid getting ripped off by dishonest tradesmen, have a read of this one and give me your opinion. It is not meant in any way to be aimed at all tradesmen - just the ones that do the sort of thing described below. I don't expect that there are any such tradies on this Forum, because it would just be too out of character to shaft somebody by day, and then help somebody else out by night over the net on a Forum...

Anyway, the scenario is that my brother’s neighbour is in the process of renovating their house, and my brother has kindly agreed to allow access to the required machinery through his front and back yards to enable the neighbour to do so. In the course of watching the excavations being done, my brother arranged for the earthworks contractor to also do some digging in his yard too. The terms were $70/hr for just one man and the machinery, plus an extra $50/hr if a second man could turn up who would be able to load the truck with a Bobcat, and then take the load away, so that the first man could get on with the Drott-work. My sister-in-law kept an eye on proceedings over the course of the two days that it took to complete the work in their own yard, and categorically observed that whilst a second man did turn up for most of both days, he was simply standing around for at least 75% of the time, either talking on his mobile phone, or just relieving the fellow on the Drott whenever the guy needed a break. This was because the second guy didn’t seem to know enough about the gear to be able to load the truck with the Bobcat by himself, and he was quite slow on the Drott too, whenever he took the controls. It apparently looked a bit like the first guy was having to teach the second guy how to operate the gear whenever he handed over. Knock-off was at around 3.30 on both days...

Anyhow, at the end of the two days, the main fellow told my sister-in-law that the bill (even with an apparent 10% discount built-in, mind you) would come to $1740, with the subtle threat that it would have to be greater if an invoice was required.

Now, the number of hours that my brother is therefore being charged for both men is $1740 divided by $120/hr, which comes to14.5hrs - ie. Two whole days. The simple truth, though, is that only one of the men worked effectively for the two days, while the second guy did bugger all. My brother is therefore being overcharged by something in the region of at least $500 (ie. At least 10 useless hours for the second guy to stand around at $50/hr...)

The whole thing was done without a written quote or estimate of any sort, and my brother and I are now in the process of scratching our heads trying to work out how to actually dispute this thing. I rang the QBSA, and the woman who took the call was not only unhelpful, but also somewhat hostile. Anyway, she reckoned there was effectively nothing my brother could do except pay up, unless he wanted to risk throwing good money after bad...

Have any of you ever had something like this happen, and if so, what did you do about it?

Many Thanks,
Batpig.

**Rossluck** · 21st May 2008, 06:33 PM

You're going to hate me saying this, Batpig, but this is because you didn't get a quote for the job. I mean, I'm on your side, but watching people out the window isn't the way to judge the work or the price. You basically need to have someone in the business see the job and give you a quote. A good drott operator can move mountains in two days.

The fact that they were working next door means little. In the end you need to see how much they achieved over two days and how much stuff was taken away. A drott, a truck and a bobcat, and two men (on or off) over two days would start heading towards $2000 in my experience.

My advice: forget it and get a quote next time. Sorry.

**TermiMonster** · 21st May 2008, 06:39 PM

What he said

TM

**Batpig** · 21st May 2008, 08:30 PM