C
cornish_crofter
I started on mates rates for all our friends.
As time goes on you realise who will repay the favour. Some very good friends of ours were getting a fixed discount on my hourly rate. She ran a business selling custom embroidered clothing - with company logo etc on it.
Bearing in mind that they were getting the friends' rate, I was rather suprised when she didn't take the opportunity to reciprocate with her prices when I enquired about some T shirts.
The friends' rate was 'phased out' in their case. They're still good customers of mine and they are still good friends.
A completely different example - one of my friends is a Quantity Surveyor and sometimes helps me with pricing and contacts on jobs. His house is often needing little jobs. One such example was changing bath taps. His plumber had let him down but he had bought the taps. So one day I went and fitted them for him. For little jobs in his case I simply charge materials. I fitted his taps in a spare hour I had. Another time I unblocked his drain. However he has helped me in pricing for UPVC fascia jobs and a couple of other areas where I didn't have the experience at the time - all FOC.
It's unusual when a reciprocal arrangement works well, but when it does, it works very well.
As time goes on you realise who will repay the favour. Some very good friends of ours were getting a fixed discount on my hourly rate. She ran a business selling custom embroidered clothing - with company logo etc on it.
Bearing in mind that they were getting the friends' rate, I was rather suprised when she didn't take the opportunity to reciprocate with her prices when I enquired about some T shirts.
The friends' rate was 'phased out' in their case. They're still good customers of mine and they are still good friends.
A completely different example - one of my friends is a Quantity Surveyor and sometimes helps me with pricing and contacts on jobs. His house is often needing little jobs. One such example was changing bath taps. His plumber had let him down but he had bought the taps. So one day I went and fitted them for him. For little jobs in his case I simply charge materials. I fitted his taps in a spare hour I had. Another time I unblocked his drain. However he has helped me in pricing for UPVC fascia jobs and a couple of other areas where I didn't have the experience at the time - all FOC.
It's unusual when a reciprocal arrangement works well, but when it does, it works very well.
