poverty tiling job

[kilty55]

haloo all,its not often i have come across someone so poor as a woman and 2 kids tonight.

bathroom is in appaling condition,she has white tiles 150s which are solid on the wall and had originally had white grout,since then someone has coloured the grout blue in a bad attempt to re grout and now for the last 2 months she tells me shes been using a b and spew grout rake to try n re grout,,got half way throo the room and asked me to box in a shoking bit of tile work in the corner before she starts again..i had a quik sketch about the house as i entered and altho its clean these peeps are as poor as church mice,i felt really sorry for her and her lads.

shes asked me to give her a price to tile on the existing (solid) tiles and i suggested re boxing the mish mash behind the sink,this would make her bathroom look a lot better has anyone done a job for free or just asked for material and diesel money before in a similar situ?

 

[hillhead]

i haven't yet but would consider if i came across a bad situation like that,she might not want that though,sometimes people are very proud even though they have nothing.Fair play to you kilty for even considering this,good on ya.

 

[kilty55]

this is my dilemma hillhead mate,,she never mentioned prices or money once or asked for a cheap job i just know shes poor..not skint but poor. im not sure how to apraoch it i dont wanna say look ill do it for nowt for u just give me mats money as she might take offence

 

[White Room]

Does she own or renting the property

 

[kilty55]

i have a feeling she owns it beam,and is probably why its in such a bad state

 

[Alan.P]

Tricky one, never happened to me ............. yet, are you busy, is it keeping you from making money elsewhere or can you fit it in on the way sort of thing, at the end of the day, you have to cover at least your expenses so as not to lose on a pity job.

Let us know how it goes

 

[david campbell]

saint jamie

sounds good-do it for nothing your loaded anyway m8:lol:

 

[DHTiling]

Price it and move on... You are a tradesmen...

 

[White Room]

I was just thinking if it was rented she might get the council or landlord to put there hands in their pockets.

I've been there more than once, you want to help but how far do you go, tough one

 

[kilty55]

im loaded :yikes: tell me where i hid the cash davy and ill take ya for a beer:8: cis i canny find it lol, im doin ok just now alan so i may put 2 days aside to do it for her i might aproach it by asking her what her budget is for doing it that way i wont offend

 

[hillhead]

just maybe give her a cheap price to cover your *** and see what she says?

 

[kilty55]

yes hillhead good idea ill do that

 

[Alan.P]

im loaded :yikes: tell me where i hid the cash davy and ill take ya for a beer:8: cis i canny find it lol, im doin ok just now alan so i may put 2 days aside to do it for her i might aproach it by asking her what her budget is for doing it that way i wont offend

Mmmm, as you say, ask here what she wants to spend, give her a couple of options and tell her what it would cost normally, let her know your doing it cheap for her, give her an excuse if ya want but at the end of the day, as Dave says, we're tradesmen and need to earn a living.

 

[CDS]

I spent 17 years working in retail management and if it taught me anything it was 'don't judge a book by its cover'.... saying that you've made the call and made your decision on the cms circumstances so really down to you.

I think theres a very fine line here though, as has been suggested she may not be rolling in it but she's probably very proud. By the fact that you were there estimating suggests she's not after a freebee!

Basically there are 3 choices - 1/ Do it for cost of materials and risk causing offense - 2/ price as normal and not get the job - or 3/price to cover materials with 'mates rates' labour and walk away from the job feeling good about yourself.... karma....

 

[CJ]

Start feeling sorry for the customers................your'll end up in the same state.

It does tug at the old heart strings mind :dizzy2: