poverty tiling job
- Thread starter kilty55
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user123
Hmm, normally I would say just give her a special rate if your instinct tells you to, but not for free. Saying that though, I treated someone with serious financial issues once for free, he was in agony with his back, and something wasn't right, couldn't figure it out what it was, but the pain was real, hospital had been no help, adn I felt simply compelled not to charge hima bean, even though he kept insisting. It made no sense, but I had to follow my gut instinct. Anyhow, I was deeply unhappy with a sense that there was seriously something wrong there, and eventually I got him to have a scan on his back that showed a malignant tumour in his spinal chord, something you can't feel or see. He got operated on and is now as right as rain. He was the person I thought I studied for, it was a compelling pull to help, maybe an old debt of sorts, but SO much good came from it afterwards, in drips and drabs, but it had a special feel. Sometimes things just happen that do not make sense in normal circumstances, and really in the end it's just down to how strong a feeling is about something. Good luck, and it's nice that you care. 
T
Time's Ran Out
Mixed bag of answers!
Me - I'd either treat it as another job - or walk away!
It's already cost you to go and look at the job - and that's time you can spend with your own family.
Unless there is a significant danger of tiles injuring someone its not going to stop her/kids using the bathroom.
When you get blamed for scratching her bath and she asks you to replace it - how sentimental will you feel.
30 years ago I joined my local Round Table - they do loads for the community and its great family fun.
Me - I'd either treat it as another job - or walk away!
It's already cost you to go and look at the job - and that's time you can spend with your own family.
Unless there is a significant danger of tiles injuring someone its not going to stop her/kids using the bathroom.
When you get blamed for scratching her bath and she asks you to replace it - how sentimental will you feel.
30 years ago I joined my local Round Table - they do loads for the community and its great family fun.
C
Colour Republic
hmmmm not an easy one and every situation is different.
If it was me I would price the job up with something I’d be happy with whilst giving enough discount to make you feel good about yourself but also say to her that you'll happily do it for peanuts but it will have to fit into your schedule when you have a few hours here and there so may take 3/4/5 weeks to complete and you may even chuck in some surplus materials. But you do have to like the person as your in business and it is stopping you from earning elsewhere.
But you do have to weigh it up; I’ve been down this road before. One of the guys that worked for me was a church goer (but not the preaching type, he was as bad as you and me!) A lady from his church needed the exterior of her house painting; it was in a really bad state and had a hell of a lot of woodwork that needed sorting out. I agreed to help him and we'd do it on the cheap as this woman didn't have much money. My normal price for doing something like this would be around 8k but we agreed that we would do it for a day rate of £80 each! And it would take around 3 weeks so a rough price of 2.4K+ (that's less than a 3rd of the normal price). I wasn't really doing it for her; I was doing it for my mate as he really wanted to help her. On top of this she got the scaffold towers for nothing and we used some surplus material for free, in the end it took 4 and half weeks because it was so bad, so the total bill was going to be 3.6k. My mate didn't want to charge her that but I was adamant that that was a more than bargain price. The thing is, she lived in a house that when she bought it 30 years ago it was in an unpopular area and might have cost her around £40k but on today’s market would fetch around £450k+ and we had just increased its value by around £15K on the work we just did! Now who's the mug! She clearly couldn't afford the upkeep on the property as I doubt it had been painted since she bought it but is that really my fault? She’s sitting on a rather large nest egg, the fact she was unwilling to remortgage or downsize should not play on our good will, I certainly don't have that much equity in my property. And to top it all of her husband was the caretaker for the church! (although he was crap) In the end she was charged £3.6k but I later found out that my mate gave her back a considerable sum which made me feel like a sack of ****, I wish I never got involved.
If it was me I would price the job up with something I’d be happy with whilst giving enough discount to make you feel good about yourself but also say to her that you'll happily do it for peanuts but it will have to fit into your schedule when you have a few hours here and there so may take 3/4/5 weeks to complete and you may even chuck in some surplus materials. But you do have to like the person as your in business and it is stopping you from earning elsewhere.
But you do have to weigh it up; I’ve been down this road before. One of the guys that worked for me was a church goer (but not the preaching type, he was as bad as you and me!) A lady from his church needed the exterior of her house painting; it was in a really bad state and had a hell of a lot of woodwork that needed sorting out. I agreed to help him and we'd do it on the cheap as this woman didn't have much money. My normal price for doing something like this would be around 8k but we agreed that we would do it for a day rate of £80 each! And it would take around 3 weeks so a rough price of 2.4K+ (that's less than a 3rd of the normal price). I wasn't really doing it for her; I was doing it for my mate as he really wanted to help her. On top of this she got the scaffold towers for nothing and we used some surplus material for free, in the end it took 4 and half weeks because it was so bad, so the total bill was going to be 3.6k. My mate didn't want to charge her that but I was adamant that that was a more than bargain price. The thing is, she lived in a house that when she bought it 30 years ago it was in an unpopular area and might have cost her around £40k but on today’s market would fetch around £450k+ and we had just increased its value by around £15K on the work we just did! Now who's the mug! She clearly couldn't afford the upkeep on the property as I doubt it had been painted since she bought it but is that really my fault? She’s sitting on a rather large nest egg, the fact she was unwilling to remortgage or downsize should not play on our good will, I certainly don't have that much equity in my property. And to top it all of her husband was the caretaker for the church! (although he was crap) In the end she was charged £3.6k but I later found out that my mate gave her back a considerable sum which made me feel like a sack of ****, I wish I never got involved.
E
enduro
We had an old lady in our village who live in a cottage that was nearly falling down, she was a lovely lady, but really poor. A guy used to do her gardening for nothing, the local shop gave her food and bottled water as she didn't have water in her cottage or electricity....when she died two years ago she left £1.2 million to various cats homes :yikes:
F
faithhealer
nothing wrong with having a concience Jamie, don't believe in free jobs but as long as you make a living wage off it good luck to ya. If she wants to do it herself, let her, but supply the addy and make a couple of quid off that!
A
albyshellshear
there canot be sentiment in business you have to charge her full rate then maybe tell her you do a discount for single parents oap,s ect as has already been said dont judge a book ..............Alby....
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doug boardley
how would you feel about charging her for materials on completion and then stage payments for your labour as and when she can afford it? not something I'd do personally Jamie, I don't see why my boys should miss out to the benefit of somebody else's lads, but just a thought mate
same as alot of others on this one dont judge a book by its cover, And you are not a charity. Been in similar situations were I would tend to talk budget options with the customer explain what can be done at what prices and judge from their epressions, answers where we are at on final pricing. Like someone said if they are that poor I would worry about feeding and clothing the kids than the colour of my grout.
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