alootikki
12-18-2012, 09:42 AM
My handyman (I'll call him M) has done a lot of little projects for me around the house, for the past year. He's very honest and trustworthy, and we have a good relationship.
My latest project was to create a shoe cubby/window seat in our mudroom. I thought I could just use an Ikea Expedit bookcase (topped with a cushion), but worried that it wouldn't be strong enough to support multiple adults sitting on it. M said that he could either reinforce it to make it stronger, or just build one from scratch. I asked him to give me an estimate for how much it would be to build one from scratch.
Instead of giving me an estimate, he went ahead and bought the wood and built a cubby similar to the Expedit. I was a little annoyed that he didn't call first to get the ok, but the unit looked nice and I figured that $200 ($50 materials, $150 his labor cost) was a great price for a custom-built piece. Except that he built the cubbies too narrow, and the standard baskets do not fit inside! He admitted that it was his fault for jumping the gun, and promised to make a new one without charging me.
I decided that this time, I would just buy the Expedit so that he wouldn't have to measure the inside dimensions, and he could put on a back or new top to make it sturdier. He just emailed me to say that it actually looks very sturdy and doesn't need additional reinforcement. I believe him, but now I can't believe I have spent $200 on a useless piece of furniture when I could have just gotten the freaking $60 Expedit in the first place. And it's not like he had to spend that much time on round 2 - the Expedit is relatively easy to assemble. He wouldn't charge me for assembling it - but I'm irritated that I'm out of pocket on the first one - and not sure what to say to him.
Sorry this is rambling - I'm not even sure exactly what I want from him. Maybe an hour of hanging stuff up around the house to make up for it? At the same time, good handymen are really hard to find, and he is a good guy - he didn't deliberately mess this up and I want to maintain a good relationship. Any ideas?
My latest project was to create a shoe cubby/window seat in our mudroom. I thought I could just use an Ikea Expedit bookcase (topped with a cushion), but worried that it wouldn't be strong enough to support multiple adults sitting on it. M said that he could either reinforce it to make it stronger, or just build one from scratch. I asked him to give me an estimate for how much it would be to build one from scratch.
Instead of giving me an estimate, he went ahead and bought the wood and built a cubby similar to the Expedit. I was a little annoyed that he didn't call first to get the ok, but the unit looked nice and I figured that $200 ($50 materials, $150 his labor cost) was a great price for a custom-built piece. Except that he built the cubbies too narrow, and the standard baskets do not fit inside! He admitted that it was his fault for jumping the gun, and promised to make a new one without charging me.
I decided that this time, I would just buy the Expedit so that he wouldn't have to measure the inside dimensions, and he could put on a back or new top to make it sturdier. He just emailed me to say that it actually looks very sturdy and doesn't need additional reinforcement. I believe him, but now I can't believe I have spent $200 on a useless piece of furniture when I could have just gotten the freaking $60 Expedit in the first place. And it's not like he had to spend that much time on round 2 - the Expedit is relatively easy to assemble. He wouldn't charge me for assembling it - but I'm irritated that I'm out of pocket on the first one - and not sure what to say to him.
Sorry this is rambling - I'm not even sure exactly what I want from him. Maybe an hour of hanging stuff up around the house to make up for it? At the same time, good handymen are really hard to find, and he is a good guy - he didn't deliberately mess this up and I want to maintain a good relationship. Any ideas?