Comments on: Do You Tip Contractors?

By: mnc

mnc — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 14:45:55 +0000

I did not give them the beer until they had finished on the last day. Funny thing though – they started work on the 5th and we had a big party on the 4th so there was still a cooler full of beer out on the deck that first day. When they moved it, they must have looked inside because they commented to me about the beer and the one guy said a beer sounded pretty good – nice try but I did not offer him one.

I’m sure it was pretty entertaining to watch those guys with the poles for the ATM. It’s never fun to redo work.

By: Mark Andersen

Mark Andersen — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 14:00:07 +0000

Hopefully you didn’t give him beer, that would only decrease the speedy results.

Funny contractor story:
They were putting a second drive through lane on the Credit Union where I work, and they had the blueprints upside down when they were sinking the big metal poles. (so people couldn’t steal the ATM.) We watched them turn those blueprints 3 times and then curse loud enough to hear through the bullet-proof glass, then jackhammer 2 days’ work worth of concrete to rearrange those poles.

They actually finished ahead of schedule by 3 days though…

By: mnc

mnc — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 04:48:09 +0000

Lol, I actually let them off easy and have just been complaining to their boss.

By: Mark Andersen

Mark Andersen — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 04:43:12 +0000

They probably appreciated the beer a lot more anyway, what with a slave-driver like you riding them all the time

By: green

green — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 10:25:07 +0000

Yes, motivation is important, you should encourage them to finish job quickly.

By: mnc

mnc — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:43:40 +0000

Chuck, thank you for the feedback. In the end we did not give them a cash tip but I did give them a 12-pack of beer when they were done.

For the most part they did a good job but there were a few things that bothered me along the way. The job did take quite a bit longer than they originally planned and part of that was due to their arrival and departure times.

At the end of the day, we are happy with our new windows and everything looks fantastic!

By: Chuck

Chuck — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 15:38:06 +0000

If you planned on tipping I would have told them ahead of time “hey, there is $X waiting for each of you at the end of the job if you finish quickly and do a good job”.

Contractors and construction workers in general are notoriously slow and unreliable – especially when they already have some of your money. Might give them some extra incentive.

Tipping for that kind of work is not standard practice, and if you are not happy with the job they’ve done I certainly would not.