I'm involved in a very similar transaction right now, but not bike related. My fence was falling down. I told my neighbor I wanted it fixed, and told him I would get quotes. I came up with a design, and got a quote from a tradesperson who has done a lot of work in the neighborhood. He estimated $1000. $500 materials + $500 labor. When I told my neighbor about it, he objected. "I've had that guy do work for me before, and I was not happy". I already had the design done, and I'm also kind of a perfectionist, so I told him I'd build the fence myself and split the materials with him.
I built the fence last weekend while my neighbor was away. He came back and is just delighted at my work. Turns out that I spent $606 on materials. I gave him the receipts, and I have a feeling he's going to add something on to his half, for my trouble. He's very old and very charming, so impressing him with my work is already a good enough reward, but I was willing to do the labor for free. So whatever he gives, even if it's nothing, is fine. I volunteered after all. On Tuesday, March 24, 2015 at 10:30:06 AM UTC-7, Philip Williamson wrote: > > "Keep it real" is probably the best advice. > > Don't offer something you'd think the other person greedy for accepting? > Don't accept something that seems out of line with the effort? > Last time this came up, someone offered, I declined, and I got to feel > good on both counts. ;^) > > It's a hobby, not a business, and bikes are an interesting end in > themselves. I drove across town to look at a Cannondale (not interesting to > me) for an out of town friend, and the seller had old French bikes, > Rivendells, and tandems hanging from the ceiling, so we had plenty to talk > about. > > Philip > www.biketinker.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
