# Tipping Etiquette - Contractors **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 19, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-contractors/533037 "2010-03-19T17:22:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-contractors/533037/41 "2010-03-20T15:15:45Z")
> [@raindog](#): > > Customers like you are one of the few reasons that make working for one’s self better than working for someone else. > > If your real life demeanor is a fraction of your online demeanor we’d take about 5 minutes of you before it would be _you_ that was fired. Right, because I expect to receive the work that is being paid for, apparently. I’ve dealt with many contractors like you in a professional capacity over the years: the ones who think they’re doing us a favor by doing any work at all, and who take shortcuts in the work when they think nobody is watching. If you don’t like the oversight, by all means feel free to walk off the job. There are plenty of people out there who are hungry for work. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-contractors/533037/42 "2010-03-20T15:53:25Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Right, because I expect to receive the work that is being paid for, apparently. I’ve dealt with many contractors like you in a professional capacity over the years: the ones who think they’re doing us a favor by doing any work at all, and who take shortcuts in the work when they think nobody is watching. If you don’t like the oversight, by all means feel free to walk off the job. There are plenty of people out there who are hungry for work. I tend to agree with **raindog** even if you are factually correct and have reasonable expectations your demeanor makes you sound like an ass. I wouldn’t want to do work for you either. I work for nice people. The assholes can find someone else to be unhappy with. The best contractors even in bad times have some work. I have slow times but I still pick and choose who I respond to first. There are a dozen people in the thread I’d to respond to before you. If you are content with the second string of contractors that didn’t get the jobs offered by the people with better demeanor’s or are willing to wait till the other people have gotten their work done first keep it up. I personally prefer to have the best guys working for me, not just the guys of guys willing to work for me ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-contractors/533037/43 "2010-03-20T16:00:10Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Shortened the quote for brevity. No problem with anything you’ve written except for the part about overruns and costs. That’s what change orders are for, and while they are painful, they’re part of the construction world (speaking from 40 years in construction and facilities management). Charging exhorbitant profit and overhead percentages is just creating a slush fund for the contractor. In my experience, a contractor has NEVER said “Oh, don’t worry about that additional piping I had to install: I’ll just take it out of my profit.” 😉 Well, depends on the circumstances, doesn’t it? If it’s an unforeseen cost overrun that’s one thing. If a subcontractor screwed up, that’s another - if the boss man makes a mistake he corrects it, at least with the folks I’m dealing with right now, but then again, we’re only getting small jobs right now. That’s also why big jobs have contracts - to avoid such issues becoming any uglier than necessary. But when, for example, you agree to put a chain link fence in for a flat fee and one of the guys providing grunt labor screws something up and you need another bag of concrete to set a post, well, you’re not going to make the customer happy charging them for your guy’s mistake, right? That’s more what I was thinking of. ---
**Author:** ![snowmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@snowmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowmaster)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-contractors/533037/44 "2010-03-20T16:01:51Z")
> [@kevlaw](#): > > delighted me in every regard and enhanced my admiration for humankind. Please excuse hijack, just here to say that turn of phrase is probably the finiest compliment I’ve ever heard. I’m going to start working that into performance reviews and my praise of service I recieve from others. WOW! ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-contractors/533037/45 "2010-03-20T16:04:02Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > I personally prefer to have the best guys working for me, not just the guys of guys willing to work for me \*best of guys ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-contractors/533037/46 "2010-03-20T16:24:30Z")
Speaking as a former laborer of that type, a $100 tip would earn you Customer of the Decade status. ---
**Author:** ![raindog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@raindog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raindog)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-contractors/533037/47 "2010-03-20T16:42:43Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Right, because I expect to receive the work that is being paid for, apparently. I’ve dealt with many contractors like you in a professional capacity over the years: the ones who think they’re doing us a favor by doing any work at all, and who take shortcuts in the work when they think nobody is watching. If you don’t like the oversight, by all means feel free to walk off the job. There are plenty of people out there who are hungry for work. I’m not hungry enough for _you_, thankfully. The good news is that I’ve been doing this long enough that I can see customers like you a mile away. My price for customers like you always reflects the “aggravation factor”; high enough to be highly profitable if I get the job, and if I don’t, then that’s just fine too. You’ve heard from some real life contractors who don’t believe “you’re doing us a favor”; but rather that appreciate their customers and work to earn their trust, praise, referrals and repeat business. ---
**Author:** ![gravitycrash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-contractors/533037/48 "2010-03-20T16:45:53Z")
I’ll tip laborers if they go beyond the call of the job or sometimes if it’s a particularly shitty job. Just recently I had a new bedroom set delivered. They got stuck in a really bad traffic situation and arrived over three hours late on a Friday evening. By the time they put the furniture together it was 9:00 P.M. I have no idea if they were paid hourly or by the job but it just sucked to be them so I gave each of them a twenty. I don’t know why I sometimes tip them but it made me feel better in that case because I had a part in ruining their Friday. _shrugs_ ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-contractors/533037/49 "2010-03-20T18:36:50Z")
That’s a damn sight better than the customers who will try to argue for paying you less for something like a traffic jam you have now control over! ---
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-contractors/533037/50 "2010-03-20T18:58:28Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > The laborers should be happy with the salary they’re being given by the contractor, otherwise why are they working for them? I always slip the day laborers some cash and buy them pizza and soda. These guys stand on the corners in all types of weather just praying that a contractor will need them to work for a day or two or three, and they work so hard. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-contractors/533037/51 "2010-03-21T01:15:53Z")
About tipping tradesmen. When I was an working automotive line tech I would sometimes get a tip. I recall one year when business was bad, that $20 tip bought food for the kids. The single nicest tip I ever got was on a hot August afternoon. I had this lady’s car in for service. It was about 100F and I was dying. Here comes the customer with a pitcher of homemade lemonade and some glasses full of ice. 🆒 She said “I know you are working on my car and it is awfully hot, so I brought you and the other guys some cold drinks.” Needless to say a bunch of the labor done never got to the repair order. So when I hire tradesmen I recall those lessons. I always put out an ice chest full of sodas and water. Coffee in the AM. Point out the bathroom, and give them free use of it. I have cooked lunch for a work crew more than once. I have also tipped the workers for work done. I know these guys are maybe $10/hr and illegal, so I know how handy a $20 can come in. One time when I had some trees removed, the crew worked like dogs to get 3 trees out of my yard. I paid to have the roots ground out, which they did. About 2 weeks later, I was digging a trench for the edge of my new patio 1/2 way across my yard. I hit a root which ran right down the center of the trench I was dig. I called the foreman and asked pretty please if they might come back and not charge me too much for doing some more grinding. He said No problem and 2 of his guys were out in 2 hours they took that root out. They told me no problem, no charge, and if I hit any more just to give them a call. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-contractors/533037/52 "2010-03-21T01:54:49Z")
Contractor here. If someone has vastly exceeded your expectations, do what you will. As a worker I have received money, dinners, cookies, pizza, beer, lemonade, etc. All are appreciated without a doubt. There are many days that your job is just one big bag of suck, and no one seems happy. When a homeowner actually appreciates how damn hard you try, it means a lot. As a contractor, I have been overpaid on purpose on several occasions. This is fucking amazing to me, and every single one of them were of modest means. I accepted it for the thanks it was, and I shared it with the guys. Yes, letters of recommendations are wonderful, testimonials are great, we love referrals-it’s what keeps my business growing every year, even in this economy. But homemade cookies that are just a little irregular, and burnt on one side that you took the trouble to make specifically for us, almost every day? We’ll never forget you, Mrs. G. And Mr. L. the long distance truck driver who said “I’ll just round up, keep it simple.” I think my jaw dropped to the floor. I love my job; I do it well, and by all professional standards we are utterly and completely awesome. But construction is hard and messy and many days a thankless struggle with subs and reps and homeowners and their baser natures. Not to mention fighting tools and materials and weather and physical obstacles to get the job done. A simple warm piece of banana bread can go a long way on those days. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-contractors/533037/53 "2010-03-22T12:15:26Z")
> [@raindog](#): > > Another ideal customer. > > I forgot to add this to he “refreshments” section of my earlier post. It is a small thing, but to mention up front that there are refreshments, and the bathroom is available is showing [unfortunately] uncommon kindness and courtesy. We’ve had many customers say “Theres Coke etc in the fridge. Help yourselves, k?” We go out of our way for those people. > > Playing music we like? We’d end up washing your dog and detailing your car just for fun. I’d always thought that offering refreshments and the use of the bathroom was a simple common courtesy, not so much after talking with my brother who is an (out of work) carpenter. He also passed on the music tip to our father when he had to get new floors put in. The laborers had some sort of mexican polka music on their boombox, but the contractor said that was the best work he had ever seen out of them. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-contractors/533037/54 "2010-03-22T12:36:23Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > I’d always thought that offering refreshments and the use of the bathroom was a simple common courtesy, not so much after talking with my brother who is an (out of work) carpenter. Ya, you would _think_ it’s common courtesy… but it’s not. We’re just supposed to hold it for 12 hours and go without food and water :rolleyes: At a time and place unrelated to work, and to someone who had no idea I did that sort of work, I heard a woman complaining that a housepainter had pissed behind her garage. Complete outrage. I looked at her and asked if she had offered him the use of her bathroom. Of course, she hadn’t, seemed shocked at the very idea. Well, honey, what did you _expect_ the man to do? Yes, it was a rude, crude thing for him to do, but seriously, if you deny someone flush toilets sooner or later they’ll find an alternative. I just don’t fathom why people treat other people so shabbily. (Me, when I get desperate I manufacture some excuse to be absent for a bit, then try to find a fast food place and use their toilet) > [@](#): > > He also passed on the music tip to our father when he had to get new floors put in. The laborers had some sort of mexican polka music on their boombox, but the contractor said that was the best work he had ever seen out of them. Our culture has lost the appreciation of work songs and how music can keep work in a steady rhythm - it can really make a difference if done properly. ---
**Author:** ![Chris\_Luongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Chris\_Luongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chris_Luongo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-contractors/533037/55 "2010-03-22T14:20:23Z")
I somehow have a feeling that if you give a direct cash tip, it’s going to be either too much or too little, overly generous or overly insulting. Maybe there’s something more creative. What do you know about the personal lives of the laborers, or contractor? You said you thought of $100 per laborer, right? A $100 restaraunt gift card would buy a very fancy dinner for a laborer and his girlfriend/wife, but if on the other hand he has children, the $100 could make for a much-needed family dinner with all the kids at Friday’s or Applebee’s or something. However, if they are immigrants, keep in mind that they might prefer their own food to that of American restaurants, and in that case the gift card might not be a good idea. I’m sorry I don’t have a better idea than that, but maybe there’s something you could do or buy that they would really enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![fjmiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/22d042/32.png) [@fjmiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fjmiv)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2018, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-contractors/533037/56 "2018-01-21T06:37:32Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > It annoys me that installers and contractors hang around at the end of the job with this hopeful look on their faces. If you’re hiring legitimate contractors, then tipping contractors is just bullshit. The workers are getting paid Davis-Bacon or better wages, which is plenty. The contractor himself has marked up his estimate to include overhead and profit, which is usually set at 15% and 10%, regardless of what his actual costs are. Most people don’t know that these rates are negotiable. As for the OP: “care and diligence” is called “workmanship”. It’s expected and rates no extra pay. I’m all over my contractors if I think they’re not doing work that is up to par, and have called the boss in to kick their asses if they don’t do what they’re supposed to be doing. > > They’re performing the work that they’ve been hired to do and paid to do, so tipping is out of the question for me. Response from a designer to this hostile message above: There are always expenses that a contractor did not foresee, or extra time needed that he has to pay his subs for that he does not pass on to you, or materials he has to wait for that he does not charge you for time wasted, all sorts of ways that the extra percentage he adds in is eaten up. You are presuming the wages that workers are being paid with no real evidence, just an idea that fits your small mind so you can imagine you are the victim of being overcharged. I have millionaire clients who are used to the best in life and yet are very appreciative of excellent work in their homes and praise the contractors and tip workers and delivery people who go above and beyond expected standards to please them and the designer. It’s downright ugly how you take pride in being “all over my contractor” and calling someone to “kick their asses” because in your mind they are not doing “what they’re supposed to be doing”. It’s proof of your presumptive, petty nature and that you have no idea of how to gracefully deal with people to get work done well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-contractors/533037.md?page=2)