Accidently overpaid a contractor. Would you ask for the money back?

[madman300]

I hired a contractor to install a fence around my house. The original estimate was $2400. When he arrived, he told me that the lumber yard was out of the wood that he estimated with (pine) and he needed to use a more expensive wood (Cedar). He had already purchased the more expensive wood, without consulting me, and the cost to him was $400 which he said I did not have to pay.

The guy did a good job and so I decided to cover the cost of his extra expenses. The total should have been $2800 but I accidentally paid $3000. (He asked for payment in increments each day he was there, which I incorrectly added.)

The work was done last week and I noticed the error today when the checks were cashed. There is a chance this guy may do more work for me down the road so I don't want to burn any bridges, but I want the transaction to be fair and now I feel as though I overpaid by $200.

Question is, if you were me would you ask him to mail it back to you?

 

[Homerboy]

I would say "hey... I realized I over paid you. You can keep it, but keep that in mind when I contract you out for more work." Said with a little "joking tone" in your voice.
IMO you're not going to get the $200 cash back, but MAYBE if they guy is cool you can recoup some of it on future jobs.

 

[gorcorps]

Depends... is it a private contractor or a company? You won't have much luck with private contractors.

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: Homerboy
I would say "hey... I realized I over paid you. You can keep it, but keep that in mind when I contract you out for more work." Said with a little "joking tone" in your voice.
IMO you're not going to get the $200 cash back, but MAYBE if they guy is cool you can recoup some of it on future jobs.

yea, if you overpaid by that little just drop it and reference it for later use.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: madman300
I hired a contractor to install a fence around my house. The original estimate was $2400. When he arrived, he told me that the lumber yard was out of the wood that he estimated with (pine) and he needed to use a more expensive wood (Cedar). He had already purchased the more expensive wood, without consulting me, and the cost to him was $400 which he said I did not have to pay.

The guy did a good job and so I decided to cover the cost of his extra expenses. The total should have been $2800 but I accidentally paid $3000. (He asked for payment in increments each day he was there, which I incorrectly added.)

The work was done last week and I noticed the error today when the checks were cashed. There is a chance this guy may do more work for me down the road so I don't want to burn any bridges, but I want the transaction to be fair and now I feel as though I overpaid by $200.

Question is, if you were me would you ask him to mail it back to you?

you can ask for it..but you won't get it back.

i would do as homerboy said. he might get the hint figure bad reputation is not worth the extra.

 

[madman300]

It is a private contractor, but the guy has been very cool up to this point. At first I was thinking call him up and ask him to mail a check back, but the more I think about it the more I think I should acknowledge that I accidentally overpaid but explain that I was happy with the job he did and hope to use him in the future. Maybe this would lead him to go a bit easier on me during future projects.

Note too that his original estimate for building the fence using cedar was $3400, I had a quote from another company for $3200.

 

[BoomerD]

"Hey, I was going over the invoices and I noticed that I accidentally overpaid you by $200. Please remit the overpayment...OR, I have <insert next project> that I need done and we can take it off of that."

Personally, I'd ask for the repayment. An explanation of mis-calculation on the payment schedule/invoices should be sufficient if he's a reputable contractor.

 

[Joemonkey]

I'd just make sure he's aware that you are aware you overpaid and for him to think of it as simply a tip for great service.

However, this may lead him to expect more tips for future jobs, so tread lightly

 

[madman300]

Joemonkey - That is what I fear. I think if I word it like " I just realized that I accidentally overpaid but because you did a good job and I want to use you again let's just call it even and move forward."

 

[SSSnail]

Unless it's a decimal point, call it tips and keep the man happy to do more wonderful job for you later.

 

[SonnyDaze]

I wouldn't have paid the extra $400 to begin with.

If he said the lumber yard was out of the materials he needed to do the original job then he should plan a little better. If he paid the the extra $400 for the cedar and said don't worry about it, then I might split it with him and pay $200 just to keep good relations.

For all you know he might have already had the cedar from a previous job and was expecting you to pay the extra $$ that he said it costs.

But if you plan on using him in the future and don't need the $200 back right now, then call him and explain your error to him. Tell him to take the extra $200 and put it on a credit for you for future jobs.

 

[GoPackGo]

Originally posted by: SSSnail
Unless it's a decimal point, call it tips and keep the man happy to do more wonderful job for you later.

Oh..so now we tip the contractor?

Who makes more than a fair wage.

If it was the other way round you'd be complaining to the OP to pay the guy.

If the contractor doesn't come back and say the OP overpaid, then the OP should consider that before hiring the contractor again.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: GoPackGo

Originally posted by: SSSnail
Unless it's a decimal point, call it tips and keep the man happy to do more wonderful job for you later.

Oh..so now we tip the contractor?

Who makes more than a fair wage.

If it was the other way round you'd be complaining to the OP to pay the guy.

If the contractor doesn't come back and say the OP overpaid, then the OP should consider that before hiring the contractor again.

:disgust:

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: GoPackGo

Originally posted by: SSSnail
Unless it's a decimal point, call it tips and keep the man happy to do more wonderful job for you later.

Oh..so now we tip the contractor?

Who makes more than a fair wage.

If it was the other way round you'd be complaining to the OP to pay the guy.

If the contractor doesn't come back and say the OP overpaid, then the OP should consider that before hiring the contractor again.

I usually tip the employees, but if it's a sole proprietor I don't tip. It's not unreasonable for the contractor to think the overpayment was intentional. And frankly it's pretty difficult to find a contractor who does great work, so if the OP is happy with the guy I'd stick with him.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: GoPackGo

Originally posted by: SSSnail
Unless it's a decimal point, call it tips and keep the man happy to do more wonderful job for you later.

Oh..so now we tip the contractor?

Who makes more than a fair wage.

If it was the other way round you'd be complaining to the OP to pay the guy.

If the contractor doesn't come back and say the OP overpaid, then the OP should consider that before hiring the contractor again.

i agree to a point. IF the op needs more work done and since he got one hell of a deal on the fence it may not be a wise decision to complain.

instead do what others are saying. mention to him that you made a mistake and overpaid him. Also mention that you have more work to be done and you liked his work.

odds are you won't get the money back. but the contractor will know its not a tip and *may give you a heck of a deal on teh work (odds are it wont be any better though).

 

[BeauJangles]

I would just ask him casually. Say you were looking through your records and think you might have overpaid him. Ask him if he wouldn't mind verifying it. That leaves the ball in his court.

 

[GoPackGo]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: GoPackGo

Originally posted by: SSSnail
Unless it's a decimal point, call it tips and keep the man happy to do more wonderful job for you later.

Oh..so now we tip the contractor?

Who makes more than a fair wage.

If it was the other way round you'd be complaining to the OP to pay the guy.

If the contractor doesn't come back and say the OP overpaid, then the OP should consider that before hiring the contractor again.

i agree to a point. IF the op needs more work done and since he got one hell of a deal on the fence it may not be a wise decision to complain.

instead do what others are saying. mention to him that you made a mistake and overpaid him. Also mention that you have more work to be done and you liked his work.

odds are you won't get the money back. but the contractor will know its not a tip and *may give you a heck of a deal on teh work (odds are it wont be any better though).

If the guy is a licensed and bonded contractor he should pay the money back.

If the guy doesn't go back to the OP then he is dishonest as well.

Who knows, perhaps the whole "400 dollars extra" for the fencing was BS too.

Just because a guy does good work doesn't mean he isn't a cheat

 

[Gothgar]

Well... he obviously had profit in the job after buying the more expensive wood, or he would have consulted you first.

If it was not an intentional tip I would ask for it back, and I wouldn't mind if one of my customers did the same thing. If you left it in his hands, he would probably be super stoked though, and give you a great deal on a future contract.

<--- General Contractor

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: GoPackGo

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: GoPackGo

Originally posted by: SSSnail
Unless it's a decimal point, call it tips and keep the man happy to do more wonderful job for you later.

Oh..so now we tip the contractor?

Who makes more than a fair wage.

If it was the other way round you'd be complaining to the OP to pay the guy.

If the contractor doesn't come back and say the OP overpaid, then the OP should consider that before hiring the contractor again.

i agree to a point. IF the op needs more work done and since he got one hell of a deal on the fence it may not be a wise decision to complain.

instead do what others are saying. mention to him that you made a mistake and overpaid him. Also mention that you have more work to be done and you liked his work.

odds are you won't get the money back. but the contractor will know its not a tip and *may give you a heck of a deal on teh work (odds are it wont be any better though).

If the guy is a licensed and bonded contractor he should pay the money back.

If the guy doesn't go back to the OP then he is dishonest as well.

Who knows, perhaps the whole "400 dollars extra" for the fencing was BS too.

Just because a guy does good work doesn't mean he isn't a cheat

yes he should. but that really does nto change what people have said.

 

[Miramonti]

Tip. I tip contractors if I feel I got a good price and am very satisfied with the work. You already paid more for supplies so it definitely wouldn't be necessary, but its not usually cool to ask for money back (unless its a very large firm.) Most contractors I've used are very small businesses or side jobs and couldn't see my self asking either for $200 (only 7% of $2800) back.

 

[spidey07]

I'd just bring it to his attention and say "don't worry about it for now, just give me a strong discount on the next job".

 

[judasmachine]

See you on the People's Court. Take pics of the judge for me.

 

[K1052]

If you're going to have a bunch more work done by him consider it an investment in good will.

A friendly contractor who actually shows up when promised, does quality work, and completes it on schedule is a nice thing to have.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
"Hey, I was going over the invoices and I noticed that I accidentally overpaid you by $200. Please remit the overpayment...OR, I have <insert next project> that I need done and we can take it off of that."

Personally, I'd ask for the repayment. An explanation of mis-calculation on the payment schedule/invoices should be sufficient if he's a reputable contractor.

win

 

[StageLeft]

Yes.