Got a mate helping me to lay some wooden flooring in 3 bedrooms tomorrow. He is a joiner, and knowing him wont accept any money for the work (as he is a mate, and for favours in the past), but would like to compensate him for his time.

What would be a reasonable hourly rate/lump sum/token to give him, considering I will be doing a lot of the work too, but he will be supervising and doing the tricky bits. Carpet is out, skirtings are off so no prep to do other than lay underlay.

1/4 bag o’weed used to be my mates rate.

give him a voucher for a meal out with his missus.

three rooms shouldn’t take long if all the prep is done.

What would be a reasonable hourly rate/lump sum/token to give him

He’s your mate, take him out on the piss or something once you’ve finished 🙂

Just put some cash in an envelop and give it to him at the end of the day. He’s not expecting to be paid so will be pleased with whatever you give him.

Or set him and his Mrs up for dinner at a nice restuarant?

Put some cash in an envelope for him,as a joiner who has done lots of jobs for mates it will help if you want him to do more jobs for you again,like put the skirts back on when the floors are down.

Buy him something you know he wants.

Mates rates are always iffy in my experience. Handing over a few quid always feels odd. Pay the rate or give a decent thank you, such as meal for him and his mrs (at home or out) but it must be something that replicates the effort he made.

we have an unwritten rule amongst us that no cash changes hands. If joiner works for me for 3hrs I’m due him 3hrs however if plumber is due me 3hrs I can trade this off with hrs the sparky is due etc,etc.

works very well for all concerned

i agree with the general opinion about not paying with cash if you give him too little you may offend him but in the same case you dont want to over pay, generally i work for food,drink or the return favour..

If you’re worried about giving him too little then the solution is very simple. At the end of the day you say “how much do I owe you ?”. If he says so-and-so, then you give him that. If he says “no I don’t want anything”, then you say “no, I insist, you’ve really helped me out, blah, blah, blah”. If he persists, you say “OK, that’s very kind of you, but at least take this, otherwise I will never feel comfortable about asking you again in the future”. And you bung him 60 quid or whatever. Sorted.