Over the last few years before he retired, DH, a self employed joiner, did a fair bit of work for a firm of property factors and managers, mostly repairs and maintenance to the communal areas of blocks of flats, some of which were marketed as retirement properties. It was varied work and the factors were friendly, efficient and prompt payers. So far so good.
One day when he was putting new safety catches on a landing window, one of the owners, an elderly lady, asked him if he would be willing to do some work inside her flat. He agreed, she asked for an estimate, but queried his hourly rate and that was when he discovered that the factors had been billing the resident owners at £25 an hour + Vat for his time, instead of the £16 + VAT that he had charged them. We presumed that the lady raised this issue with the factors because suddenly there was no more work from them.
Now I know this is small beer compared with Cirrus, but it is still an over 50% mark up, which if applied to all the bills presented to each of the owners would have raised a £500 bill to £750. With 10 flats in the block that is £2,500 going into someone's back pocket. The owners were already paying a substantial annual management or factor's fee to cover the administration involved. So not only defrauding the owners but also taking advantage of the tradesmen they employed. Is this why the General Public think tradesmen get huge hourly rates? It certainly left DH 'scunnered' and feeling 'used'.
