Quoth AccountingDrone
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Quoth Mr Hero
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I explain to whoever I will be working for what my conditions are and what my expectations of them is. I tell them that even though we are friends and/or family, for the duration of this job they are, in effect, my employer and I expect them to treat me fairly and with respect.
And also as I said in the OP, I issue invoices at the end of the job and keep records of those. If you have me do a fair bit of work for you (which I can always tell by looking at the receipts if not by memory) than I'm open to offering discounts and other deals if I feel like it.
The overall idea is to get everything in writing and keep things as simple as possible to limit the chances of confusion or misunderstandings for either of us.
I am also usually insistent on purchasing my own supplies as much as possible. I prefer to use products I am familiar and comfortable with rather than taking my chances on whatever value brand primer a customer may want to supply me with.
I try to be as reasonable as possible in my supply estimates and I let people know up front that I use decent quality products, not the most expensive but not bottom of the barrel either.
Sometimes, since I can obviously be VERY flexible on labor cost, I will determine my labor charge based on the economic situation of the person I'm helping. If they are pressed for cash, I might offer something very low like $25 OR allow them to pay in installments. My labor rates are usually so low most people are happy to pay them in lieu of hiring a pro.
And honestly, if this friend had sprung for some food and liquor as a "thank you", I probably would have discounted his labor charge or maybe told him we could call it even. But he never offered even that.
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