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is the man building my hutch ripping me off?

Candiflare

Mama Doe
In our village we have a group of friends and within the group, one of them is a carpenter. He is always complaining that locals don't give him work and prefer to buy "ready-made" stuff, so I decided that I was going to get another bun to bond with Buzz and would have something specially made and painted for them by him to give him some work.

He is making me a 6ftx2ftx2ft hutch with a 6ftx6ft run underneath. When we first discussed it, he said "how much can you afford?" and I said max £300. He agreed that £300 would be fine (verbally :? )

Anyway, I get an email from him yesterday saying he's nowhere near finished it and has only made the frame and a bit of the hutch part and has spent 9 hours on it already. I said I could stretch to £350 if he was going to have trouble completing it in time and he hasn't replied.

First of all, if you commissioned someone to make you a hutch/run combo, would you expect it to cost £350? And do you think he's ripping me off?
 
That seems a bit steep :shock: I have by 6 by 2 by 2 hutches made locally for £95 but would have no idea about run costs
 
well our labourers charge around £10 an hour for extended jobs. I can't really imagine materials costing more that £75 so assuming he spends 20 hours on building it, which would be reasonable he should be charging you about £275 max. Runs are farily easy to construct (toby and I managed to put together a 12ft run and paint it a few hours) the hutch is the difficult thing.
 
No wonder the locals don't give him any business - rip off merchant!

As mentioned before, you could buy a large shed or wendy house for that including them erecting it and the rabbits have a better home. You could even buy some aviary panels to make a run if you so wished.
 
I'm SO annoyed now. I just wanted to give a local person some work and now it has come to this. Now if I don't think it's good enough I will have to buy something else for the same amount to put on the end of it.

Probably explains why no other local people will employ him.
 
Ask him if you can pop and see it. Also, I do think this is steep, but I suppose hutches can be steep when made by hand. Hutches from shops are made flat packed, is he going to put it up for you too?
 
It does sound steep, but if it's being handmade it should be as solid as a rock. Decent sized pet shop hutches cost roughly £100 - £150 and generally fall apart after about 6 months, so for twice that you will be getting something that should last about 8 years if not more. Expensive, but I'd probably pay it. Maybe ask to see it in progress, or see if he has examples of his other work to see what his craftmanship is like.
 
It does seem a little OTT but it depends how/what he's making it from eg if the sides are tongue n groove that's going to cost more/take more time than if they are made from 6mm ply.
 
My post seems to have disappeared...

This is it so far, do you think it looks a bit spindly?

photo.jpg
 
No way!!!!!
I'd tell him to forget it!!!!!
I'd buy a shed and ajoin a run yourself!
Would be 1000x cheaper!
 
I think it looks as though it'll be a good hutch in the picture, but I'm not sure I'd be willing to pay so much for it, when as pointed out already, you could get a big shed for that amount. :|

I think if I were you, I would talk to your carpenter, bend the truth a little and say you've had some sort of money crisis and can't pay for it. There can only really be two outcomes from doing that -
1 - He'll be a bit bummed and you'll be free to buy something else.
2 - He'll drop the price.
I should think he'll be more likely to drop the price as he's not going to want to ditch a half made hutch.

If you decide to say nothing and let him finish it and you don't like it at the end, he cannot force you to buy it unless he's made you sign some sort of contract?!
 
I don't think you can quibble too much about the £300 as you agreed to pay it. When he asked you how much you could afford, he may well have expected you to say a lot less, but you didn't and have verbally agreed £300. It is steep in my opinion but hopefully the quality will be good.

When he e-mailed, was he actually asking for more money or did you offer since he said it was taking more work than he thought? Personally as far as I'm concerned, once a price has been agreed then I wouldn't pay a penny more unless that was part of the original agreement (e.g. if I was given a rough price depending on the cost of materials or something). He should have been able to accurately assess the amount of work needed when giving you a price. I would not have upped to £350, but again you are in a more difficult position since you have agreed to pay it and he has the e-mail to prove it.
 
:wave: it does seem a bit steep - and the legs dont look very sturdy :oops:

Im looking at the Happy Hutch company Sykes hutch/run combo which is a similar size to what he is making - that is about £160?
 
:wave: it does seem a bit steep - and the legs dont look very sturdy :oops:

Im looking at the Happy Hutch company Sykes hutch/run combo which is a similar size to what he is making - that is about £160?

That's what I was thinking.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't back out on paying for it, or having it now, I just feel so :censored: off!!!

The legs look a bit thin... and it looks like he's making it out of balsar wood or something! (I know it's obv not balsar wood, but it LOOKS like it!)
 
That's what I was thinking.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't back out on paying for it, or having it now, I just feel so :censored: off!!!

The legs look a bit thin... and it looks like he's making it out of balsar wood or something! (I know it's obv not balsar wood, but it LOOKS like it!)

I'd be livid.
I'd tell him that you are not paying £300+ for a hutch like that.
You never really wanted to pay £300 anyway, but that was your MAXIMUM. Tell him you think he's taking the pee.
If he's going to be unco-operative, I'd really stand my ground and tell him you're not to going to pay for it, and he can put it on eBay.
He'd NEVER get £300 for that!

I'm so angry for you!
 
Bearing in mind he would have got the wood cheap (or even free) i would imagine, that is a rather cheeky price!

Maybe there is a reason that no -one in the village gives him work!:?
 
That does seem way over the top to be honest. Our 6x2x2 handmade triples didn't cost us that much each and they are rock solid. Just wondering why he has put mesh on one end too.:?

We sell these for £149.99 with free delivery and they are good sturdy hutches, you could have had 2 for the price he is charging you for one.
6x2hutchwithrun.jpg
 
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