Buy the Hour

"I did wait until the day of the job to buy the trim... And I also removed the charge for the time I spent in 3 stores looking for her materials from the bill when she objected to paying it with no questions asked... I also didn't mention or charge her for the the 40 minutes I spent driving from store to store to store while looking. When I first talked with her I told her that I charge in store time while buying materials to clients. And she raised no objection to this at the time. As to the small area - I mudded aprroximatley 14 sq ft of sheetrock over a prior severely shrunken and cracked layer put on by another contractor who was doing tile work. Due to the irregular surface and the desire to leave the painter with as little sanding as possible that task took almost 25 minutes. I also mudded about 10 lineal feet along a tile edge at each end of a vanity by a knee wall. Tedious and exacting (she actually rightly pointed out that I had left a 2" gap along one of the edges which I corrected) Not a a quick job - again about 25 minutes. I didn't caulk the foot after cutting it down and gluing it in - again a task not completed by the tile contractor because until the painter sanded and painted caulking would be in the way of sanding and having a flat smooth surface finish where the mudded wall abuts the foot. With set up of the saw and the cut, recut and recut required as well as gluing the leg it and packing the saw away I spent about 25 minute on this too. Another 5 minutes was spent cleaning up and writing up her bill. In addition I looked at some other items for her without charging for that time either. In the end, I charged her $75 per hour for the 1.33 hours I spent on her job. And ate 30 minutes - again with no protest that I was entitled too for the shoppinig. So yes she paid $100 for what was fairly billed and really worth $137.50 +. In addition, I didn't charge her for the mud or the glue used for this job... I also had to make an extra trip to meet the client after the job to return the moulding sample I had taken in order to research the trim from the supplier she told me would carry it. After leaving the job she texted me to say I wouldn't need to buy the trim that she would do it. By then I was almost 10 miles away headed for my next job. When she requested that I return it I did it at a time convenient to her - again with no complaint. I'd feel that my performance was really worth a B here and I'd settle for a C... But I certainly don't deserve an F. Thanks for your feedback, and thanks for your business. I'm sorry I didn't meet your expectations."