Showing appreciation to a construction worker

[SecondAttempt]

A bit of a strange situation...

This is in Hawaii which is itself weird for stuff like this.

Back in July I hired a flooring contractor (licensed). I have no issues with him but he basically handed off the work to one of his workers. Since late August the guy has completed 3 fairly large jobs for us, tiling much of the house, large lanai, and a new shower. The kid has been at our house almost every weekday since then. He works hard, and lugging around boxes of tile is hard work, and is both very courteous and professional and is all around a nice guy. I'd like to get him a thank you card with a gift card in the area of $250.

As a tip this is extremely low because the work is close to $50,000 so it would be about half of a percent, insulting. But he has a young family so I'd like to do something nice to show my appreciation.

My partner thinks this is unnecessary and weird and I agree it would be weird on the mainland. Looking for comments. Not really a tipping question because I would normally not think of tipping a contractor or his employees. This guy has just been so awesome in every way!

Am I out of line here?

 

[youbet]

No, not out of line at all.

He's been at your house almost everyday for 3 months and your bill covering materials, his employer's profit and his labor is going to be less than $50k. He obviously isn't paid much yet he's doing excellent work for you. By all means, show him a little gratitude.

 

[More Cowbell]

I think it’s great to show authentic appreciation to someone whose service really stands out to you. Personally, I’d give cash instead of a gift card since he is a working guy. You could say Mahalo for everything you’ve done here, I hope you and your family have an extra enjoyable holiday season.

During our 1.5 year renovation, DH and I would stop by daily to say hi to the General and the main subs. We knew all the guys by name. Every Friday morning I brought donuts. Little signs of appreciate help too! Apparently most homeowners rarely acknowledged them in a positive way, if at all. But our situation was different than yours, so we didn’t do anything extra special for any one person.

 

[HarveyS]

I think it’s great to show authentic appreciation to someone whose service really stands out to you. Personally, I’d give cash instead of a gift card since he is a working guy. You could say Mahalo for everything you’ve done here, I hope you and your family have an extra enjoyable holiday season.

During our 1.5 year renovation, DH and I would stop by daily to say hi to the General and the main subs. We knew all the guys by name. Every Friday morning I brought donuts. Little signs of appreciate help too! Apparently most homeowners rarely acknowledged them in a positive way, if at all. But our situation was different than yours, so we didn’t do anything extra special for any one person.

+1. Give an envelope with cash and a "happy holidays". And FWIW, I don't think this would be weird on the mainland.

 

[Koolau]

+1. Give an envelope with cash and a "happy holidays". And FWIW, I don't think this would be weird on the mainland.

Not weird in Hawaii IMHO though I've only lived here 16 years. We tipped a plumber $20 for putting in a toilet, so...


I think $250 is adequate (you're not dealing with a food service person who makes their money from tips.) That amount is not trivial to the w*rker and I'm sure he will really appreciate it. And, yeah, do it in cash in an envelope. Even better than a gift card. (As they say "It maybe not be the right size, but it's always the right color!")

 

[latexman]

Sounds like a great thing to do!

We were fixing up the home a bit prior to sale and down sizing. I gave the best worker of the 3 man crew two aluminum extension ladders I had to get rid of anyway. He was extremely grateful.

 

[pjigar]

I routinely tip the "ground crew" based on their work ethics. Sometimes they get a case of beer or cash based on the amount of work and quality of work. Not weird at all. The "contractor" generally makes up for a lion's share of profit so I just try to help out the little guys who actually do the work.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Not weird!

Closest I came was a guy I hired to clean my gutters at a prior house. It was an unpleasant messy and somewhat hazardous job (lots of overhanging oaks, accessible only from the roof requiring debris to be removed from from the roof and not thrown down). The son (whom I never met) owned the company but his father did the work. By looking at him, he had lived a rough life (and was working at "menial" work for his son) but did a great job and went above and beyond on clean up leaving my yard cleaner than when he started. While I didn't send a card, I tipped him very handsomely in cash relative to the cost of the job each time I had him come out. He earned every penny of the tip on top of the amount they charged.

 

[Midpack]

Doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. I always tip a contractor who I think does a really good job. Yesterday I had a handyman replace our dryer vent cover. There was an easy way to do the job, and a right way - he did it the right way without any prompting from me. Wrote a check for $150 to his company, and handed him $20 in cash - he appreciated it.

I tipped our movers $200 because they did a great job.

Tipped an appliance guy $20 for replacing our ice maker.

Tipped an electrician $65 for installing a 240V circuit/receptacle in our garage.

I could go on and on.

 

[FREE866]

I think this is a fantastic idea!


As I've gotten older and I think especially since I retired almost seven years ago I am more and more realizing that I'm here to help. That includes financially helping others.

If you have the money , why the hell not? You'll feel great doing it and the recipient will be grateful. Win -Win in my view.

 

[pb4uski]

No, not out of line at all.

He's been at your house almost everyday for 3 months and your bill covering materials, his employer's profit and his labor is going to be less than $50k. He obviously isn't paid much yet he's doing excellent work for you. By all means, show him a little gratitude.

+1

 

[Venturer]

This is great,and so appreciated by the worker. Yesterday we went to a commercial truck washing place to get our camper washed as we prepare to winterize it. The 2 guys doing the actual work in the wash bay were very professional and friendly. We have been there before last year and it was a differant experience. this time it seems that those guys cared about our camper. So as we were leaving we handed them both a tip and thanked them. I could tell it suprised them and they were not used to it from the truckers.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

Not weird at all. I sometimes give hard workers that I have doing things at the house some cash. Especially if they are not the boss. I would go with cash rather than a gift card. Let him decide where to spend it.

I paid a tidy sum to a small company to paint the exterior of my house. The boss surprised me a bit and assigned one young guy to paint it. He was excellent at painting, courteous, interacted with me on any issues or decisions that he had to make about color combinations, etc. I could not have been happier with his work. As he was cleaning up on the last day, I gave him $200 in cash. He told me that wasn't necessary and I told him I knew that. I also told him he didn't need to tell his boss about it. I'm sure he was happy to have the extra money.

 

[Aerides]

Not weird, but make it cash.

 

[4legsgood]

Not weird, but make it cash.

+1 and double the amount.

 

[OldShooter]

... Am I out of line here?

There's a line ?!?!? Do whatever you want to do. Very little potential downside and your personal pleasure is the upside.

I would do cash, too.

 

[Fermion]

Not weird. Definitely do cash.

I just spent 6 hours on my knees yesterday tiling a VERY small upstairs bathroom. It is ridiculously hard work, I'd much rather do our roof again or clean out a sewer pipe.

 

[Badger]

I have always done all the fixing and building around the house but aging has not been easy. I eventually had to hire someone to mow our lawn. His prices were low and he and a worker always did a good job but also did extra things at no charge including trimming bushes and applying fertilizer, etc.
At Christmas I handed him an envelope with a small bonus and apologized for it not being much. The next month he made a point to stop and thank me. He really appreciated not just the money but the fact that I was the only customer that thought enough to think of him at Christmas.
I bet that hard working "kid" that worked for you would really appreciate it and could most likely need it.

Cheers!

 

[COcheesehead]

I’ve tipped movers, tilers, tow truck drivers, all sorts of service workers when I think they deserve it. I even tipped the guy who remodeled our basement when we lived in another house. He finished early and on budget.

 

[Surewhitey]

Not weird. I get tips on 25% from clients. I never expect it & always appreciate it.

 

[MarieIG]

+1. Give an envelope with cash and a "happy holidays". And FWIW, I don't think this would be weird on the mainland.

This.

 

[freedomatlast]

I gave a well deserved tip of $1,000 on a $15,000 job that others quoted $25,000. It was greatly appreciated.

 

[rk911]

A bit of a strange situation...

This is in Hawaii which is itself weird for stuff like this.

Back in July I hired a flooring contractor (licensed). I have no issues with him but he basically handed off the work to one of his workers. Since late August the guy has completed 3 fairly large jobs for us, tiling much of the house, large lanai, and a new shower. The kid has been at our house almost every weekday since then. He works hard, and lugging around boxes of tile is hard work, and is both very courteous and professional and is all around a nice guy. I'd like to get him a thank you card with a gift card in the area of $250.

As a tip this is extremely low because the work is close to $50,000 so it would be about half of a percent, insulting. But he has a young family so I'd like to do something nice to show my appreciation.

My partner thinks this is unnecessary and weird and I agree it would be weird on the mainland. Looking for comments. Not really a tipping question because I would normally not think of tipping a contractor or his employees. This guy has just been so awesome in every way!

Am I out of line here?

Nope. We routinely tip workers who, in our opinion, went "above and beyond" (admittedly a nebulous standard). I don't think a tip has to be a set % of the cost of the job, though. Our experience has been that virtually all of the workers have been appreciative of the gift. As long as it comes from the heart you won't go wrong.

 

[pacergal]

Nice way to show your gratitude for his work.
Cash would be my choice.

 

[SecondAttempt]

Thanks everyone. I took you collective advice. When my tile setter left this afternoon after a delay because we ran out of grout (not him, the entire freakin' island but that's life in Hawaii. My partner bought literally the last two small boxes on the island of the right color yesterday just before the store closed), he came down today on his day off to finish up the last couple of hundred square feet of grouting.

He left with $500 cash in a sealed envelope. You all suggested cash and to double my original intended $250. I hope I made his day. Thanks everyone, your advice cost me $250 but it was well s=deserved and I feel very good about it!