How do you handle this?

[chris1971]

Charge your friend like you would charge any customer. You need to make a living.

 

[sparky_magoo]

I rarely loan tools and never loan test equiptment. I usually regret it when I do loan something.

If it's a friend, I will volunteer to do the work or the test before I will loan out a tool.

My best friend still owes me a butt-in-sky I loaned him years ago.

 

[ceb58]

Charge your friend like you would charge any customer. You need to make a living.

That is one thing I respect in my Father-in-law. If they need work done he will not be satisfied until I give him a bill as I would any one else. I dont charge him for every minute I spend there or for every screw and nut or some small supply I use. His thinking is if I am there working for him it prevents me from being some where else making money.

 

[ItsHot]

Thanks

Thanks

Thank you all for the responses! Seems like being a nice guy and helping a friend out can snowball into many other friends wanting the same! As far as others expecting you to give sizeable work to them. Don't get me wrong. I appreciate all of my friends, and help them when they need it! They are direct lines to new customers! Just having a hard time saying "no"!:-?

 

[jaylectricity]

It all comes down to your definition of friend.

 

[hurk27]

Having the correct tools with me is how I make my living, so I always have a truthful excuse when they ask: "Sorry but I'm going to need that on the job"
In these times, I cant afford someone to borrow, and break, or loose, my tools that I need to make a living with.

As far as doing a friend a favor, well as long as I'm not being a crutch to that person, and it is on my terms, I don't mind in helping out, but it will be on my terms, I have my own things to get done also.

 

[macmikeman]

I don't have friends, I have customers........... Seems harsh, too bad.

 

[JFletcher]

If it's a friend, I will volunteer to do the work or the test before I will loan out a tool.

I agree 100%.

Do any of you have friends that constantly want to borrow tools and equipment? Or want you to give large work away, just "because you are friends"? How do you handle this?

If it's a mostly one-sided exchange of lending tools or doing major work, DUMP THEM. Friends look out for one another, not try to leech off of the other. I have found very few people who can be "educated" about friendships being two-way roads. If they don't understand that from the get-go, they likely never will.

I think the only time it works is when both friends are giving away things to each other. My father has a farmer friend for whom he does a myriad of large-ish repairs, for free - the farmer pays for materials and gas. In exchange, dad has sole hunting rights to a sizeable property, gets a side of prime Angus beef twice a year (that should be here any day!), as well as all the veggies/fruits/berries he can pick when they are in season. They've been friends since before I was born.

 

[Power Tech]

This may sound bad but:

When your neighbor / friend asks you to help move a rock or cut a tree.

Don't do it!

If you do he will ask you to fill the hole where the rock was, or you will have to haul the tree away and on and on.

 

[Sparky555]

Do any of you have friends that constantly want to borrow tools and equipment? Or want you to give large work away, just "because you are friends"? How do you handle this?

I have a good friend who has done a lot of favors for me...cutting down a tree, removing an awning, etc. He's so generous that it's been embarrassing that I don't do anything for him. He was laid off awhile back so I gave him my scrap copper. I've been giving him my scrap copper ever since then.

However, when he asked me to do a 200 amp service upgrade with interior rewiring I charged him materials at cost and labor at cost. I also instructed him so he could do a large portion of the work himself. We were both in unstated agreement that this was more than a favor between friends.

I never thought of it before but we've never borrowed tools from each other. We usually come with our tools to help each other.

 

[LarryFine]

Seems like being a nice guy and helping a friend out can snowball into many other friends wanting the same!

I've even had others ask for fictitious discounts I've supposedly given to mutual friends or acquaintences. :roll:

 

[LarryFine]

My father has a farmer friend for whom he does a myriad of large-ish repairs, for free - the farmer pays for materials and gas. In exchange, dad has sole hunting rights to a sizeable property, gets a side of prime Angus beef twice a year (that should be here any day!), as well as all the veggies/fruits/berries he can pick when they are in season. They've been friends since before I was born.

Now, there's a symbiotic relationship.

 

[okeefe]

I only lend out tools that I don't use alot, to certain freinds. If I have to chase it down because I need to use it, they never get to borrow from me again.

 

[nakulak]

Do any of you have friends that constantly want to borrow tools and equipment? Or want you to give large work away, just "because you are friends"? How do you handle this?

don't give them the tool they want. keep a bucket of broken tools around just for this purpose. Tell them you are using the one they want, but this should do the trick.

 

[Power Tech]

Now, there's a symbiotic relationship.

Wow, thats good.

Friends like that are hard (but shouldn't be) to find.

 

[PetrosA]

I don't get many requests to borrow tools, maybe because people sense how anal I am about them. Before loaning someone a tool, I generally observe how they treat their own tools and decide on that basis. The list of people I would loan overnight to is very short, and probably limited to those I know would replace something they broke or which broke while they were using it.

I also can't say that I've been asked many times to do stuff for free. When I do, it's because I offered to. I suppose it's something people sense about me, because I know a lot of guys who get asked for "freebies" all the time.

 

[jaylectricity]

The list of people I would loan overnight to is very short, and probably limited to those I know would replace something they broke or which broke while they were using it.

If you had a tool that was on its last legs, would you expect them to buy you a new one if it broke while they were using it? And how would you know for sure that a tool wasn't on its last legs?

 

[satcom]

I remember on one of the jobs, another trade asked to use the hammer drill, the employee told him "I don't loan my chain saw, or my wife, why do you think i would loan you any thing"

 

[LarryFine]

If you had a tool that was on its last legs, would you expect them to buy you a new one if it broke while they were using it? And how would you know for sure that a tool wasn't on its last legs?

Shouldn't the borrower share that risk with the borrowee?

 

[mtfallsmikey]

Now, there's a symbiotic relationship.

Didn't think of that kind of relationship as being "symbiotic" (You folks down there in Richmond and the flatlands are starting to use a lot of two-dollar words, huh?), but, my neighbors, friends locally help each other a lot, from swapping a plumbing/electrical job for a bunch of lamb meat, to swapping a log splitter for a chain saw chain grinding machine. As long as both parties are dealing square and fair, it shouldn't be a problem. Any tools/equipment, rule is: you break it, you buy it.