Would you question a tradie bill?

I got a job done on my house. The front barge boards needed to be replaced.

I bought the actual boards and painted them so the builders only needed to take off the old ones and put up the new ones. They arrived at 9am and when I went past at noon they were essentially done except one guy had gone into town to get a bit of extra material. The other guy was not working on the job while waiting for the other guy to return. It only took them a very short time to put the extra stuff on once he got back.

So at a generous stretch they were working for 4 hours. Plus one hour of travel time.

I have been charged $754 for the job. It seems a lot for what they did. The hourly rate for the time they were there (including travel) works out to be $75.

Is it good form to ring and ask the builder how he got to that figure or should I just pay it?

Did they give you a quote? If not, there's not much you can do about it I don't think... As for your question, I'm a chicken and would just pay it!

He gave me a quote of $777 based on 6 hours work for two guys and said it would be cheaper if it didn't take that long. It took at least 2 hours less, I would have thought that would save me more than $23?

ETA, I just remembered that he called me a week or so ago and said that it would be around $650.

Of course. You are just interested in working out how the total was calculated and you may find he made a mistake.

There is no harm in asking.

You have every right to question the bill- I know I am accountable to my employer, why shouldn't he be?However I am yet to meet a trade who doesn't get defensive when questioned, no matter how nicely, about the bill.

Yes you can question it, however it's a good idea to get a quote in writing, text or email before agreeing for the job to be started to avoid this issue. You said they needed extra material at one point, the expense, time and travel of arranging that could be what put the price up.

Was 650 including gst? We have been caught with trades on the phone saying $75 per hour but not calculating in the gst

Yep question it or at least ask for a break of the cost. They quoted you on 6hrs and work and told you it would less if it didn't take long. They may have had to get extra material, still worth asking.
I questioned a bill once, I was quoted and they charged alot more. when I rang they apologised and amended the bill.

Does it include the additional materials that they had to get? I think it is fair enough to pay from the time they arrived till they finished - even if one wasn't doing much while the other was shopping - and the additional materials - but that's all.

Just ask for a breakdown of the bill and see what they come back with - they may have made a genuine mistake.

it's ok to question it :).

I second Muppity and ask for a breakdown of the bill etc. especially if you were told that it would be closer to $650.

We're about to question a bill. The quote was for $1200, the credit card has been deducted $1300. Not happy

Absolutely question it, especially if you personally are comfortable negotiating.

But know before you call what you're willing to pay, and what you're not willing to pay.

Don't call until you're quite confident about what you will say, if push comes to shove, and whether you'd actually prefer to pay the extra $104 rather than having an argument.

And (quite seriously) have some notes for yourself, with your main points.

Good luck!