How much to pay a neighbor for electrical help

[buckeyefarmer]

An offer to help is just that. If I offer to help someone thats what I do with no expectation of money or goods. If I wanted to be paid I would tell them I could fix that for an amount.
The people I do for would do equal for me. Even though we offer to pay each other we know it will never be accepted.
True help and charity comes with no charge.

Agree, if its an offer to help, you should not expect payment If he wanted paid, he needs to say up front.

 

[atsah]

I've never offered to help someone and expect payment later. If I expect payment, they know upfront. When we put in propane, an acquaintance offered to do it (with me helping him). He told me what to purchase and to rent a pipe threader. When we got done, he asked for payment, including overtime rates because it was a Saturday. I paid him but a few weeks later when he wanted more free help on his computer, I told him my rates were comparable to his. He never asked me for help again. It turns out he treated others the same as soon found he had no free help for what he needed. He thought he should charge for his help, but get free help from everyone else..

And this is why when I need something done I find out the cost and save until I can afford to have a company do it. When I hire a company to do a job, they are there to do the job and that's it, I'm not there friend, I'm am a paying customer and I treat them as such..

 

[RNeumann]

I suggested $500 cash because that is what the job would be worth to me, that's all.. If he hired an electric company to come in and do the job he would have had to pay a lot more than that..

If he hands the guy $500 and he takes the whole $500 and says thank you, he has paid the man and still has a good neighbor that doesn't think he is cheap, if he hands some of the money back he will be just as happy of a neighbor. The $500 cash is good either way and the OP got the job done cheap no matter which way you look at it..

Most folks agree with you- Including the OP.

 

[LD1]

I suggested $500 cash because that is what the job would be worth to me, that's all.. If he hired an electric company to come in and do the job he would have had to pay a lot more than that..

If he hands the guy $500 and he takes the whole $500 and says thank you, he has paid the man and still has a good neighbor that doesn't think he is cheap, if he hands some of the money back he will be just as happy of a neighbor. The $500 cash is good either way and the OP got the job done cheap no matter which way you look at it..

Maybe. This is where I just don't know enough detail, and the OP hasn't elaborated.

If the OP was clueless about electric and this neighbor pretty much did everything....then yea....maybe $500 aint so bad. But also remember.....the OP bought the parts. So those that are saying this is a $1000-$1500 job to hire done.....if he pays this neighbor $500 that turns it into a $1000 job with the cost of material he provided. And without the backing of an actual company/professional.

But (an again, waiting on clarification).....what if the OP was more than capable of doing this solely by himself. Never done it before....was unsure about a few things...neighbor offers a bit of help for oversite and advice....still worth the $500? IMO...no.

 

[LD1]

Most folks agree with you- Including the OP.

Not sure how you come to that conclusion.

Maybe go back and re-read and tally things up. Those that think $500+ vs those that think under $500 (free, offer to help, gifts, cookies, case of beer, few hundred bucks, etc).

But doesnt matter. Only matters is what the OP wants to do. Only he can answer as to the type of relationship he has with this neighbor. Because given the lack of detail in this thread.....its hard to say what one would do if they were in the same circumstances with the same history with one another.

 

[LD48750]

According to the IRS any payment over $600.00 is taxable, and the party needs to be 1099'd...

According to the IRS, ANY/ALL money you receive for goods or services is taxable.
I'm certain that IF the OP gives the neighbor ANYTHING it will be reported just as you would report any form of payment you received.

 

[4570Man]

I’m sure everyone reports the income from a weekend project.

 

[LittleBill21]

i lay out my expectations ahead of time not to run into this. I don't pay anything, i always barter. i put that right on the table up front

i had a union electrician who is actively employed help me change out a service panel. he got a 50 dollar gift card just as a thank you and and offer to help him with anything he needed.

the work took over 6 hours as well. i would never expect to give someone 500 bucks who "offered" to help.

 

[ning]

If the OP really "just mentioned" that he had this project coming up and the neighbor completely volunteered his help, the OP shouldn't've asked how much he owed. Without asking that, the appropriate thing would've been to give some sort of gift - gift cards, gift certificates, cases of beer, jar of honey, basket of fruit ... etc.

The moment the OP asked how much he owed, and got an answer which wasn't "nothing at all - I had fun and glad to help" -- instead, he got an answer that indicated a desire for some compensation; at that point, compensation is essentially required for the maintenance of the kinda-friendly-neighbor-kinda-work-for-hire. I'm with the $500 level here, plus or minus - the guy isn't running a business any more so you can't just go on business costs (there's no insurance involved, probably, not a significant commitment, and all you're talking about is labor, so $70/hr is probably overkill for "helpful neighbor").

 

[zmountaineer]

I finish mow an elderly neighbors 4 acres every week. It takes her 10 hours to do it on her little riding mower and takes me 1.5 hours with my ventrac with 72 inch mower. Every week she insists on at least paying for my gas. I politely decline. She shows up with blueberries or cantaloupe or other things from her garden every once in a while. She’s gotten around paying me though, she sends a check into my 3 kids 529 education savings plans every couple of months.