How bad did I get ripped off by my handyman?

Exactly

 

exactly what I was thinking.

 

Probably depends on the job, usually a mixture of flat-rate and straight-time. Downtime could be due to additional trips to pick up supplies, or idling while waiting for things to cure, dry, etc.

 

I'm still thinking that it depends on if they are paying taxes or not on what they earned. This may be a fair price either way but profit definitley increases if taxes are not considered. How much would the supplies cost at one of the big box hardware stores?

 

I can't believe there is any debate in this thread that $400 for labour and materials for this job is in any way overcharging and the OP's original guess of $200 is out to lunch

 

x2. $200 would be a DIY price just for materials, gas and buying yourself a 6 pack at the end of the day.

 

Any good licensed contractor for flooring, tile, ect. charges 350 a day not including materials, so you did good.

 

That is where you got ripped off. If they had been correctly installed in the first place they never would have rotted.

In 6 months you'll be sitting out on that deck having a beer and will have forgotten all about the four hundred bucks.

 

looks like i he made it about a million times easier for you to DIY it next time.

 

Unless the guy had these leftover from another job.

 

Even if the material was from his stock he would charge it out at the going rate unless this is some type of charity job

 

You don't think that someone may charge client A for more supplies than he needs so he can do a job for client B charging him for the same supplies. I bet it happens a lot.

 

You are now assuming that the OP's handyman is a crook , I'm not

$400 for time and materials for that job is fair

Feel free to make up some scenario to justify how it wouldn't be , but bottom line , the client ( in this case the OP ) shelling $400 for that repair is in no way an over charge

 

Probably not especially if he paid all the taxes on the earnings.

 

Whoa, lots of replies in here, and thanks everyone. I should have worded it differently in the original post. The guy did some work for me a few months ago, and while he was here I asked about replacing the posts. I could have sworn he said it would be around 200, which I thought was actually way cheap. The guy does awesome work, so I don't mind paying a little extra, but it seems that I didn't even pay extra, so I feel better now. I know good work costs money, I just don't wan to get ripped off.
Also, he didn't do any concrete work. He removed the old rotted wood, and put in the new pieces which required cutting them to size, and the spacers underneath, as well as new mounting hardware I believe. So once again, thanks for all the helpful replies.

 

Seems fair to me as well, there are cost thst you do not see like insurance, transportation time/travel ect

 

Probably not what

 

Probably not an overcharge.

 

I used to work in California as a contractor, SF bay area, not uncommon to make $60/$70 per hour or more, got to pick up materials (unseen hours), drive to jobsite (unseen hours), have the proper tools, then tear down, repair.. Taking the old material away for disposal (unseen hours), it all adds up....especially considering a helper was there, he was probably paying the helper around $20/hr (there goes $100). materials, probably another $100 plus, out of the remaining, dump/disposal fees have to be paid, gas and insurance for vehicle, then taxes...even if he wasn't a licensed contractor, still a good deal...and it looks like very nice work...

Do the math and it presents a different picture...

 

It's always good to get about three estimates to weed out the inepts and the goosers.