TARADALE SCAFFOLDERS ADD $400 'ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT' LINE TO QUOTE
The homeowner asked what it was for. The scaffolder charged him another twenty for asking.
A Taradale homeowner has been handed a scaffolding invoice that includes a $400 charge for 'attitude adjustment'. The crew leader has declined to explain what it covers.
The job is a villa reno off Gloucester Street. It was meant to take a week. It has taken three. Back in 1974 the whole street was painted by a bloke called Ron off a stepladder. Ron is dead. So is the stepladder, probably.
Homeowner Reuben Castelow, 51, said he'd asked the lead scaffolder, Mitch, what the $400 was for. "He said, and I quote, 'mate, if you have to ask, that's exactly what it's fucking for.' Then he charged me another twenty for the conversation."
Mitch, contacted on site while eating a mince and cheese from the Taradale Bakery, was more forthcoming. "Bloke rang me three times before 7am about the bracing colour. Before fucking seven. That's the adjustment. He's been adjusted." Asked if the charge was standard, Mitch said Hastings crews "charge double and don't put it on the invoice, the soft cunts."
A Scaffolding Association spokesperson said attitude adjustment was "not a recognised line item" but conceded it was "increasingly common east of the ranges." They added that querying a scaffolder's quote was "technically a homeowner's right, rarely a good idea."
Castelow has paid. The scaffold is still up. Mitch says it'll come down Tuesday.
The job is a villa reno off Gloucester Street. It was meant to take a week. It has taken three. Back in 1974 the whole street was painted by a bloke called Ron off a stepladder. Ron is dead. So is the stepladder, probably.
Homeowner Reuben Castelow, 51, said he'd asked the lead scaffolder, Mitch, what the $400 was for. "He said, and I quote, 'mate, if you have to ask, that's exactly what it's fucking for.' Then he charged me another twenty for the conversation."
Mitch, contacted on site while eating a mince and cheese from the Taradale Bakery, was more forthcoming. "Bloke rang me three times before 7am about the bracing colour. Before fucking seven. That's the adjustment. He's been adjusted." Asked if the charge was standard, Mitch said Hastings crews "charge double and don't put it on the invoice, the soft cunts."
A Scaffolding Association spokesperson said attitude adjustment was "not a recognised line item" but conceded it was "increasingly common east of the ranges." They added that querying a scaffolder's quote was "technically a homeowner's right, rarely a good idea."
Castelow has paid. The scaffold is still up. Mitch says it'll come down Tuesday.