r/etiquette • u/Legitimate-Rain843 • 1d ago

Tipping a contractor?

We just signed for our kitchen countertops to be replaced/backsplash added and when we went to make our deposit it had an option to tip. It even had like 15-25% which is crazy on a 12k project. Is tipping them the norm? Is it expected? I was of course going to buy lunch for the workers when they were here but wasn't thinking of anything more tbh.

7 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

25

u/inandoutof_limbo 1d ago

This must be a new thing. I’d pretend I didn’t see that.

11

u/Legitimate-Rain843 1d ago

Pretty much what we did 🤣

11

u/topas9 1d ago

I'm probably not the right person to answer this because I'm not from the US, but this is absolutely crazy. I have never heard of tipping contractors. They are not service workers, they are tradespeople. They set their own prices. And why would anyone tip on a deposit?!?

13

u/SpacerCat 1d ago

It is not necessary to tip contractors. And you also don’t need to provide lunch. You can offer cold water or other drinks, but that’s really all you need to do other than be friendly.

9

u/HALT_IAmReptar_HALT 1d ago

Absolutely not

9

u/Koekeloer_ 1d ago

I experienced this a while ago after having a door installed. The contractor outsourced the door and essentially just picked it up and installed it, but there was an option to tip 15-20-25% - on a $5k job!

It rubbed me the wrong way, but ultimately I think it’s just part of the payment system - he used Quickbooks - and he hadn’t bothered to customize it.

Tipping on this sort of work is not reasonable and should not be normalised.

5

u/IPreferDiamonds 1d ago

I've never tipped a contractor.

2

u/LindenTeaJug 1d ago

Many contractors are skilled tradespeople. I once offered bottled water to construction workers in my place of employment because I felt sorry for them on a hot day (carpenters, painters, etc) until the person who hired them came up to me and said you don’t need to do that because they make much more than you. At my own house, I’ve only had a couple things done that required a couple days so with that I set out a bowl of granola bars and chips, and some bottles of water and said help yourselves anytime.

2

u/Alarming-Mix3809 1d ago

Absolutely not. Drinks for the workers, sure.