tipping furniture/Ikea assemblers?

pokersloper · July 2009

My wife and I have an apartment full of boxes from Ikea and just decided to pay Urban Express to put them together.

The fee is $250.00 for three wardrobes, mounting to the wall is $90 extra. All the boxes are in my apartment. We have no idea what to tip or to tip at all. Assuming the guys are nice and do a good job, what would everyone tip? I think there will be two guys doing the assembling.

Thanks.

teanickeldime · July 2009

Didn't you just ask this question?

http://www.brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=52166

pokersloper · July 2009

Well, I thought this was a significantly different question.

After the Ikea folks delivered the boxes, it took me 8 hours to put just one wardrobe together. So, now we are paying them to come back and put the other three together.

I just assumed that furniture delivery which takes 15 minutes is a very different tipping scale then furniture assembly which may take these guys 3+ hours of work.

carnivore · July 2009

If you weren't using a drill with screwdriver heads (or the equivalent) to do this, you may have an inflated sense of how long it's going to take them to put this together.

pokersloper · July 2009

Carnivore,

I am hoping you are correct. I hope that people who do this for a living will be done within an hour. Having 2-3 guys really, really helps too. My gut is to tip each guy $20 if they are good. But I always feel like I tip more then everyone else.

brooklynjack · July 2009

$340? That sounds like a lot.

I bet three are some un/under employed Brooklynians that would be glad to help you out for less including tip

Just searching Brooklynian for handman got these 2
http://handymaneric.com/
http://www.handymanneighbor.com/

longtimesloper · July 2009

that is an outrageous price to pay to have 3 wardrobes put together! you would have been better off calling a local handyman-cheaper and faster, and no tipping.

When I bought my kid's wardrobe/closet from IKEA, I hired a local guy to come and do it. it took him about 20 minutes to put one together and he charged me 50 bucks. It's a year later and it still looks good

pokersloper · July 2009

Well, it is a lot, but the handyman we found is great, it just takes him all day to do the work and then I have to talk to him the whole time, no joke.

I think I will tip each guy $15-20. There are two guys and they are polite and answer all my questions.

longtimesloper · July 2009

If you have to talk to your handyman the whole time he is workign and it takes him an entire day to put together a few wardrobes, then you need a new handyman!

Who do you use???

pokersloper · July 2009

Well, I don't want to say his name, because he is a nice guy.

He re-did our bathroom floor for about 1/4 of the price of anyone else, but it probably took him twice as long and he likes to talk, and talk and talk.

gtrain · July 2009

jeez, for all the money you are spending on having crap quality ikea items shipped and assembled you could have bought something of better craftmanship.

opossumqueen · July 2009

pokersloper wrote: Well, I don't want to say his name, because he is a nice guy.

He re-did our bathroom floor for about 1/4 of the price of anyone else, but it probably took him twice as long and he likes to talk, and talk and talk.

This has to be the guy our LL used to do some paint and carpentry repairs when we first moved in. He was supposed to finish by the time we moved in (he got two extra weeks after the LL asked if we could postpone moving that long for him to finish) and then still was here several times a week for a month after we moved in! Wouldn't shut up. I was working so wouldn't talk to him but he would pretty much hang out here (and the LL wanted us to be nice and not kick him out) talking on the phone, talking to my dog. Ugh.

xlizellx · July 2009

for that sort of money, why not buy quality stuff that is not in need of assembly??

opossumqueen · July 2009

For just $350, I doubt you could really upgrade that much in quality on the number/size of pieces the OP was talking about.

If the wardrobes are at all like the Ikea wardrobes I've dealt with, those are a huge pain to assemble and I completely understand feeling that the cost of having someone else assemble it, is worth it. Tip and don't forget to offer some water or other beverage to the guys in this warm weather

carnivore · July 2009

You could also get a really nice drill/driver and set of accessories for much less than that, allowing you to put your furniture together quickly and painlessly, and then you'd have the tools for next time!

opossumqueen · July 2009

Carnivore wrote: You could also get a really nice drill/driver and set of accessories for much less than that, allowing you to put your furniture together quickly and painlessly, and then you'd have the tools for next time!

Having these tools, and quality ones, can make life so much easier. BUT, some of those Ikea things are still a bitch.

Thanks for the reminder of a great gift idea, Carni!

gtrain · July 2009

OpossumQueen wrote: For just $350, I doubt you could really upgrade that much in quality on the number/size of pieces the OP was talking about.

no, but it's 350 plus the cost of shipping from ikea. ikea shipping is at least a 100 bucks. you also have to include the 60 dollar tip ($20 x 3 workers). so now we are at 510 dollars. 510 dollars could buy something of better quality - you wouldn't have to assemble it and you could very well get free delivery.

tipping furniture/Ikea assemblers?

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