Poor communication can leave a sour taste

I paid a plumber by the hour the other week

Didn't hate the experience

Why?

We'd agreed in advance what the likely lower and upper range for the work might be (1 - 3 hours)

It was far quicker for me to get the issue fixed, and cheaper for the plumber to quote, than arranging a separate site visit to scope the work and to then fix a price

Contrast that with a loft conversion we had done a few years ago, which was on a fixed fee, with overruns and scope extensions to be agreed in writing

They'd done a good job, but I knew there was going to be a squabble on undocumented overruns

And there was, they tabled additional fees of around 10% of the original fixed price

Whilst I didn't pay a penny, the looming difficult conversation cast a shadow over the job

I typically advocate for fixed fees in professional services - all my own fees are fixed with reference to deliverable or outcome, and I help law firms move away from the billable hour

But actually, I advocate for better communication between firm and client

Doesn't matter if the fee is fixed or hourly, or the value of the job is high or low - poor communication can leave a sour taste