solar contractor install question

[bluesboy]

i'm having an issue reconciling the cost for the installation of my solar system with the electrician that did the work. i'm curious what others think, and what i should expect.

my home is in mtn view, and contractor lives in south kona. we discussed me paying for gas for his drive over, which i was agreeable to. when i got the bill, he billed me for 3 hours of driving each day (1.5 hours each way, he was there 2 days) for a total of 6 hours of driving time. this was charged at his full rate. i offered him to stay overnight in my house so he wouldn't have to drive back and forth, which he was thankful for, but didn't take me up on due to his schedule. is drive time usually included in the billable hours?

he quoted me $75/hour to do the work. i assumed he was working solo. on his drive over the first day when i called to check in, he said 'we' were on the road, which was my first clue that someone else was going to be working with him. when he arrived at the jobsite, he brought a helper with him, and his wife. when i received the bill, he charged me $125/hour ($50/hour for the helper). note this hourly rate was applied to their drive time as well. is it unethical to quote one rate and charge another?

for the equipment, which totaled about $10,000, i offered to go buy it and pick it up myself. he said he would prefer to get it himself. i can see on the quote he provided me that 4.166% tax was applied, and on my bill from him, he is adding another 4.166% ge tax. this is a significant amount (~$500). should i pay this tax twice?

[kalakoa]

Ethics aside, all you really have is the difference between "what the contract says in writing" and "how you were invoiced".

In any case, GET is supposedly at the "wholesale" rate until the "final retail" transaction; equipment "should" have been wholesale to the contractor (0.5%), retail to you (4.166%).

Opinion: it's appropriate to name names, if it saves headache for others. (The "dumb question" is: why hire a contractor from the other side of the island? Can't possibly be "cheaper"...)

[bluesboy]

prior to him showing up, in our conversations, the hourly rate was $75, and there was no mention of charging for drive time. i thought our discussion of gas money implied that drive time was not going to be billed.

[kalakoa]

"In writing or it didn't happen."

[Seeb]

Why did you hire someone all the way from Kona

[bluesboy]

that's not the point of this thread - but just so you know i tried to get a few different people from the east side to work on this and it didn't work out - so i ended up using someone from kona side. he was very competent (and licensed) and did a good job.

i just have an issue with how he is billing me for the work that he did. i haven't had any of the contractors that i've worked with bill me for travel time or lunch or charge $50 for a helper. i watched the helper and can say with confidence he worked no better than a typical helper working for $15 or $20 per hour.

[DanielP]

Perhaps he was making up for not charging any "overhead & profit". The contract should have the answers. If the contract was not clear, and he wrote it, write to tell him where you think his contract is unclear and offer him what you think is fair. The only issue I would have is two-way paid time; one way paid drive time would be what I would deduct as fair. His hourly labor rates don't seem out of line.