Is it normal to pay the builder a large bonus after finishing a project?

You were taken for a ride not standard precise and I would be taking legal advice if I was you

I've never heard of that.

It should be up the the builder to give their staff bonuses if they think it's deserved.

If the workers were particularly obliging then a bottle of whiskey or a few quid in an envelope might be appropriate.

Please say you didn't pay them a bonus 🤦. They obviously see as gullible and has money and are taken advantage.

What contract for the works do you have in place? I suggest you review the clauses.

It would generally be captured for a financial penalty for a delay in executing the works, bonuses? rarely... however provision can be included for a Bonus for completing the works ahead of schedule but it all comes back to the contract and for a domestic/residential situation it would be very unusual and if it was included you would be aware (it would usually be a commercial client who would suggest such a provision... ie if you get our retail unit open one month ahead of xmas there is a bonus of x amount.)

You mention weekly wages, was this a fixed price contract or were you employing direct labor? either way there is still no compulsion to pay a bonus.

Is it an established builder? Y/N

Not asking for a business name here

More importantly -

Are you overseeing this project on your own as the client?

The only way I'd consider paying bonuses would be if there was no builder & I arranged all of the workers myself.

If you engaged the services of a builder then it's totally up to him to pay all wages and bonus. I'm a tradesman myself and bonus isn't usually paid to the tradesmen by anyone. Builder might bring everyone out to the pub and put cash behind the bar but that is about it

Madness, is it not common practice to withhold a percentage of the final bill for 1 year? We kept back just over 5% of the final bill for one year to cover any issues / fallout with builder. We were advised to do this by the engineer, builder had no issue with that.

Why pay over the odds for what you are getting?

I had a sparks employed by a fitout firm try and tap me for a 'bonus' for putting in a few data points *that were on the spec sheet that was given to him by the fitout firm before he quoted them*. I was a contractor for the computer provider for the person who was paying him!

Seems to be something some people play for when they think you're a mark. He didn't get a cent off me, or anyone I hope.

Quite often you hire someone close to the family and they take the piss.

Asking you to give his staff/tradesmen a bonus is crazy. Maybe your relation gave you a cheap price (doubtful) but those tradesmen owe you nothing so they wouldn’t have done the work on a cheap rate for you.

Op mentioned nearly 15% of all costs

Yes but what figure is 15% of all costs - Are we talking a very large number here? Was this crowd responsible for the whole job or just part of the job.

Was it the wallet inspector who told you about it?

We don't have the full picture from you though so I wouldn't be taking advice from here.

We don't know what kind of arrangement you had with the builder. Was there a contract in place? Or was it a very informal arrangement? Were materials and or labour supplied at cost? Did he complete the works way ahead of schedule etc... all we know is that family was involved and it can get messy quickly in cases like that.

15% bonus does sound very unusual but if he was supplying materials and labour at cost for e.g, then an extra 15% might still result in you having gotten a very good deal.

It’s good to keep positive options open , especially if it’s as you describe, but it’s also good to maintain a healthy level of skepticism here- a 15% “bonus” on an extension could be 15-20k . As others have said it’s not at all “common”

-absolutely no guarantee the crew will get this bonus if paid to the builder

-why ask now? If it’s a surprise to the OP then something is amiss - did the builder over run on costs? If so, why didn’t he alert the OP to this?

It’s hard after a project is done to admit that maybe these guys weren’t as good as they said they were. In addition the family link can bring additional challenges in that many would feel they can’t speak their mind on sub standard work.

The OP appears to be satisfied with the work but on what professional basis was this work signed off and was that person truely independent?

They’re simple questions- I’m not rushing to judge either way but if there’s no independent assessment of the work, then I’ll remain skeptical.

Ah yeah we need a bit more context and detail too- very true.

My company has a retention for 6 months.I would often have to go back within the 6 months to fix/amend issue's that would occur after we pulled off the site.