For what in-home services do you tip and how much? (movers, mattress)

[ACWhite]

I find it hard to know what's fair because I don't know whether tipping is the standard practice in different fields (for non-owner employees), and how much employees make in salary. With servers in restaurants, obviously we know that there are legal exceptions to minimum wage, and servers depend on tips; hair stylists also depend on tips.

Plumbers and electricians don't receive tips because they receive a good wage/salary. But what about carpet cleaners, window washers, etc., who work for a company who is charging a pretty high hourly rate (e.g., $60-$100 per hour plus transportation)? I did a bit of a web search and found conflicting opinions. So I wondered if maybe there is more of a regional norm, such that most people followed more similar tipping practices in NoVA.

Obviously I don't want to shortchange workers, especially when they do a good (but not necessarily exceptional job), but I don't want to tip where it is not expected - and it's easy for it to get out of hand quickly when there are a lot of services to be done.

So, what do you do?

[ShannonMilligan]

I hate this situation too, lol! I tip the standard 20% on hair, waiters, etc.
Movers...we usually tip about $50 per mover and then also provide them lunch/dinner in terms of pizza, drinks, etc. That's probably cheap, but when you are paying $15K for a move, it's hard to part with more.
Furniture delivery...do you tip? I haven't in the past and then always feel weird. But, I am paying for the delivery so I think they must get some of that as gas doesn't cost $85 for them to drive 7 miles.
This is always a hard one.

[ACWhite]

I generally do not tip for furniture delivery when they charge for that (recently had a mattress delivered for $80 - it took them less than 5 minutes to put it in my house and take the old one away). However, one time it was very difficult for workers to deliver a large desk because I had not measured the doors (it never occurred to me that it would be hard to get it in the office door, which was right across the hall from the front entrance - no biggie, right?) but in this old house, the door to the office was narrower than usual. They took extra time and care to tilt it several ways to get it in without a single scratch. So I tipped both workers and wrote a thank you to the company to explain the extra time.

[ICS67]

I think ACWhite and twinmma have it right. In short, my practice is not to tip for a normal job, but if workers go above and beyond the call of duty and/or have a particularly challenging job, then I'll add a small gratuity as a thank-you. Example: when my lawn care company makes one of its periodic visits, I don't tip the two workers (although if I'm home I always offer them something cold to drink), but last fall when on their own initiative they blew all the leaves off my lawn onto the driveway so I could more easily collect them, I did give them a few dollars for lunch.

And it is a smart practice to always tip movers, unless they are true clods, and to let them know upon arrival that a tip is waiting for them at the end of the day if they do a good job. It's back-breaking work, and you are, after all, entrusting them with several tens of thousands of dollars of your property once they leave your house.

[ACWhite]

Anyone else want to chime in? It would be great to have your experience and opinions.

[evanj76]

What about tile floor installers from a full service company like Empire today, where you are giving an all encompassing price that you pay before they come in and install your floor?

[South Jersey Styx]

I always tip movers.

I tipped delivery guys who brought the furniture, esp b/c they assembled the table, removed all the wrappings, and positioned the furniture where I wanted.

Tipped some guys painting my house b/c they were small-, family-owned business.

Typically do not tip plumbers, HVAC people, etc.

[Drew313]

About tipping the carpet cleaners.. Most carpet cleaning companies do graciously accept tips even though they may charge a lot of money from what I understand a carpet cleaning company has a high overhead expense..most carpet cleaning companies provide a wide variety of services and courtesies to their customers. this particular line of work can be back breaking and exhausting to continuously active moving from pushing a wand moving furniture and raking carpets. Most companies pay their employees$8.00 an hour some pay commission. because every house is different an average job can take up 2 to 3 hours to complete so they are usually on the go. Most carpet cleaners will take their time for a good tip and do a great job. a friend of mine I have to talk to told me that it is one of the most strenuous jobs out there with very little pay on average 20k to 30 K a year most of them rely on tips. If you don't have money to tip a Carpet Cleaner an ice cold glass of water and a snack will do. Because they definitely will appreciate that.