I try to do a modicum of clean up on my jobs, most people appreciate it. If it is a huge amount of cleaning, I'll give them the heads up about cheaper alternatives than me.

I recently spoke with two subs who, are you sitting down?, don't charge to clean up. They charge an hourly rate and clean up time is free. WTF?

In that case, can you come to my house and clean up? (In that case, I'll have the refill...)

In all the remodeling we've done on the house, I've never had a contractor charge me an hourly rate. They all gave me a flat bid on the project at hand, which we either agreed to or went with someone lower. But in all cases, they cleaned up and were very eager to make sure I was happy with the job before they left.

It's all in the presentation. You were happy. They were happy. And they charged the rates they needed to to cover their costs and make a profit. It probably worked out to something like $70 an hour for the cleaning they did, but since it wasn't broken down to show it, you were all happy.

Sure, but what I'm saying is, there was no motivation for them to work slower, or decide whether to charge for one type of work but not another (cleaning). I think an hourly rate is a bad idea for small jobs. I'm okay with the idea of paying the equivalent of $70 an hour, I just want a guarantee that they will finish all tasks in a certain amount of time.

Smart.

Nothing gets a job done faster than a flat rate.

Depends on which one, 3foot. :D