Is a bay one frame or three?
Your fitters are subcontractors, paid per frame with extra for doors and bays. On Friday one team claims for a bay as three frames plus a bay pole. The office has it as one bay. A door with a sidelight has been claimed as two items. An upper floor job has an extra they say was agreed for awkward access. The owner sorts it out, grudgingly, and the fitters feel they had to argue for money they had earned.
Why frame pay causes arguments
Frame-based pay is simple to explain and hard to apply, because windows vary. The rate card lives in a spreadsheet, and what counts as what depends on who you ask.
- The rate card does not define how bays, combination frames and door sets count.
- Upper floor, difficult removal and making good extras are agreed verbally.
- Jobs shared between two teams are split by memory.
- Return visits for remedials are paid inconsistently.
- Pay is worked out from the fitters' own lists on Friday.
What the disputes cost
Experienced window fitters are in demand, and a team that feels short-changed moves to another installer. The owner or office spends time every week reconciling. Overpaying for miscounted frames, or underpaying and losing goodwill, both cost money. And the real fitting cost per job never reaches job costing.
Pay sheets built from the frame list
- Your rate card is set up with clear definitions: casement, tilt and turn, bay per section plus bay pole, door, door with sidelight, patio, bi-fold per leaf, upper floor supplement, difficult removal.
- Each job's frame list comes from the survey or order, so items are counted from the order rather than remembered.
- Extras are recorded when agreed, by the fitter on their phone with approval from the office, with a photo where it helps.
- Shared jobs are split by frames marked complete by each team.
- Each team sees its running pay sheet during the week and can query lines before Friday.
- Confirmed sheets go to Xero or QuickBooks as bills, with any deductions your accountant sets up, such as CIS.
| Item | How it is counted |
|---|---|
| Bay | Per section plus bay pole, as your rate card says |
| Door with sidelight | As your rate card defines it |
| Upper floor | Supplement from the survey access record |
| Difficult removal | Extra approved on site with a photo |
| Remedial visit | Paid per your rule for your own or others' faults |
How fitters are engaged and whether deductions apply is for you and your accountant. We do not advise on employment status or tax.
Fridays after the change
The pay sheet is built during the week from completed frames and approved extras. Fitters see it and raise questions early. The office checks exceptions rather than whole lists. And fitting costs per job become visible, so you can see whether your quoted labour covers what you pay.
It also gives you a fairer basis for setting rates. Once you can see how long each kind of frame really takes and how often extras come up, you can adjust the rate card with your fitters using evidence rather than argument. Teams that feel the rates reflect the real work tend to stay.
Is this your week?
- Fitters send their own lists of what to pay them.
- Bays and door sets are counted differently by different people.
- Extras are agreed verbally and disputed later.
- Pay takes the owner or office an afternoon each week.
- You do not know your fitting cost per job.