Imagine being a homeowner and wanting something built in your yard. If your lawn guy recommended a friend who ended up doing a great job on the project, what would you do if that friend ghosted you when you tried to pay him for his work?

In this story, one older woman is in this exact situation, and she feels really bad about not paying this guy for his work. She’s not sure what to do.

Let’s read the whole story.

WIBTA if I spent the money meant to pay someone who did a job for me?

I(F70) have backyard chickens. I planned to have a new, bigger coop built for them this year.

My regular contractor ghosted me a couple times for an estimate, so I was whining to my lawn guy about that.

My lawn guy said he knew a guy that would probably be willing to do it, and he probably **wouldn’t** ask for money.

I said I would feel bad if someone did all that work and didn’t get paid for it. This is important for later.

The lawn guy’s friend really did want to take on this job.

Lawn guy gave my number to a guy, Jason, who texted me and arranged for him to come look at the site and discuss what I wanted.

He was stoked about the job and asked if it would be okay if he came after work each day during the week.

I told him I didn’t care when he did it, as long as it was done by the end of July. It occurred to me after he left that we’d never discussed his fee, other than him saying “I work cheap.”

I ordered the materials online from Home Depot, then Jason and I went there and picked it up with his truck. I paid for everything.

Jason doesn’t seem too concerned about getting paid.

For the next couple weeks, he came by after work. He finished the job a week before the end of July.

After he picked up all the building materials and loaded his truck, I asked him “How much do I owe you?”

He said that he’d need to figure that out since he’d picked up a few things at Home Depot, and needed to calculate his costs, and that he’d let me know. That was on 7/24.

As of today (11/17) I have not heard from Jason to pay him.

She has tried everything to contact Jason.

I have texted him 7 times, called him a 2 times, even asked Lawn guy to pass along that I am still looking to pay him for his work.

I have been unable to contact Jason and Lawn guy is apparently reluctant to disclose any personal information about Jason, and kind of smiles when he says that.

My son, an attorney, says that since we didn’t discuss a price and there’s no contract, and I bought the materials, I am not legally obligated to pay him if he shows up a year from now looking for the money.

Also, the fact that Lawn guy said Jason would “probably do it for free” tells me that Jason had no intentions of taking money for the job. Why, I have no idea.

This is an unusual situation.

Sometimes I joke that I got reverse scammed – he did the work and ghosted me for the money rather than taking the money and not showing up for the work.

I’m not complaining, but I feel bad that he did all that work in the brutal heat and I haven’t been able to pay him.

My thought is to hang on to the money until the end of the year and, if I haven’t heard from him, use it to replace my sump pump that is limping along.

She’s not sure what to do.

I feel like I have done my due diligence in trying to contact him. I only have his phone number and first name, tried reverse lookup on his phone number, and came up empty.

So, WIBTA if I spend this money if my deadline passes and he hasn’t claimed his money?

That is really odd, but also kind of awesome. She wants to pay for the work, but Jason clearly doesn’t seem concerned about the money.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This is a good suggestion.

He was probably just being nice.

A tradie shares his perspective.

Seriously! That lawn guy probably knows someone who can help.

This is such a sweet story.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.