Is working for free a good idea when it comes to helping out family members?

Well, I guess it depends on how much work you’re doing and who the person is.

In today’s story, a contractor laid out his demands to help his mother-in-law get her house fixed up, but not everyone is happy with him.

Check out what happened in the story below.

AITA? Told my MIL 3% of sale price to fix her house.

“My mother-in-law of 6 years is ready to downsize her house and move into something smaller.

However, throughout the course of her grown kids living with her and bringing numerous pets into the home, things have gotten torn up. There’s been a total of 10 different dogs in the house and 5 cats since I’ve been around.

Currently 4 of each still there. (Cats and dogs, not kids).

This doesn’t sound good…

Everything from chewed up stairs, numerous holes in the drywall, flooring, the back of a door was shredded at one point. These animals have done a number on this house. I offered to come in and fix all of those issues, repair a rotting deck frame, plus reseed the yard since it’s become a dirt mess.

She pays for material, gets top dollar for her home, and we both walk away happy.

He wants to get paid…

I was told I was ridiculous to offer the work for a percentage of the resale value and for her to still be covering material cost. The house appraises for roughly $250,000 and 3% of that would be $7,500 in labor.

She has done countless “DIY” projects that all end up being shoddy work. From multiple paver projects, to a fire pit, even to a tiled shower with 1/2” grout lines with 6”x6” tiles.

I have countless years of experience in doing all types of work and am fully confident in my abilities to get each job done professionally. She has said that I am ridiculous to ask for that much and that she’s just going to do it herself.

My response was, “good luck!””

Reddit users shared their thoughts.

This person said they’re NTA.

This individual had a different take.

Another reader spoke up.

And this person shared their thoughts.

He’s offering what he thinks is a fair deal…

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.