My experience is definitely the opposite. Random Quora question also suggests that it’s common practice in plumbing to pay someone for the attempt, not for the solution. As someone who recently hired plumbers and electricians to fix a bunch of stuff in a new house we rented, this also matches with my experience. Not sure where your experience comes from.
In general, most contractors bill by the hour, not for completed output, and definitely not “output that the client thinks is worth it”, at least in my experience (there are obviously exceptions, though I found them relatively rare).
My experience comes from the same sort of thing: having, on many occasions, hired various people to do various sorts of work; and also from having worked for several years working at a computer store that specialized in on-the-premises repair/service.
The Quora answer you linked doesn’t really support your point, as it’s quite clear about the prerequisite being an informed, explicit agreement between plumber and customer that the latter will pay the former regardless of outcome. (And even with that caveat, some of what the answer-giver says is suspect, and is not consistent with my experience.)
I do not know of any industry in which contractor agreements with variable payments that are dependent on the quality of the output are common practice. There is often an agreement on what it means to “complete the work” but in almost any case both your downside and your upside are limited by a guaranteed upfront payment, and a conditional final payment. But it’s almost never the case that you can get 2x the money depending on the quality of your output, which seems like a necessary requirement for some of the incentive schemes you outlined.
What does this have to do with anything? You originally said:
Youu pay your plumber if they show up, not only if they successfully fix your toilet.
I don’t see the connection between “should you pay your plumber even if they don’t actually fix your toilet” and “should you pay your plumber twice as much if they fix your toilet twice as well”; the latter seems like a nonsensical question, and unrelated to the former.
My experience is definitely the opposite. Random Quora question also suggests that it’s common practice in plumbing to pay someone for the attempt, not for the solution. As someone who recently hired plumbers and electricians to fix a bunch of stuff in a new house we rented, this also matches with my experience. Not sure where your experience comes from.
In general, most contractors bill by the hour, not for completed output, and definitely not “output that the client thinks is worth it”, at least in my experience (there are obviously exceptions, though I found them relatively rare).
My experience comes from the same sort of thing: having, on many occasions, hired various people to do various sorts of work; and also from having worked for several years working at a computer store that specialized in on-the-premises repair/service.
The Quora answer you linked doesn’t really support your point, as it’s quite clear about the prerequisite being an informed, explicit agreement between plumber and customer that the latter will pay the former regardless of outcome. (And even with that caveat, some of what the answer-giver says is suspect, and is not consistent with my experience.)
I do not know of any industry in which contractor agreements with variable payments that are dependent on the quality of the output are common practice. There is often an agreement on what it means to “complete the work” but in almost any case both your downside and your upside are limited by a guaranteed upfront payment, and a conditional final payment. But it’s almost never the case that you can get 2x the money depending on the quality of your output, which seems like a necessary requirement for some of the incentive schemes you outlined.
What does this have to do with anything? You originally said:
I don’t see the connection between “should you pay your plumber even if they don’t actually fix your toilet” and “should you pay your plumber twice as much if they fix your toilet twice as well”; the latter seems like a nonsensical question, and unrelated to the former.