"Can you do mine as well?"

[Lisajb]

Oh dear Lisa, I would regard that as rather bad manners.  You have gone to all that trouble and all you get is an off hand response. 

Next time you get asked to do a tree I would check back and say well it does cost money, are you willing to pay for certificates etc?  He may have been your cousin but that is no reason why he should not contribute towards the cost of research.

I suppose an alternative would be to do what you could using free sites like freebmd, family search etc., send that and say further research will cost money, are you willing to pay for that.

Makes you wonder why you bothered doesn't it? 

Yes, definitely. I don’t think anyone else is likely to ask, which saves me the problem.

My brother in law did turn up the other week with a huge tree. He hasn’t been doing this very long, so I suspect most of it has been lifted from another online tree somewhere

[bearkat]

I have 'done' a few trees for others people.  I also helped many others with research.  Most of them have been much more complicated than mine.  It's a good way to learn about different records.

You get a feel for your own ancestors - where they were, what they were doing and why.

[groom]

I've done several trees for friends. It doesn't cost me anything but time, as I already have subscriptions to the main sites. I explain that if I need to get certificates I will let them know so they can decide if they want me to go ahead. I regard it as a hobby I enjoy and as someone said, it keeps the brain active. What does annoy me is that several I have done have proved more interesting than my tree!

At the moment I am involved, with a friend, on tracing the history of the mill and millers in the village where she lives. It's amazing what we are discovering.

[candleflame]

Ive done some of the lines for a friend . I found it fascinating as I had to get credits for Scotland's people which I found really interesting as none of our lot came from or ventured into Scotland . It cost me a little bit, but I didn't mind and they were very grateful. When the 1921 comes out, I'll update  their English twigs.
I have to say when I was doing theirs, I found it more interesting than sorting through my stuff that I'd got stuck on! So much easier when you achieve a lot in a short space of time looking at records you've already exhausted for your own lines lol.

[Treetotal]

I have done Family History for friends over the years, some easy and others not so easy. When I have got stuck and asked for help on here, the response has been amazing and I always give a link to the Rootschat page to show where I got help.
 I have had instances where people have insisted that their "Great Granddad wasn't illegitimate", or "that won't be her in the workhouse"  but they usually accept it in the end.

I have been rewarded with bottles of wine, flowers and chocs but best of all, tears of appreciation.

As a volunteer at our local Family History Centre, I was asked to trace a Mayor back to 1869 for someone who is to become mayor in our city later this year. The mayor in question had the same surname, but after much research and printing off records I failed to link the Mayor to the person's Family line, when I asked for any further info, they came into the centre and showed me a tree done by a Family member. This didn't match up with my research. I then asked where the story had come from that their Ancestor was a former Mayor...answer:"oh I looked up past mayor for the city on Wikipedia and found one with the same surname as our Family!!!!! Oh-Oh!! That's six weeks of my life that I will never get back but I have a file on the Mayor and his Family for future reference  I did wonder how such a wealthy Family of Bank managers and Solicitors could have sunk to the depths of Ag Labs and General Labourers 
I was a bit exasperated at the time but you chalk it up to experience, and was able to see the funny side of it...I should have asked for more info from the start.

Carol

[Guy Etchells]

My mum was telling my cousin about “our” tree. He asked if I’d do his. Spent hours on it, subs, a few certs to check details when in doubt.

Loaded it onto ancestry, sent him an invite, got “yeah alright thanks” kind of response, and that was it. Left it a few weeks, expecting a couple of queries and questions - nothing. To the best of my knowledge he never looked again.

I deleted it.

Don't be disappointed or upset at that reply people do not understand how much time and indeed expense may be expended on a simply tree.
People tend to think it is a five minute exercise little more than clicking on a few links on a site like Ancestry.

At least he said thanks.

Cheers
Guy

[Treetotal]

Oh I agree Guy...WDYTYA give that impression too and the Advert for Ancestry.
It's the same with Photo Restoration...they think it's done with a few clicks of a mouse. I took a very cracked and creased photo to restore for someone and they rang two hours later to see if it was ready as she was going to her Granny's and wanted to show her it 
Carol

[ChrissieL]

I have just been doing a family tree for my sister in law in Australia. It's been interesting for me as I have been investigating records I haven't had to use for my own family tree. She is descended from the first settlers in Western Australia so I have enjoyed researching where they came from,  the ships they sailed on and their early life as settlers.  It hasn't really cost me anything except my time. I'm not sure she realises how much time it takes, but I've enjoyed doing it
Chris

[pharmaT]

Totally agree with Guy re people not understanding how long it takes. If I had a pound for every time someone had asked me how I can not be finished yet?. Well let's just say I could buy a LOT more certificates.

I think I may be addicted to SP. Lucky or unlucky for me, depends on how you look at it at least 75% if not more of my research is Scottish.

I said no one had asked but I've just remembered my Dad's first cousin sent me a Christmas card (first in years) with a note saying "I heard you were trying to do the family tree. I was surprised, I didnt think you'd be able to, you will send me a copy to the above address" and she offered to change anything I'd done into proper English as I wouldn't know how. I thought "oh will i" and forgot about it.  If I'm that incompetent she's better off doing it herself.