If a friend is involved, I treat the situation as if I am getting an estimate, every single time. Something like, "Hey, if we do thing job, how much would you charge me? Do I get a friendship discount?" I've run into situations when I was young and stupid where I assumed things and it ended up getting ugly. I've also seen situations where people did a crappy job because they weren't paid to do it which hurt not only that person's reputation but the friendship as well. It's stupid, but people are like that sometimes. IMO, asking a friend is mainly to see if you can get a better price or if you can get work done at non-typical work hours.
I ask friends for the going rate. If I get a discount, great. If no, no hard feelings if I go elsewhere.
I tell friends my going rate before telling them my discounted rate. In the past, I ran into idiots who acted as if I were begging them to take my business because the rate was lower than other rates he could acquire elsewhere. Long story short, this idiot is no longer friends not just with me, nor many mutual friends. Some people try to use the friend discount and take advantage of friends who are too nice.
If it's just some manual labour or favor etc. Half an hour or less I charge nothing and expect nothing. But if it's more than that and generally a bigger favor, I generally negotiate dinner and/or drinks depending on the effort required.
Discount wise from me, it depends. If I have zero responsibilities after the work is done and it's less than 30 mins, nothing/favor/booze/dinner is perfectly fine. If I have responsibilities later, I charge my going rate and determine if I am willing to discount up to 50% before starting the job.
and because I have run into the issues, if it's an agreement over a few hundred bucks, I want invoices involved. It's one thing to find out a friend is a dick and walking away from a small sum. It's another to find out a friend is a dick and dealing with a sum you're not happy losing and/or no paperwork to get other individuals involved.
If someone throws a fit because they aren't getting the friend discount they want, I generally believe you do not want to be involved.
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