Daryl, as you have in effect said, what you describe is a hobby, not a career,

A noble hobby, to be sure!

I am confused in that if the fellow expects {or needs} "X"-amount of $$, why doesn't he just work out what the daily rate would be and charge that? Seems like what you have set up is a recipe for guaranteed frustration and financial loss because you will always run into non-tippers or poor tippers.

I have a friend who has run me to a number of bear behind his hounds. He won't take a dime of compensation, not even a bag of dogfood.

So, tho he doesn't know it yet, I'm making him a knife out of a millsaw from a lumber mill his now-deceased sawyer father sent many a truckload of logs to. Got the blade roughed out, ground, polished and heat treated. Grips and scabbard to come. It'll be a gift. He'll like it.