paying in advance for work

princess_loki

hope someone can help. my builder has started work and has asked for £200 up front to help him out. he originally started before the snow and then his mother died so has not worked for weeks.

he seems like a reasonable bloke and did make sure that we knew what was going on when his mum was in hospital.

i can understand that he needs the cash and am willing to give him £150 today.

the thing is i only have a handwritten quote from him and mobile number.

was thinking of asking him for id and proof of address and getting him to sign something as a reciept.

do you guys think this is ok?

also, wondering if there are any online forms / contracts that i could print out.

any help would be really apprciated!

loki

princess_loki

jon_james wrote: »

the choice is yours, but you should never part with money unless a stage payment has been agreed, is the job a big job whats the £200 for, plus you should have an address an landline number just in case

it is for re-pointing the house - total of £1500.

how do i agree a stage payment? do i need something in writing?

i did agree to pay in 3 x £500 as the work was completed but this was verbal...

Kiran

If you are going to advance him the money, as mentioned by Jon James you should have a contact address and landline number. I'd also be tempted to ask to see a passport or something to prove ID.

With regards the payment, type out a recpeit stating date amount and reason for payment

ie

I aknowledge receipt of a payment of £200 for materials for the job at XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX on 20/03/09. This is to be subtracted from the total quoted price of £1500

Signed



Builders name

Give the builder a copy and you keep a copy with your original quote

lagi

If he has started work today why don't you at the end of the day (if your happy with the work) give him £100 and tell him that is all you have and you should be able to get another £100 tomorrow for him. Then if he doesn't show again you have paid for a days labour also by saying there is more for him tomorrow, its likely he will come back. I think £100 would be enough to last him one day, and if its for materials they won't come to that.

princess_loki

well he had to leave at 2pm to take his dad to the doctors so now in total he has done 2 half days. i told him that i will need proof of id before i hand over any money - have asked for something with his address on and driving license.

he will be coming back later to get some cash.

will make sure i scan everything whilst he is here and will also type up receipt. for him to sign...

fingers crossed for me everyone!

princess_loki

he just came round and i scanned the original handwritten quote and used the wording that Kiran suggested underneath. so he signed against his quote and for the money.

he also showed me his passport and council tax bill which i copied.

thank you to everyone for your replies - i will let you know monday afternoon if he turns up...

busiscoming2

My oh is SE and he always types his quotes and puts in about any deposits etc, he also takes a copy , so no one can dispute. The paper is headed and he gives a landline number, mobile, home and email addresstoo.

Fire_Fox

princess_loki wrote: »

well he had to leave at 2pm to take his dad to the doctors so now in total he has done 2 half days. i told him that i will need proof of id before i hand over any money - have asked for something with his address on and driving license.

he will be coming back later to get some cash.

will make sure i scan everything whilst he is here and will also type up receipt. for him to sign...

fingers crossed for me everyone!

I cannot believe you are paying the builder after he did half a day's work: I wouldn't have had the cheek to ask for money if I had no intention of working a full day!! :eek: Be very very very careful honey. Please don't give him a penny until the work is well on - he could easily be going from job to job with the same story.

owls

Sounds llke a joke to me, why is he messing about for a couple of hundred quid. if hes reputable he will have accounts with local merchants so will have 30 days grace minumum and why is he asking for money up front anyhow for a small job like this a couple of stage payments would be more than adequate. if you dont know him really well why would you give him any money before he did any work whats to stop him disaperaing into the sunset you wouldnt give a stranger money so why should you do it with him

lagi

Sorry, when i first read the post i thought it read builder had done 2 1/2 days but re-reading it i see its 2 1/2 days. For somebody whos not been busy doesn't seem too keen to get stuck in, although repointing is a dirty job.

Is he doing a good job when hes there? thats the main thing. Can't remember the depths for repointing but worth looking up to make sure hes doing a good job. This property had been done before i moved in and was already falling out as it hadn't been done properly.

princess_loki

lagi wrote: »

Sorry, when i first read the post i thought it read builder had done 2 1/2 days but re-reading it i see its 2 1/2 days. For somebody whos not been busy doesn't seem too keen to get stuck in, although repointing is a dirty job.

Is he doing a good job when hes there? thats the main thing. Can't remember the depths for repointing but worth looking up to make sure hes doing a good job. This property had been done before i moved in and was already falling out as it hadn't been done properly.

he is using an electric cutting / grinding tool and then scraping any other loose bits out with a special pointy thing. he is going quite deep as far as i am concerned and on loose bits he has done it deeper.

other people made me worried about whether or not he will turn up again on monday but whilst talking he told me about how long he had been with first wife and how old he was when he met her and where his dad lives. all of this random chat actually does tie in with the date of birth info on the passport and the emergency contact addresses on the passport tie in with the area he said his dad lives.

fingers crossed all will be ok

also the council tax bill was dated march 09