Paying deposit before builder starts working??

genuine-tradsman

i am a self employed roofer/general builder in the 16yrs i have been trading i have never taken money upfront
i know most of my work tends to be under a month but have payment on last day
in fact trading standards tell us we cannot have payment in advance
but would never trust checkatrade i have replaced three roofs that their members have done inside a year & been called to two others who had been charged for complete replacement but they had just done edges & thown new stones over roof
these are all flat roofs i must add
i am sure they have a few good members but also know of three factory workers who got made redundent set up as builders with a flash web site & are now on checkatrade they even asked me how to point a chimney !! now they think they are something special because they have a few stickers from checkatrade on van :mad:
go to trading standards for a tradesman never use a site that is just a money maker

rictus123

Yep trading standards advise not to take payment upfront. It is hard not taking anything and there is the slight chance it could go tits up but surely 99% jobs go well, it will more than cover the 1 that does go wrong, aslong as it is outside of builders hands and not down to being a cowboy, i bear no grudges. Most i have asked for is on one 6 week project that the house owner paid and supplied materials and i invoiced for labour.

Cant get much fairer than that.

niftyfifty112

You're potentially looking for trouble paying any deposit to a builder. I've been looking for someone to block pave/gravel my driveway on and off for a year now and I've been trying to keep it local for smaller traders to benefit but when it comes to the part about how it's to be paid, they always want 25% up front. No chance. Obviously they have a suspicion that I won't pay, just as great as my suspicion that they might not complete the work once I've handed over a grand or so! I've even offered to show them one of my savings accounts online to prove that there's absolutely no problem with my ability to pay but to no avail. I can keep my money in my pocket quite happily until someone 'takes a chance'...and that doesn't mean me taking a chance. I'll probably end up paying out to a big company who'll agree to being paid only when the job's done but there you go. I tried doing my bit for the local economy but the ball is in my court, not theirs. My money, my rules!

greenface

Where are you maybe one here could reccommend a company that will do the job without deposit. I know a few (North west -southport to stoke)

YoungBusinessman

I have never asked for deposit or any money up front, most i would ask for is in stages of work. If theres a contact....feels a bit more secure on both sides. Most jobs im on though is word of mouth so theres a degree of trust there.

southcoastrgi

niftyfifty112 wrote: »

You're potentially looking for trouble paying any deposit to a builder. I've been looking for someone to block pave/gravel my driveway on and off for a year now and I've been trying to keep it local for smaller traders to benefit but when it comes to the part about how it's to be paid, they always want 25% up front. No chance. Obviously they have a suspicion that I won't pay, just as great as my suspicion that they might not complete the work once I've handed over a grand or so! I've even offered to show them one of my savings accounts online to prove that there's absolutely no problem with my ability to pay but to no avail. I can keep my money in my pocket quite happily until someone 'takes a chance'...and that doesn't mean me taking a chance. I'll probably end up paying out to a big company who'll agree to being paid only when the job's done but there you go. I tried doing my bit for the local economy but the ball is in my court, not theirs. My money, my rules!

it's all about cash flow so trust works both ways, which is why no one is interested in working for you, most customers that you have a prob with getting paid are not the little old lady in a two up two down they are the ones with a big house & flash car, just because you can prove you can pay doesn't always mean you are going to, if you were having new windows you would have to pay a deposit, if you were buying a new car you would have to pay a deposit, if you were getting any kind of insurance you would have to pay a deposit, so why do people always think the building industry is out to rip them off, if you get a receipt & everything is in writing ie a contract what's the problem

diywhynot

Bit late for OP's 2009 thread starter but advice here for when this thread is resurrected again.;)

PS: and here.

Pommyboi

diywhynot wrote: »

Bit late for OP's 2009 thread starter but advice ... for when this thread is resurrected again.;)

PS: and

I like the idea about references but really the builders I spoke to didn't know what to do - yes no problem Mr Pommyboi but actually didn't provide any.

I tried to get 3 quotes, one company never sent the actual quote despite chasing 3 times for it. The builder I wanted to do the work did a detailed quote and showed me a massive building project he's managing at the moment.

Still he didn't really get the idea that it was the owners we wanted to talk to not a look around his site!

In the end we went with him as he was recommended by someone else locally, it's a £5k building job and he wanted no money up front because he gets 30 days to pay for materials from Jewsons etc. That made me much happier than paying out for anything in advance.

However the heating engineers all want 25 - 50% up front.

greenface

southcoastrgi wrote: »

it's all about cash flow so trust works both ways, which is why no one is interested in working for you, most customers that you have a prob with getting paid are not the little old lady in a two up two down they are the ones with a big house & flash car, just because you can prove you can pay doesn't always mean you are going to, if you were having new windows you would have to pay a deposit, if you were buying a new car you would have to pay a deposit, if you were getting any kind of insurance you would have to pay a deposit, so why do people always think the building industry is out to rip them off, if you get a receipt & everything is in writing ie a contract what's the problem

window fitter for the past 22 years .. never asked for a deposit ever. recently bought a car paid in full when it arrived at the showroom and i drove it away no deposit ,,

southcoastrgi

greenface wrote: »

window fitter for the past 22 years .. never asked for a deposit ever. recently bought a car paid in full when it arrived at the showroom and i drove it away no deposit ,,

that is your choice if you ask for a deposit or not, you paid for the car in full before driving it away so that is totally different, i don't think they would have been so keen if you had said here's 25% don't worry about a contract i'll pop back in 30 days & give you the rest honestly.

my point is as i've already said in an earlier post there is nothing wrong with asking for a deposit it is standard building pratice, the same way as alot of customers have work done then say can you send me the invoice & i'll pay you in 30 days, you don't get that in any other aspect of life, you don't go to tesco get your weeks shopping & then say i'll pay you in 30 days, being a window fitter you know all about cash flow & some small business work on very tight margins, so why should you have to pay for someone elses materials just because they don't want to part with any money until the job is finished, 25% of the value of most jobs won't even cover the cost of all the materials so like i said there is trust on both sides, so if a trade asks for a deposit & the customer says no i'm not paying anything until the job is finished then thats says straight away that the customer doesn't trust you so really thats not a good start