Guttering/Soffits Money up front?

Colour_Republic

nickj wrote: »

i never ask for any form of payment up front - sometimes if i'm doing a large job some customers offer to pay up front for materials , but i never ask . also if the job is going to take a few weeks then i will ask for an interim payment .
unless your house is the size of buckingham palace , i can see no reason why any reputable tradesman would need payment up front - esp in cash .
i personally wouldn't give anyone cash who i didn't know , if you must pay , pay by cheque or go and order the materials yourself and ask for discount

Can I ask what trade you are in Nick? what would you say the average cost of materials is on one of your jobs?

I agree that cash is completely untraceable and in this day and age when most people do use some form of internet banking the need for cash payments are few and far between.

phill99

But if I am installing a bespoke door for instance, that is a unique size, then sorry, but I would expect payment up front for the door. If the customer decides not to go ahead, then why should I be left with a door that will never be sold elsewhere? If I am decorating someones lounge, then, no, I wouldn't expect a deposit. Its all about the individual situation.

nickj_2

Colour_Republic wrote: »

Can I ask what trade you are in Nick? what would you say the average cost of materials is on one of your jobs?

I agree that cash is completely untraceable and in this day and age when most people do use some form of internet banking the need for cash payments are few and far between.

i'm a decorator - a average room if you allow 5 ltrs for wall , ceiling and a bit of u/c and gloss £80 - , the cost of 5 lts of coloured emulsion is around 35-40ish
if i'm doing a big exterior , i can spend a £1000 without too much trouble - i've got thru 20 x 5ltrs of masonry paint at £30 - 40 per tin . it soon adds up , but i've never asked for any money up front , but then i mostly only work for people i know ,so bad payers are few and far between

MX5huggy

CB1979 wrote: »

so you guys would see nothing wrong in not paying a penny upfront on say a £20k extension?

Never paid a deposit on big jobs or small jobs for that matter, but can understand if its a bespoke job.

Staging payments on an extension is normal. 25% to DPC 25% to Wall Plate 25% water tight and 25% when finished seems to work quite well.

Colour_Republic

nickj wrote: »

i'm a decorator - a average room if you allow 5 ltrs for wall , ceiling and a bit of u/c and gloss £80 - , the cost of 5 lts of coloured emulsion is around 35-40ish
if i'm doing a big exterior , i can spend a £1000 without too much trouble - i've got thru 20 x 5ltrs of masonry paint at £30 - 40 per tin . it soon adds up , but i've never asked for any money up front , but then i mostly only work for people i know ,so bad payers are few and far between

I assume at those prices you use Dulux paints, and many of the materials you use could be used on another job, (fillers, caulks, white paints etc. etc.) well certainly any materials you would need on day 1 of a job. But I’m sure you're well aware that all tinted paints are non-returnable but the nature of your trade means that any tinted paints would be purchased after you have started the job not before, so you would only be out of pocket if you had a bad payer not a cancellation. If your trade required the purchase of tinted paints BEFORE you got on site, would you take a deposit?

That said it could also be argued that you should take a small deposit to book a job in, in case of last minute cancellation, which many cost you money in lost revenue due to not being able to fill that space with another booking. If you booked a holiday you'd have to do this as they may not be able to re-sell that slot. I personnally don't take these sort of deposits as I can count on one hand how many cancellations we've had at short notice in the 15 years we've been trading BUT all but one of those cancellations have happened in the last year were peoples circumstances can change quite quickly, luckily only one of those cancellations cost the company money.

nickj_2

[QUOTE=Colour_Republic;30886743 If your trade required the purchase of tinted paints BEFORE you got on site, would you take a deposit?.[/QUOTE]

i don't think in 25 years i've ever had cause to do that , i may , if i finish a job early on a friday, go and pick up paint for the job i'm doing next , but only after i've called the customer to check colours and if it's ok to start .
it would be a bit different if the O/P was asking for a bespoke kitchen for £30k , but what sort of tradesman can't fork out £500 , and let's face it it's only going to be for a few days at the most - he would be better off stating that he wants paying on completion of job
i'm just having a new boiler fitted in the next couple of weeks , i've just asked the plumber if he wants any cash up front and he said no .

arfurrrr

how did you get hold of his details ?

1984ReturnsForReal_2

IronMaidenFan wrote: »

If he was reputable then I would query why he would want the money up front - if they have a good reputation and are successful then surely they would have a credit account with a merchant to buy materials.

I've never paid money up front to anyone - a reputable company to me is one that does a good job and asks for payment when they have finished.

How do they know your a reputable customer?

Nothing wrong with paying for some material (or stage payments for material/labour) up front on big jobs.