bathroom contractor asking for further interim payments

Grimbal

Ok, so I'm starting to worry & wondered if anyone could put my mind at rest please ?

We bought a bathroom from a local independent retailer. They have approved fitters that you make separate arrangements to pay ( the cost of the work is £4,000 fixed). We've been asked for and have paid £3000. For that, we have had the bathroom stripped away & the walls replastered. The fitter then left site for 2 weeks. As of yesterday, it was still a plastered empty room, with nothing else in it. He's been back on site for 1 day so far with "a promise to crack on" but has immediately asked for another £300, with the final £700 upon completion.

Alarm bells are starting to ring for me or am I just being to cynical here?

LandyAndy

Do you have all the bathroom fittings on site?

When we had a bathroom fitted I paid £1k up front on a credit card, £5k when the materials were delivered to my house, £3k when the fitting was complete to my satifaction, £750 one week after that and £250 four weeks after that. That kept them focused on the job.

Don't pay any more until you have everything on site.

Grimbal

yup, everything is on site. These were paid separately to the shop itself. What I'm concerned about is that we have paid 75% of the fitting cost already, with nothing more to show than a plastered shell. He's now asking for a little under 10% as a second interim payment before the final balance is paid upon completion.

I guess what I'm asking is that should we be happy about paying 85% of labour when all he's done so far is to strip out & replaster?

McKneff

LandyAndy wrote: »

Do you have all the bathroom fittings on site?

When we had a bathroom fitted I paid £1k up front on a credit card, £5k when the materials were delivered to my house, £3k when the fitting was complete to my satifaction, £750 one week after that and £250 four weeks after that. That kept them focused on the job.

Don't pay any more until you have everything on site.

I got the impression that the bathroom fittings are on site (bought separately) and the fitter is just charging @£4k to fit it.

Personally, if thats the case, I wouldnt pay any more. If he does a flit you at least have £1k to sort another fitter out.

He certainly hasnt done £3k worth of work up to now.

LandyAndy

Grimbal wrote: »

yup, everything is on site. These were paid separately to the shop itself. What I'm concerned about is that we have paid 75% of the fitting cost already, with nothing more to show than a plastered shell. He's now asking for a little under 10% as a second interim payment before the final balance is paid upon completion.

I guess what I'm asking is that should we be happy about paying 85% of labour when all he's done so far is to strip out & replaster?

No. Tell him he can have £500 when it's all in to your satisfaction and the rest two weeks later if you are still happy. Always worth keeping a retention on jobs like this in case any niggles materialise when you start to use it. If he says no at least you've got £1k towards getting someone else to fit it.

ETA: Oi McKneff, have you been reading over my shoulder?:rotfl:

Leif

Grimbal wrote: »

Alarm bells are starting to ring for me or am I just being to cynical here?

You are not too cynical. I agree with the others, pay when he does the work.

keystone

What are the payment terms in your contract? If they follow what he is asking for you do not have much choice. If they don't you are not responsible for any of his cash flow problems.

Cheers

keystone

LandyAndy wrote: »

No. Tell him he can have £500 when it's all in to your satisfaction and the rest two weeks later if you are still happy. Always worth keeping a retention on jobs like this in case any niggles materialise when you start to use it. If he says no at least you've got £1k towards getting someone else to fit it.

Whilst the principal of what you say is correct in the context of this thread this is poor advice if you do not know what is written in the contract. Imposing an arbitrary retention on the contractor late in the day is as unfair as him demanding additional payments outside the payment plan. If as a customer you want a retention then such should have been discussed precontract and the job priced accordingly in terms of cash flow on the specific job.

Cheers

Grimbal

thanks all for the advice, all much appreciated. After a friendly(ish) discussion with the fitter we have come to a compromise whereby he shows some evidence of progress over the next week or so, and we'lll make another payment to him when we're happy that he has shown that he's getting the bathroom moved on