Worried about building of conservatory

spindlegs

I am a little concerned about the builder I have for my conservatory. Everything seems to be going to plan we have paid £6,344 deposit for the £24,000 conservatory, the actually workmen arrived a day late (because of the rain) and they have dug out the footings so things seem well. The only thing that is bothering me is he has asked if we can pay for the skip, and the building materials which are arriving tomorrow.

Am I being paranoid, i know this will come off the end bill. I have tried looking for reviews on him, but there are only those on his website and most of them were really good.

It wasnt in the contract we originally signed, but the sub contractory gave me the impression that the builder had cash flow problems and is putting doubt in my mind.

scottishblondie

I would not be prepared to pay him any more at this stage - certainly not on top of a 25% (ish) deposit. Surely he can use this to pay for the initial materials etc?

Do you have a schedule of works? I haven't had any building work done personally, but AFAIK you should have a plan for when each stage of the work will be done, with a payment plan based on the completion of specified milestones.

thebaldwindowfitter

Neither would i be paying any more

Sgt_Pepper_2

24 grand, how big is the conservatory?

keystone

spindlegs wrote: »

I am a little concerned about the builder I have for my conservatory. Everything seems to be going to plan we have paid £6,344 deposit for the £24,000 conservatory,

Bit late now but contractually it should be a first payment rather than a deposit. But that's just nitpicking.

the actually workmen arrived a day late (because of the rain) and they have dug out the footings so things seem well.

Not surprised. Ever tried digging a nice deep hole in the pouring rain and expecting it to remain empty?

The only thing that is bothering me is he has asked if we can pay for the skip, and the building materials which are arriving tomorrow.

Me too. How come they've dug the footingd without having the necessary skip(s) on site to take the spoil? That means they have to shift it twice presumably at your cost.

It wasnt in the contract we originally signed, but the sub contractory gave me the impression that the builder had cash flow problems and is putting doubt in my mind.

If it wasn't in the contract then why is he asking for it? First thing that went through my mind when I read the first part of your post was a cash-flow problem perhaps linked to using your initial payment to pay off the bills from the last job. If thats true and its only speculation on my part then its flying very close to trading insolvently. which is naughty. Equally he may already have committed that cash to the factory building the glass and UPVC (or wood) bit as mentioned by poster above which would not be naughty.

Anyway speculation aside which is equally naughty you are not his bank nor should you be expected to be.

I wouldn't be paying another bean either.

Whats the contracted completion date?

Cheers