Paying tradesman

pollypenny

We've just had tradesmen in - plasterer, electrician, joiner and plumber.

All presented their bills when they finished the work. In fact, we had to ask the plumber twice for his bill.

I've never had to pay before work started. Is the guy moonlighting?

comeandgo

Do not purchase the materials yourself. If there is a problem with them you then have the fitter saying the materials are faulty and you have the supplier saying the fitter caused the problem. If you have one contract with the fitter/workman then he has to sort out the problem regardless of what/who was at fault.

Furts

Mr_Poves wrote: »

Totally different game than my trade , but across the board trust works both ways , I did comment on a similar thread last week , if a customer refuses to pay a deposit I walk , simple as .

I can lay drains, I can repair drains, and I can do both operations properly and competently. Would I go on checkatrade - a definite no no. Would I work for typical Checkatrade users - a definite no no.

Would I expect money up front? In the vast majority of cases no, but some folks cannot be trusted. Here it is usually easier to refuse with a proviso. Tell them straight that they are untrustworthy - they either confess or word can go round.

ceredigion

A potential client, once asked to see a copy of my public and employers insurance certificates. No problem at all, but in return I wanted to see a copy of his and his wife's credit file. Didn't go down that well.

glasgowdan

Furts wrote: »

I can lay drains, I can repair drains, and I can do both operations properly and competently. Would I go on checkatrade - a definite no no. Would I work for typical Checkatrade users - a definite no no.

Would I expect money up front? In the vast majority of cases no, but some folks cannot be trusted. Here it is usually easier to refuse with a proviso. Tell them straight that they are untrustworthy - they either confess or word can go round.

First... aren't you in Scotland? Want to view a job in Lenzie?

Mr_Poves

ceredigion wrote: »

A potential client, once asked to see a copy of my public and employers insurance certificates. No problem at all, but in return I wanted to see a copy of his and his wife's credit file. Didn't go down that well.

Brilliant , I will remember that one .....:rotfl:

Furts

glasgowdan wrote: »

First... aren't you in Scotland? Want to view a job in Lenzie?

Thanks for the suggestion, but it is too far for me to travel.

27cool

I had a gable end tile hung earlier this year. I said I would be quite happy to pay for the materials when they arrived. Also for the scaffolding which was required before the work could start. I paid this by direct transfer and both sides were quite happy. I certainly would not have paid before the materials were on site.
However, he did seem to be someone that I could trust. We were both very open with each other. It was a very painless operation.

alumende27

Thank you for all the comments. I was not aware that replacing a section of sewer pipe needed building control, so that's useful to know. I don't really understand the issue with using the check a trade style websites either. I've used it to find people in the past for various jobs and they've all been fine, but then they didn't ask for a deposit up front.

My carpenter has mentioned that he's had a few dodgy customers in the past and I did jokingly suggest to him that there needed to be some sort of check-a-client website.

I'd have no problem showing my credit rating to a tradesman if they felt I didn't have the the money to pay for a job, but I'd certainly expect to be able to see their liability insurance or any other certification or anything else relevant to the job at hand without demanding something in return.

In response to the comment about paying for materials on the day, what I meant was I'd be happy to pay for the materials as they were bought and delivered to site once work has commenced. That is entirely different from giving money to someone a week in advance before they've even turned up. And why not mention it when he came to site to prepare the quote, or when he gave me the quote?

I suspect he probably didn't want to do the job. When I emailed him last night to say that I was disinclined to pay a large deposit up front and would rather cancel the job he replied to say that was absolutely fine and he would remove it from his diary.

All I wanted to know was if it is normal to pay 40% up front for a relatively small job given that I have never previously been asked to pay up front for any work costing many times more than asked for in this case. The answers have been helpful. In future, I shall endeavour to find someone based on a personal recommendation.

Mr_Poves

dsdhall wrote: »

Thank you for all the comments. I was not aware that replacing a section of sewer pipe needed building control, so that's useful to know. I don't really understand the issue with using the check a trade style websites either. I've used it to find people in the past for various jobs and they've all been fine, but then they didn't ask for a deposit up front.

My carpenter has mentioned that he's had a few dodgy customers in the past and I did jokingly suggest to him that there needed to be some sort of check-a-client website.

I'd have no problem showing my credit rating to a tradesman if they felt I didn't have the the money to pay for a job, but I'd certainly expect to be able to see their liability insurance or any other certification or anything else relevant to the job at hand without demanding something in return.

In response to the comment about paying for materials on the day, what I meant was I'd be happy to pay for the materials as they were bought and delivered to site once work has commenced. That is entirely different from giving money to someone a week in advance before they've even turned up. And why not mention it when he came to site to prepare the quote, or when he gave me the quote?

I suspect he probably didn't want to do the job. When I emailed him last night to say that I was disinclined to pay a large deposit up front and would rather cancel the job he replied to say that was absolutely fine and he would remove it from his diary.

All I wanted to know was if it is normal to pay 40% up front for a relatively small job given that I have never previously been asked to pay up front for any work costing many times more than asked for in this case. The answers have been helpful. In future, I shall endeavour to find someone based on a personal recommendation.

I think the issue here is . most people are used to reading the horror stories on these boards regarding rogue tradesmen running off with thousands and thousands never to be seen again , in reality for every "dodgy" tradesman there are hundreds of reliable and honest ones .
People only come on here to moan and whinge about the bad ones , never telling us about the good ones .
I don't think it's a case of how good your credit file is , it's more a case of "is this customer gonna rip me off or not "
As I mentioned it really rings an alarm bell when someone is unwilling to pay a deposit , and sets my head thinking , well are they going to start picking and finding non existent faults and refusing to pay , it really is a sign of the times I'm afraid .
And his removing the job from his diary , I had nearly the exact same text message conversation a few month's back , and I removed the job from my diary , to me it was no loss as I'm always busy , just looked at it as a potential saving .