Paying builder to renovate new bathroom

somethingcorporate

He's the professional - you should not be drawing up the contract.

The fact he wants 50% upfront (even after agreeing to your demands) would make me very wary over what kind of an individual he is.

Cloth_of_Gold

animalhouse wrote: »

Thank you all. The builder is doing the plumbing (he was a plumber but moved into general work also) and removal and installation, he has a plasterer/tiler and electrician doing the other works. I've told him I'll pay £500 up front and then 50% of the remainer at the half way point and the rest at the end of the job when everything is finished and signed off.
I'm trying to pin him down on the quote so I can draw up a contract. if I can't then the job is off.

In my experience from my current project, tradesmen are very difficult to pin down and are very poor at admin and communication. I don't have a contact for the current work because I don't think the company I'm using does them. It's a risk but it took so long to find someone to do the work I just accepted it. One of my friends who has had an awful lot of work done in two different houses told me that a lot of the time he doesn't get a contract. Obviously it's better if you can but unless you're using a large company I don't think most tradesmen have that level of administrative professionalism.

I don't know which part of the country you are in but the figure he has given you seems quite low. I'm paying that and am not replacing the bath or loo and another company is doing the flooring. I had 3 other estimates and two were quite a bit more than the one I went with.

Has he given you an estimate or a quote? He will have to stick to a quote but an estimate is just that and the final cost can be more. I would imagine it is an estimate as it's unlikely that someone would give a quote other than for a very small job. Just be aware that the cost could rise if the works take longer than expected or they find problems.