building work- bank transfers

seashore22

DoaM wrote: »

+1 to that. A building company should have a sufficient line of credit with their suppliers to enable them to procure materials and start construction before any payment by the customer is required.

A company wanting a significant up-front payment is one of my "red flags".

Absolutely.

It's one of my red flags too.

meer53

I would never pay this amount of money by cheque or bank transfer. To any company, for anything.

takman

Tom99 wrote: »

Go into a branch of the bank in question and ask them to double check that the account number you have been given belongs to the company you think you are paying. I have done that in the past just to check I have the right details before sending a large sum.

It's a bit pointless wasting time going into the bank and making sure the details are correct. It's much quicker to simply send a small payment as another poster suggested and then confirm that they have received it before sending the full amount.

Even if you do confirm that the account details are correct it has been known for people to then mistype the details when making the payment, a small payment first significantly reduces this risk.

seashore22 wrote: »

If you do decide to go ahead, then I would pay a token amount of £1 to the account and if that is ok then pay the balance.

Obviously this only protects you from making a large payment to the wrong account and does nothing to help if they go bust. It's just a piece of additional advice.

If you want to be extra certain they have received it then i usually send an odd amount like 8p, then you make sure they have actually checked their account by getting them to confirm the amount.

Warwick_Hunt

soolin wrote: »

That isn't my worry at all, this is a proper company , my worry is only losing the money if the company gets into difficulty and goes bust before they do my work.

Anyway, a bank would be in breach of data protection if they told a customer the name of an account associated with a bank sort code and account number.

They've already been around for 22 years.

Lomast

Quite normal in my experience for builders not to have any card facilities

soolin

Warwick_Hunt wrote: »

They've already been around for 22 years.

They are under new management now but same name and same premises. I don't think that this 'set up' has been around for 22 years- and the previous set up accepted debit cards which is why I didn't check this time.

I'll see what the other companies come back with re quotes and make a decision then.

pinkshoes

I paid a builder by bank transfer but it was a 10% deposit and the rest upon completion of the job.

It was *only* £3k but i did a lot of research checking they were genuine e.g not a wife/child listed as a director.

flyer

I do all the commercial work for a small builder and we NEVER take money up front. Why would a reputable builder ask for it? It would suggest to me poor cash flow, which would be a good reason to avoid them!

eddddy

flyer wrote: »

Why would a reputable builder ask for it? It would suggest to me poor cash flow, which would be a good reason to avoid them!

I'm not sure I totally agree.

Soolin is not sure about trusting the builder. It's quite possible that the builder is not sure about trusting Soolin.

The builder will be ordering materials, turning down other jobs, and eventually starting work on Soolin's house.

• What if Soolin cancels the day before the job is due to start? The builder will have bought materials and will still have to pay his people.

• What if the builder does some/all of the job, then finds that Soolin has duped him and has no money to pay him?

It's a matter of finding a compromise - so that both sides have some level of protection.

With some tradesmen I've used, they asked for a deposit for the first job they did for me. But once they 'know' me, and they know I pay on time etc, they stop asking for deposits.

soolin

eddddy wrote: »

I'm not sure I totally agree.

Soolin is not sure about trusting the builder. It's quite possible that the builder is not sure about trusting Soolin.

The builder will be ordering materials, turning down other jobs, and eventually starting work on Soolin's house.

• What if Soolin cancels the day before the job is due to start? The builder will have bought materials and will still have to pay his people.

• What if the builder does some/all of the job, then finds that Soolin has duped him and has no money to pay him?

It's a matter of finding a compromise - so that both sides have some level of protection.

With some tradesmen I've used, they asked for a deposit for the first job they did for me. But once they 'know' me, and they know I pay on time etc, they stop asking for deposits.

I am more than happy to pay the deposit as requested, it might be higher than industry standard especially as the work is likely to be delayed. I am not however prepared to effectively hand over cash with absolutely no comeback in this time of recession where companies are unfortunately going bust all the time. I do not want to be one of those people who is back here in a few months time asking how I get my money back as I gave someone 3k and they have called in the receivers.

As an update, I have done a bit of digging. The company as I last used it was dissolved about 5 years ago and they are now a private limited company, with the same name (one slight difference to make it a new company). Husband and wife as directors and company secretary, no other directors showing at all. They are filing accounts though which is good.