Joiner or me being unreasonable?

lunagirl_2

Hi looking for some honest advice. 
Recently had some joinery work completed in my house with cost agreed of £2800. Joiner has finished all his work except some small outstanding actions:
Remove all rubbish material from my back garden. 
Fit 2 x internal wardrobe doors (which have to be ordered)
Adjust size of internal bedroom doors following carpet fitting. 

Plan was he would return when carpets were laid, complete the small jobs and that would be it. I stated I would pay him £2400 just now and the remaining £400 when the other work is finished. He is now stating that I am being completely unreasonable and is demanding full pay before he finishes the work or orders the internal doors. To me this sounds unfair as why should I pay him in full for work outstanding?
Am I missing something here? Advice appreciated!! 

[Deleted User]

 No he's being unreasonable in my opinion. He hasn't finished so I wouldn't pay him. 

warby68

Unfortunately in my experience of trades, once you've paid in full it is nigh on impossible to get them back to finish any bits and bobs outstanding because you then always drop to the bottom of the queue behind new work with money still to draw. Sorry to any tradespeople who don't do this but it is my experience. Your offer sounds reasonable assuming its not contradicted in any agreement you have - if payment terms aren't in a contract/agreement there is no reason why you couldn't wait until the work is completed in full before paying. I'd stay quite firm - possibly pay for the doors once they arrive with you. You might fall out and never get the joiner back but at least you will have a couple of hundred left to pay for someone else to do it. 

MoneySeeker1

He won't be back for the rest of the work if you pay him for it now. Hold onto the rest of the money until he has done the rest of the work.

Just had a quick check and, from your name, I'm guessing you're a young woman. Prime rip-off territory by workmen not wanting to finish a job off properly, so stand your ground.

lunagirl_2

Young ish! That's what I thought, chance of him coming back to finish off the work would be tiny so I really don't think I'm being unfair.
Thanks for your help, just wanted a sense check. 

Clive_Woody

Let him know that he has 14 days to complete the agreed work or you will have to find someone else to this and will deduct their bill from the total amount agreed before paying him. No way should you pay in full before the job is finished. Your payment proposal sounds very reasonable. I suggest doing all of this in writing in case he tries to take you to court later and forgets what was discussed. Do not be pressured into paying.

Undervalued

lunagirl_2 said:

Hi looking for some honest advice. 
Recently had some joinery work completed in my house with cost agreed of £2800. Joiner has finished all his work except some small outstanding actions:
Remove all rubbish material from my back garden. 
Fit 2 x internal wardrobe doors (which have to be ordered)
Adjust size of internal bedroom doors following carpet fitting. 

Plan was he would return when carpets were laid, complete the small jobs and that would be it. I stated I would pay him £2400 just now and the remaining £400 when the other work is finished. He is now stating that I am being completely unreasonable and is demanding full pay before he finishes the work or orders the internal doors. To me this sounds unfair as why should I pay him in full for work outstanding?
Am I missing something here? Advice appreciated!! 

I think you are being more than reasonable.

The problem is that unless you have a significant amount still "up your sleeve", it is very very difficult to get these people to come back and finish off jobs that are minor to them but important and irritating to you. It will keep being put off until they have a week with no other work on. Which will probably be when you are on holiday!

However, that said, the difficulty will be if the relationship breaks down too much are you going to be happy to have him back to finish off? It is a difficult call and you need to balance whether he has done a decent job so far, would you be likely to want to use him again and how easy (and how expensive) would it be to find somebody else to do the finishing off?