Plasterer wanting 30% payment up front?

rainbow_fountains

I had a quote from a plasterer to skim the artex ceilings in our 3 bed and do some work on the kitchen wall (remove tiles and skim), quote was £1100 which seems reasonable I think.

There are a few potential red flags though, first was he said the price is “£1100 if you want an invoice or £1000 in cash wink wink” which I’m not that comfortable with, I also can’t find him on gov’s company house. He has a website, email and Facebook but the only place I was able to find his last name and address was in the yellow pages, online he goes by his first name and mobile number, no landline and his email address is a generic one not a professional one, same for website. His texts aren’t very professional, lots of “chat speak” and spelling mistakes but I don’t want to judge because not everyone is great with spelling. It sounds like he’s available fairly quickly, which is usually a bad sign but then again this is a small job he could fit around other jobs so not that surprising.

During his visit he mentioned we’d need to pay for materials, either he can supply or he can send a list of what he needs and we can buy it from Wickes - I’m fine with this arrangement. But this evening when he text me the materials list he also said he needs a 30% payment upfront to book the job in. I’m happy to pay for materials upfront but I was surprised to be asked for a 30% deposit on top. We’ve just had our bathroom remodelled and plastering and coving in another room and neither of those tradesmen asked for upfront payment and they provided invoices, were on company’s house etc.

I was also a little worried about the time frames, if there are any professional plasterers here maybe you can help - last time we had an artex ceiling skimmed it was a 2 day job. Day 1 was covering the ceiling in adhesive and letting it partially dry, day 2 was the plastering. This plasterer says he can do it all one 1 day - but does that give enough time for the adhesive to set? 

Overall does this whole thing sound dodgy? Should I move on and find someone else or am I just being paranoid?

Monsternextdoor

Depends if he has been let down in the past. 

I personally have no problems with paying tradesmen partially up front to do a job as the materials, petrol etc are not free.

what type of ceiling did you have done last time ? What time of year did it ? effect the drying time ?

How big are the rooms ? 

How thick is the skim ? 

Loads of stuff that could affect his price and working - Ive had a whole 3 bed house skimmed and that included a glossed ceiling bonded out and done in 2 1/2 days both walls and ceilings and that cost £4000, I dont think the price is too bad if I am honest.

rainbow_fountains

Monsternextdoor said:

Depends if he has been let down in the past. 

I personally have no problems with paying tradesmen partially up front to do a job as the materials, petrol etc are not free.

what type of ceiling did you have done last time ? What time of year did it ? effect the drying time ?

How big are the rooms ? 

How thick is the skim ? 

Loads of stuff that could affect his price and working - Ive had a whole 3 bed house skimmed and that included a glossed ceiling bonded out and done in 2 1/2 days both walls and ceilings and that cost £4000, I dont think the price is too bad if I am honest.

Thanks, last ceiling we had done was in May, we were having our bathroom renovated and while they were here I asked if they’d do the living room ceiling and coving at the same time, they agreed. I did get back in touch with them to ask about the other rooms but they have no availability til October hence why I’m looking for new tradesmen. It’s a fairly thin skim, the artex isn’t that thick and is quite flat, it’s not that horrible spikey sort or the sea shells sort. House was built in late 90s, fairly standard build. Room sizes vary, the largest is 3.5x2.5m, 3 bedrooms, 1 kitchen, 2 small landing/hallway and downstairs loo. 

We’re happy with the quote, think it’s perfectly reasonable, just nervous sending £300+ bank transfer upfront in case he does a runner (especially if he wants it at booking stage and job is a month away), doesn’t sound like much but when you’re a FTB who’s only recently moved it is. I’d feel more comfortable if I could find him registered on company’s house but I’ve got no idea how it works with sole tradesmen and whether they need to be registered or not.

it did cross my mind he might have been stung in the past, he did ask why I wasn’t getting the last tradesmen back in to do the job, I explained why but for all he knows I could have stiffed them. Happy to show him their paid invoices though if needs be.

Monsternextdoor

rainbow_fountains said:

Monsternextdoor said:

Depends if he has been let down in the past. 

I personally have no problems with paying tradesmen partially up front to do a job as the materials, petrol etc are not free.

what type of ceiling did you have done last time ? What time of year did it ? effect the drying time ?

How big are the rooms ? 

How thick is the skim ? 

Loads of stuff that could affect his price and working - Ive had a whole 3 bed house skimmed and that included a glossed ceiling bonded out and done in 2 1/2 days both walls and ceilings and that cost £4000, I dont think the price is too bad if I am honest.

Thanks, last ceiling we had done was in May, we were having our bathroom renovated and while they were here I asked if they’d do the living room ceiling and coving at the same time, they agreed. I did get back in touch with them to ask about the other rooms but they have no availability til October hence why I’m looking for new tradesmen. It’s a fairly thin skim, the artex isn’t that thick and is quite flat, it’s not that horrible spikey sort or the sea shells sort. Room sizes vary, the largest is 3.5x2.5m, 3 bedrooms, 1 kitchen, 2 small landing/hallway and downstairs loo.

We’re happy with the quote, think it’s perfectly reasonable, just nervous sending £300+ bank transfer upfront in case he does a runner (especially if he wants it at booking stage and job is a month away), doesn’t sound like much but when you’re a FTB who’s only recently moved it is. I’d feel more comfortable if I could find him registered on company’s house but I’ve got no idea how it works with sole tradesmen and whether they need to be registered or not.

Im a FTB as well and I would pay him the cash. 

Just make sure that you mark it as plastering job and address so if there is any comeback its there, police and action fraud can track the bank accounts of scammers.

Offer him a lower deposit if you feel more comfortable. 

FreeBear

On both occasions I have plasterers in to do a job, they have all supplied the materials and were paid after the job was completed. Admittedly, the work was under £500 for each job, but I wouldn't pay a deposit and supply materials.

Having had a plasterer through one of the check-a-trade sites, I'll not go there again - The guy made way too much of a mess, and a couple of areas fell well short of expectations. In general though, the bulk of it was acceptable, but I won't have him back to do any more.

rainbow_fountains

FreeBear said:

On both occasions I have plasterers in to do a job, they have all supplied the materials and were paid after the job was completed. Admittedly, the work was under £500 for each job, but I wouldn't pay a deposit and supply materials.

Having had a plasterer through one of the check-a-trade sites, I'll not go there again - The guy made way too much of a mess, and a couple of areas fell well short of expectations. In general though, the bulk of it was acceptable, but I won't have him back to do any more.

Yes this was the same with the last bit of plastering we had done. Even our bathroom refit which was a bigger job (£4K) they supplied materials and didn’t ask for a deposit up front.

DB1904

Monsternextdoor said:

rainbow_fountains said:

Monsternextdoor said:

Depends if he has been let down in the past. 

I personally have no problems with paying tradesmen partially up front to do a job as the materials, petrol etc are not free.

what type of ceiling did you have done last time ? What time of year did it ? effect the drying time ?

How big are the rooms ? 

How thick is the skim ? 

Loads of stuff that could affect his price and working - Ive had a whole 3 bed house skimmed and that included a glossed ceiling bonded out and done in 2 1/2 days both walls and ceilings and that cost £4000, I dont think the price is too bad if I am honest.

Thanks, last ceiling we had done was in May, we were having our bathroom renovated and while they were here I asked if they’d do the living room ceiling and coving at the same time, they agreed. I did get back in touch with them to ask about the other rooms but they have no availability til October hence why I’m looking for new tradesmen. It’s a fairly thin skim, the artex isn’t that thick and is quite flat, it’s not that horrible spikey sort or the sea shells sort. Room sizes vary, the largest is 3.5x2.5m, 3 bedrooms, 1 kitchen, 2 small landing/hallway and downstairs loo.

We’re happy with the quote, think it’s perfectly reasonable, just nervous sending £300+ bank transfer upfront in case he does a runner (especially if he wants it at booking stage and job is a month away), doesn’t sound like much but when you’re a FTB who’s only recently moved it is. I’d feel more comfortable if I could find him registered on company’s house but I’ve got no idea how it works with sole tradesmen and whether they need to be registered or not.

Im a FTB as well and I would pay him the cash. 

Just make sure that you mark it as plastering job and address so if there is any comeback its there, police and action fraud can track the bank accounts of scammers.

Offer him a lower deposit if you feel more comfortable. 

Nothing there for the police or soon to be disbanded ActionFraud. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

I wouldn't pay 30% of labour up front.

If you aren't comfortable follow your gut and find someone else, or even better wait for the other people in Oct as you know their work will be good  

Astrozombies

I've never taken 2 days to do a ceiling. I'm assuming he used pva. 1 coat watered down then a thicker coat on top then skin when tacky. The only way I can see it being a 2 day job is if he used gypbond/blue grit.
  I've always given the customer the choice of getting the materials simply so they know I'm not trying to add 30 quid on top. 
I've never asked for money up front.

I've been out of plastering for a couple of years now(after 30+years of it) but I believe that British gypsum now say you can't use pva over decorative finishes (artex). If it fails and comes off then they won't cover it as the job isn't done to spec. Might be worth double checking.

Rosa_Damascena

Swerve, swerve, swerve and be grateful for the near miss.

The VAT on £1,000 is £200 btw. So I suppose you could argue this tax dodger would share 50% of the saving with you but the moral vacuum remains.

comeandgo

Only Ltd companies are required to file accounts on Companies  House.  Just because he is not trading as a Ltd company is no reason to not use him.  The requirement of deposit and cash in hand request to me is,