Learning to walk before I run

Karmacat

25% upfront is normal round here ... I can understand that a builder's put a high % on if they haven't done it before.  I hope it all works out!

edinburgher

I find it very hard to trust people, especially contractors.

After receiving an invoice yesterday evening, the builder sent me his T&Cs this morning, followed by a request to pay the deposit today a few hours after the second email because he is going on holiday in the afternoon. I pointed out that his own T&Cs mentioned a deposit 48 hours prior to starting work, which this was not. I know this makes him sound like a horror, but he has been mentioning the holiday for two months and actually delayed the start of our job by 3 weeks because of it.

He mentioned the fact that he had to pay the stair manufacturer before leaving and this seems perfectly reasonable. He had also mentioned the need to pair the stair manufacturer in advance previously. The stair manufacturer must be a good bluffer if he is also a con artist, as he managed to convince our architect to change the stair plans. I then asked the builder how much the stair cost, he claimed £7,500. Now this also set little alarm bells ringing, as we'd previously had a stair quote that was closer to £5,000. My best guess is that either his stair guy is too expensive, or builder is running thin margins and added on a couple £,£££ to cover himself for the first few days of materials? Either way, I'm not massively concerned as the overall price quoted was fair, even if stair has cost too much. So we ended up paying just over 20% of the cost today, with the rest to follow just before the job starts.

Before transferring any money, I went over the steps whereby we'd first contacted him, checked his online feedback and remembered the fact that he has a branded van and his mug all over FB. So if nothing else, he should be easy to track down if he makes a run for it

Now I am hoping and praying that everything goes smoothly and that builder is just a) a bit !!!!!! at admin and b) not quite used to asking people for money in a timely fashion, but you can see why my trust levels are not at an all time high. I'll know by the 18th whether I've engaged a builder or have been bilked

If we ever a larger project, I would probably insist on a JCT contract and pay an architect or surveyor to manage it. If we are bilked I'll just buy a newbuild house next time... Or as Mrs E helpfully reminded me, SBCC (I still think JCT would be fine).

Cheery_Daff

Fingers crossed, I reckon you'll be fine and he's just rubbish at admin and wants a bit of something in the bank before his holidays! 🙄

savingholmes

Did you pay it on a credit card for the protection?

edinburgher

savingholmes said:

Did you pay it on a credit card for the protection?

I've never met a builder in my puff who took credit cards? Seems to be localised to MFW

Cheery_Daff

Our builder didn't take credit cards either, nor any of the other traders, or the geezers who made the kitchen! Bit annoying really as I had 5% cashback on mine for a few months and it would have been quite lucrative 😂

Suffolk_lass

Fingers crossed for you - I'm sure your due diligence on securing your builder will stand you in good stead

edinburgher

A spendy day. After 4 days of strict dieting (I lost 5.5lbs), I had a bit of a break. I took the family for a big cooked breakfast at a fancy cafe favourite, 2 doughnuts, some crisps and a single whisky and Coke (across the day, not all for breakfast)! Back to starvation rations tomorrow.

£7.44 paid into my SIPP (£9.30 after tax relief)

savingholmes

Wow at losing 5.5lbs in 4 days! Not surprised you wanted a break. Starvation rations doesn't sound healthy. Are you at least choosing nutritious, tasty food?

I am doing SW - and experimenting with time restricted eating to to reduce my food intake and improve its quality...

edinburgher

I am not sure the food would qualify as nutritious. VLC (for example, I was 6,500 calories below my maintenance calories since Monday), high protein, relatively low fat, very low carbs. I need to try and include veg, this week was basically eggs, chicken, turkey, protein shakes and a bit of bolognese (no spag). I do take a daily multivitamin, an electrolyte tablet, turmeric for inflammation and at least 3l of water. Plus espresso, lots of espresso.

I am a feast or famine sort of guy and while I realise that very strict dieting is probably as disorded as overeating, the former actually helps me to address the latter. Can't really do emotional eating when you're allowed 1,100 calories for the day.

My energy levels have actually been quite good compared to other attempts at VLC dieting, I think getting a bit of fat and the fact that I'm not trying to eat at Fast 800 levels or the like gets me over the hump. I am very unhappy about my weight, was mocked about it throughout primary and secondary school and basically hid since then While I'm definitely a big boy, it still takes me a lot of courage to say go swimming. DD1 is the only factor that really got me past that fear 

Haha - I realise that makes me sound massive. I'm genuinely not, no matter what my BMI says. One of those people who the expression "heavyset" matches to a T.

*Edit: Also on the health front, doctor gave me a precautionary week of antibiotics as my lower back pain is also providing some front pain. Could just as easily be muscular I suspect, but think she wanted to avoid the risk of not treating a potential infection until labs come back on a sample.