Cancelling a workman

Penguin_

Given the soaring price of materials for builders & plasterers alike, I think it has become the norm for them to ask for some payment up front. We've recently had work done & they gave us the quote including materials & labour & asked for 50% up front which we were happy to do.

At the end of the day, they are self employed & if they have turned work down to accomodate you, they now have no income for the date(s) they should have been working for you.

FlorayG

If you had not given him the advance payment he probably knew you were going to cancel; after all he couldn't start the job without the materials. I would have given him more notice than one day though that's a bit unfair
I do pay up for materials in advance but only with people who have worked for me before. A friend of mine gave £5,000 up front to a stranger, the work was done but it was awfully shoddy

noitsnotme

I have never been asked to pay anything up front by any trades person in 30 years of property ownership.  I wonder if some areas of the country have more untrustworthy customers than others?

user1977

I suppose it depends what these "materials" are - fair enough if they're specific to one job, less so if they're just normal plaster etc usable for any other work. Plus aren't suppliers are likely to be offering credit terms and/or allow returns of unused items?

Tucosalamanca

user1977 said:

Plus aren't suppliers are likely to be offering credit terms and/or allow returns of unused items?

Most suppliers won't be offering credit to small business and often charge a prohibitively high restocking charge (10-30%). 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Comments on this thread are bizarre. 

A 25kg bag of multi finish is a tenner for you and I, Check a Trade says £300 a day for a plasterer and a take home pay after business costs (vehicle, tools, insurance, fuel etc) and tax of £37k, if a plasterer can't afford the materials they are doing something wrong. Granted that varies, particularly by region, but the principle is the same. 

That said a small payment up front (i.e a genuine deposit) to prevent a customer cancelling is wise.

A decent plasterer should be well booked with many people happy to jump on a last minute cancellation. Last time we needed one (that we've used before) the wait was 6 months. 

If OP's contract was off-premises they have the right to cancel regardless of the problems it causes the trader. 

Tucosalamanca said:

Most suppliers won't be offering credit to small business and often charge a prohibitively high restocking charge (10-30%). 

Restocking fees are high but I don't see any reason a builder's merchant won't give someone a line of credit, a credit check would give enough assurance for a couple of grand. 

Tucosalamanca

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Tucosalamanca said:

Most suppliers won't be offering credit to small business and often charge a prohibitively high restocking charge (10-30%). 

Restocking fees are high but I don't see any reason a builder's merchant won't give someone a line of credit, a credit check would give enough assurance for a couple of grand. 

Because there's not enough margin to cover the administration and risk.
Even with a modest 2k limit, give 100 trades 30 day credit and the business has a £200k exposure that needs to be covered. Simply not practical and even a handful of late payers would quickly affect profitability and cashflow.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Tucosalamanca said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Tucosalamanca said:

Most suppliers won't be offering credit to small business and often charge a prohibitively high restocking charge (10-30%). 

Restocking fees are high but I don't see any reason a builder's merchant won't give someone a line of credit, a credit check would give enough assurance for a couple of grand. 

Because there's not enough margin to cover the administration and risk.
Even with a modest 2k limit, give 100 trades 30 day credit and the business has a £200k exposure that needs to be covered. Simply not practical and even a handful of late payers would quickly affect profitability and cashflow.

https://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/tradextra?utm_source=Homepage&utm_medium=Primary+Banner&utm_campaign=TradeXtra

Had an email the other day, up to 10k instant credit, I buy from them twice a year, usually less than £60 a time (and my purchases have nothing to do with trade, it's just a mass email to anyone subscribed for emails). 

Travis Perkins has £5 billion in annual turnover, the £200k you mention wouldn't even buy 2 of their local delivery lorries for a branch. Huws Grey, 1.4 billion turnover. 

Even Toolstation offers 60 days credit on trade accounts and whilst they are big they have a lot of customers, B&Q do the same via Trade Point with 60 days credit. 

I find it extremely hard to believe a small trader can not get credit.  

sheramber

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Tucosalamanca said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Tucosalamanca said:

Most suppliers won't be offering credit to small business and often charge a prohibitively high restocking charge (10-30%). 

Restocking fees are high but I don't see any reason a builder's merchant won't give someone a line of credit, a credit check would give enough assurance for a couple of grand. 

Because there's not enough margin to cover the administration and risk.
Even with a modest 2k limit, give 100 trades 30 day credit and the business has a £200k exposure that needs to be covered. Simply not practical and even a handful of late payers would quickly affect profitability and cashflow.

https://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/tradextra?utm_source=Homepage&utm_medium=Primary+Banner&utm_campaign=TradeXtra

Had an email the other day, up to 10k instant credit, I buy from them twice a year, usually less than £60 a time (and my purchases have nothing to do with trade, it's just a mass email to anyone subscribed for emails). 

Travis Perkins has £5 billion in annual turnover, the £200k you mention wouldn't even buy 2 of their local delivery lorries for a branch. Huws Grey, 1.4 billion turnover. 

Even Toolstation offers 60 days credit on trade accounts and whilst they are big they have a lot of customers, B&Q do the same via Trade Point with 60 days credit. 

I find it extremely hard to believe a small trader can not get credit.  

Being offered doesn't mean it would be granted.

Kim_13

sheramber said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Tucosalamanca said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Tucosalamanca said:

Most suppliers won't be offering credit to small business and often charge a prohibitively high restocking charge (10-30%). 

Restocking fees are high but I don't see any reason a builder's merchant won't give someone a line of credit, a credit check would give enough assurance for a couple of grand. 

Because there's not enough margin to cover the administration and risk.
Even with a modest 2k limit, give 100 trades 30 day credit and the business has a £200k exposure that needs to be covered. Simply not practical and even a handful of late payers would quickly affect profitability and cashflow.

https://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/tradextra?utm_source=Homepage&utm_medium=Primary+Banner&utm_campaign=TradeXtra

Had an email the other day, up to 10k instant credit, I buy from them twice a year, usually less than £60 a time (and my purchases have nothing to do with trade, it's just a mass email to anyone subscribed for emails). 

Travis Perkins has £5 billion in annual turnover, the £200k you mention wouldn't even buy 2 of their local delivery lorries for a branch. Huws Grey, 1.4 billion turnover. 

Even Toolstation offers 60 days credit on trade accounts and whilst they are big they have a lot of customers, B&Q do the same via Trade Point with 60 days credit. 

I find it extremely hard to believe a small trader can not get credit.  

Being offered doesn't mean it would be granted.

It doesn’t, but if the trader has a reasonable credit history, they should be able to get some, even if not £10K. Being asked to pay upfront is not a problem if the trader will take a card, but often they won’t. Not even a debit card that gives the customer the lesser protection vs a credit card. 

With that said this just looks like a mess. If the trader required payment for materials upfront, he should have said this when he gave the quote and he would have avoided this situation. He may invoice for the late cancellation reflecting the loss of earnings and take it further if not paid. In that event you could attempt to come to a compromise or defend a claim, e.g. if the requirement for materials upfront was not in a copy of Ts and Cs made available for you before you booked.

If he was upfront about his requirements and you booked anyway thinking that you could think it over/get a trader without such a requirement, then that is not OK. The time to do this is before booking someone.