Unfinished floor

MrsThames

Hi all,

I’m after some advice about how long I should realistically wait for a tradesman to finish a job, and whether I should be concerned about payment requests before completion.

Background:

• Agreed price: £617 to fit 5.5 square meters of parquet LVT

  • £417 paid upfront for materials

  • £200 to be paid on completion

• Quoted timescale to complete job: no more than 1 day

Timeline so far:

• Job started late due to delays with materials.

• Thursday: He laid plywood and screed, then asked for an extra £100 for staff. I politely refused, saying I would prefer to pay when the job was completed.

• Friday: He came back but ran out of flooring (14 pieces short) and 4 door trims. At that point he asked me to pay the remaining £200, and just hold back £20 until trims were done. Again, I politely said I’d prefer to pay once the job was fully finished.

• Saturday: He messaged saying he couldn’t get more flooring until Monday.

• Monday: Said the box of flooring would arrive “within the hour” at the warehouse, but he never turned up.

• Tuesday: Said it would be in before 12, I replied asking him to let me know once he’d collected it so we could arrange a time. Since then, I’ve heard nothing further.

Current situation (2 Sept):

• Job is incomplete.

• Communication has been inconsistent, with repeated delays.

• He has asked for additional/early payments more than once.

My questions are:

• How long should I keep waiting before drawing a line under this?

• Should I continue holding firm on only paying once the job is completed, given he’s already had £417 for materials?

• I have a floor that is almost complete, 14 pieces short3, door trims short and a stair nosing short  

Thanks in advance for any advice, I don’t want to be unfair if he’s genuinely waiting on supplies, but the delays and requests for payment before completion are starting to worry me.