Is this normal? Electrician wants payment in advance.

[SomethingNastyInTheBallPool]

Our electrics keep tripping, so we decided to get an electrician in to see what might be causing the problem.
DP found a company with good reviews on TrustPilot, but they want payment in advance.

Is this a thing now? I can understand paying a deposit, but we’ve never paid the whole amount before the job is completed (or before we’ve even met the tradesperson!)

It’s not a huge amount - £100 - but it feels like the sort of thing you’re always warned not to do…

My husband is an electrician' completes job then bills them. For a rewire he would ask for a percentage up front. HTH

No way. Don't do that!

I wouldn't pay beforehand. Paying for materials, yes. Paying for labour, no way. Did they say why you needed to pay first?

We had this recently with a plumber. I said no, as there's no guarantee he'd even turn up!

Had to wait a while for someone else but got there eventually.

For a big job like that, you would normally do progress payments - some at the start, some in the middle, the rest at the end. Have they given you a proposal yet with terms?

For a big job like that, you would normally do progress payments

It's £100? It sounds like an exploratory visit so maybe they do charge. I just paid £900 upfront for a new shower to be installed.

£100 is too little for that. Are you sure that’s not just the call out charge?

Nope, fell for that before and never again. Find someone else. Our builder has good Trust Pilot etc reviews yet he's a sheister

Nope it's not a big job so I'd be expecting to pay afterwards

We were asked to pay in advance for a plumber. Did a quick check and it turned out he was bankrupt.

Never pay in advance. They vanish and you’ll never see the cash again.

Thanks, everyone. The £100 is for a preliminary survey - it doesn’t include any remedial work.

Sounds like this isn’t normal, and is quite possibly dodgy.

Not a chance I’d be doing that!

It’s quite normal especially if they’ve got an office with staff to pay. Think of the loss the trades make when they turn up and customers aren’t in or they can’t gain access.

If it’s normal, how come I’ve never come across it before? Wondering if things have changed either because
of the cost of living crisis or the pandemic.

It is not normal in my experience, no.

I think if it’s basically the call-out charge (preliminary survey = diagnosing problem) then yes, it could be reasonable. It’s to stop you getting the info & cost for the main job and deciding you aren’t bothered.

How does paying beforehand stop me from getting the info about the main job and deciding I want someone else to do it?

There are many things I’ve never come across in life which are perfectly normal to others.

@froufroulala word for word what my oh said too.

@BluesDad But I’m pretty old, and I’ve had lots of work done by plumbers, electricians, builders, and I’ve only ever paid up front for materials.

No. I had a new roof recently and they billed me the whole amount on completion. But I guess they knew I am the owner, so can't do a midnight flit.

The last time my boiler needed replacing I paid half up front for the new boiler. But not the whole amount.

I paid a third upfront but was having a new consumer unit.

We had to pay when the insurance sent someone out to find the source of a leak. The cost of the survey was charged to us as the fault was not covered by insurance.

That feels a bit different, @OneFrenchEgg , assuming you paid the insurance company and not some random plumber you found on the internet.