Slightly time sensitive so posting here for traffic.
We're due to start work on our single-storey extension tomorrow, knocking through to get a bigger open-plan kitchen / diner, and I suspect the builder we've hired might be pulling a fast one.
We hired him as his prices were a bit more reasonable than the other quotes we'd had, and he seemed competent. It turns out that he subcontracts the building work to someone else, and just project manages. Which I'm fine with, in principle. We paid him a 20% deposit. However, he's just called and said we have a problem...
He (PM) paid a large deposit to Builder A to start work tomorrow. Builder A has done a runner gone back to his home country for a month so is now not available, so PM has found another guy who he's worked with before (Builder B) who can do the job for a bit more money. PM says that he is willing to swallow the difference between the two prices so that we only pay the amount on the PM contract, HOWEVER, Builder B needs a deposit of £15K if he's to start work tomorrow. PM can only cover £8K of it, so we'd need to pay the remaining £7K if we want the work to go ahead. The overall amount we agreed with PM would stay as is.
So... do we pay him another £7K on top of the £20K+ deposit we've already paid, which has apparently gone AWOL, and just trust that the rest of the process will go smoothly? We have a small contingency but this is basically our life savings we're talking about here. If someone else told me this story I'd probably have advised them to cut their losses and just ask for their deposit back (although if he's having cash flow problems it doesn't seem like he's in a position to give us that either).
In the meantime, the house is in chaos as we've had to clear everything out ready for demolition tomorrow.
What would you do??
(Also, yes I know it's ridiculous London prices etc etc, that can't really be helped, unfortunately 
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