Roofer wants 50% money upfront

[NimbleBee]

Been quoted 3k for some one to come and fix my roof. The man wants 50% of the money upfront before any work even starts.
Is this right as I don't feel comfortable giving money. I have always give money once job is completed.

Id say it depends. Do your research. Some small businesses ask upfront to pay for materials. Now some, like DH do have accounts (not a roofer) to pay for materials but chasing for payment from a customer can be a nightmare. What are they meant to do if they pay upfront for material costs and a customer doesn't pay for months, it happens. It can be a double edged sword and we go by how big the job/ cost of materials are.

If they are reputable I wouldn't have an issue but there are some bad ones out there who do take the proverbial.

You could always ask to pay some on a CC to make sure you are covered. Or ask to pay say 25% upfront, 25% when half way and the rest on completion.

what do the t&c or your contract say?

many do 3 payments like a third upfront, a third after work started and a third after completion.

last builder we opened an account with the merchant and paid materials directly and the builder on first and last day.

I thin it's no unusual to ask for materials costs upfront as otherwise they are left out of pocket if oyu cancel at hte last imnute and they've already ordered everything. I'd hope for a breakdown of materials costs though rather than an arbitrary 50%.

I certainly wouldn't pay anything upfront by bank transfer though as you have zero protections. I'd insist on using a card of some description (preferably a credit card but a debit card is better than nothing).

This. The tradesmen in our family always invoice after. They use their supplier accounts to get materials beforehand.

My husband is a plasterer/renderer. A good one, he doesn’t rip anyone off and is really reasonable but yes he asks for materials up front if it’s a big job.
We don’t have 2k lying around to buy someone’s render for them.
Labour is paid on completion or if a job is going on for a while he comes to an agreement with a customer to take draws off the job at certain intervals.
He’s rendering a big detached house at the moment it will take 6 weeks and I can’t really pay all the bills by myself while he waits until the end of the job to be paid.

And always take a photo of their number plate.

Exactly. I did once go to a supplier and pay direct for a new gas boiler but I’ve never paid a penny upfront and the builder who did my kitchen told me off for paying him before he’d finished the job.

My DH was a self employed bathroom installer, he always asked for 50% deposit on day of commencement, balance on completion. In his 40 odd years working, only a handful said they were unhappy doing this. I would say that most of his work was on recommendation of previous clients or through a showroom.

If I hadn't used the tradesman before I definitely wouldn't pay upfront.

But just had some work done by trades I have used for years, and paid 50% on day 2 to cover materials, machine hire and waste disposal.

Half for the materials then rest on completion. That is often the norm with roofers, plumbers etc. they wouldn't exactly just have all the tiles etc knocking about waiting o be used, so it's fair they need to buy in a bunch of stuff. They may also need to get a subbie/young lad as an assistant.
If you really have a bad feeling about this because of the demeanour of the roofers then maybe you should go elsewhere. As it sounds like you've little faith in them. But most others would ask something similar.

They use their supplier accounts to get materials beforehand.

We have supplier accounts, but if someone backs out of a job after the materials and parts have been ordered, or simply don’t pay on completion of the job, we’ve still got to pay our suppliers.

We can usually use parts on other jobs or send stuff back, but if it’s something made to order we won’t get refunded by our supplier. If it’s something specific that we wouldn’t usually hold in stock, we don’t want to be paying out for something that would be sitting around unused and losing value for years.

We don’t start, or order anything in, without a deposit.

No never. Friend of mine lost over £50k paying a tradesman up front for extension, then they went bust.
Offer 5 or 10% and they can take it or leave it.

My DD had a massive extension, she didn’t pay anything upfront, but settled each invoice for materials as soon as they arrived on site.
Never pay upfront!

Their business is not doing v well if they can't afford to buy materials upfront

I wouldn't just pay upfront, but if they ordered materials I would have them delivered to our property and pay the invoice for them directly.
Or buy them myself.

For example when we had our roof done the roofer sourced the extra slates from a reclamation place and then I rang them up and ordered, and went to collect them and paid the reclamation place directly.

There is a fb group called nightmare customers and non payers. It exists for a reason. Not saying you would be one, but soooo many trades person's I know have been ripped off or had to drag the customers through the courts to be paid.

We take 50% before starting the job for materials.

Or they’ve been stung in the past by non-paying customers so now won’t book jobs/order materials without deposits.

Or they're busy enough they’re happy to lose customers who don’t want to pay deposits.

Did the roofer come recommended?
Check him out is the first thing.

If your roofer needs help paying for materials, he gets a quote for you, you call the wholesaler and you pay for them to be delivered to your house.

They never belong to the contractor.

I had my whole roof replaced in 2021. I paid an invoice each week for the work completed until it was all finished and the scaffolding removed..

This. We had a company do repairs who wanted money to buy supplies, they did a crap job and actually caused damage.

Conversely, when we bit the bullet and had the whole roof done for £11k, the genuine, skilled roofer didn’t ask for a penny until completion.

I’ve done numerous house renovations over 25 years. I have never paid upfront. As other posters have pointed out, these trades people will have supplier accounts with long payment terms so will not be out of pocket. I have once gone to a supplier to pay directly for radiators that were expensive as my plumber didn’t want that amount on his account, but you can then see the delivery address. I would seriously reconsider using him.

I did this once (with a roofer too!). He cut off all communication as soon as he had the money. Never again.

If you do pay upfront I strongly recommend a credit card.

Hubby and I are in trade and personally, we don't ask for any money up front. However lots of tradespeople do so they can buy materials. It's not unusual. We offer to buy the materials and give an invoice at the end of the job or the customer buys them themselves.