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.

I'll happily pay their supplier direct for any materials up front. But no way am I handing over any money until the work is done.

Dont.
I have been ripped off fit 4k which was 50%. He never started the job let alone finished it.

I work for a building firm and we do roofs. Last year we did a lot of roofs around £45k each. We never ask for money up front unless it’s something bespoke like new windows. With roof jobs we price per elevation and will invoice for the first side once it’s completed before moving onto the next.

This ^^

On a big job I'll gladly pay in stages as the work progesses, but 50% upfront would be a complete no - and that's regardless of if they have hundreds of positive reviews which can too easily be fake

And if folk really want to pay for materials upfront, for pity's sake make sure they're delivered to you and not the tradesperson. At least that way you've still got them if they never show up again

If it's for materials tell him that you will pay for the order. At least then you have them in your possession if he decides to walk off the job.

I would pay for the materials myself and have them delivered to my house so they are mine if he doesn't turn up.

Having said that I know the roofer we would use and I'd trust him 100%

Absolutely not. Any company like this has cash flow or credit problems. They shouldn’t be working hand to mouth. You have no guarantees they won’t pocket the money without any work.

Staged payments I would agree to, based on value of work completed.

My family member is a tradesperson and never takes an upfront payment. However, over 50% of the time when he gets to the end people get funny about paying, tell him they're 'going on holiday', 'the bank is closed', 'my online banking won't work' 🙄 He's way too trusting and gets walked over constantly. I can see it from both sides but I think this tradesperson is in the right. Can you compromise on a smaller amount?

Stage payments entirely appropriate. 50% upfront is surprising! His business entity could shutter and phoenix the next day though you can't easily relocate your home (I know builders have to chase payments). If you want to go ahead with this for some reason such as he is the only tradesman in the world then insist on talking to his last ten clients to see his reliability, do a credit check on him and his business, see his latest business accounts and business and personal bank accounts and have a convincing explanation why he can't get an account from a supplier for materials and even then I wouldn't. Does he pay his workers in advance?

Nothing upfront but 50% when the materials were delivered prior to the work being done.

Tell him you will pay the supplier direct for materials when you see the invoice

Work in this industry. Staged payments are very normal, particularly on any job which requires high value materials.

However, lots of rogue operators about in the roofing sector, so if you have any doubts or concerns about the firm then be cautious.

Likewise, make sure you ask for an invoice detailing exactly what work will be carried out, and obtain a payment receipt. Any good tradesperson should freely provide the former upfront.

When we had our roof replaced, we paid in 3 or 4 instalments, I think. First was when the scaffolding went up. Final payment on completion with 1 or maybe 2 interim payments in-between. We had a similar arrangement for having kitchen and bathroom done.

We had our roof replaced recently. It was done by a small local business. They gave us a written quote and we didn't pay anything upfront.

I work for a trades person (not roofing).

We ask for a 50% upfront payment. It's to buy the materials. The remaining 50% is paid on completion.

There is trust on both sides.

The 50% payment covers the cost of the materials needed. Once they have been fitted they are classed as fixtures and are very difficult to remove again even if the balance payment isn't paid. The second hand value would also be less than what was paid.

The tradesperson is trusting the customer to pay the balance. The customer is trusting the tradesperson to complete the work as agreed.

The 50% deposit also confirms the booking by both parties. No one wants a last minute cancellation when they've set aside a week to do that job and potentially declined other work.

Surely you've met the person, liked them and checked some reviews, credentials etc.

We've never had someone not pay the 50% upfront. If they refused to pay we would decline the job. We've also never not completed the work to a good standard and have therefore never had a problem with a customer paying the balance on completion.

But no deposit, means no materials and therefore no booking.

The roofing firm we used didn't ask for anything upfront, not even for scaffolding or skip.

I’ve done 20 odd renovations. I have never ever paid anything upfront, unless it’s been repeated work from a trusted tradesman. Anyone in the game will have 30 day supplier accounts, so if they don’t, be very, very wary.

Trading Standards Department of your Council give advice on this I think. In general - no its a bad idea.

I've never paid anything upfront in 30 years of having work done with the exception of a jobbing builder who was doing our patio as a job on the side, so didn't have a trade account anywhere. We gave him the money for the paving slabs etc that he ordered. But they were delivered here and we knew where he lived and we're in a small village, so minimal risk.
Around here, it's more usual to have to chase up the bill after the work has been done as you're worried it's gone astray!

Don't part with 50% unless you can pay by credit card. If you can't pay roofer by card can you pay the supplier direct for materials needed and make sure they're delivered to you. No way I'd pay for labour up front.

Same. Roofer arranged scaffolding and skip and paid for both directly, presumably when he got paid.

I hope you obtained several quotes before deciding who to give the job to.

I used to work for a well known builders supply company, to attract tradespeople they would allow them to apply for what they called a 'trade card', in this way they would be able to buy building supplies on credit (same as a store card really) however, if they didn't make regular payments their account would be stopped, their way round it was to ask a new customer give money 'up front' they would then use this to settle their outstanding debts before putting the new customers' supplies on credit, and so on with the next customer, this system worked well until they defaulted on their payments (which often happened) at which point their account would be stopped, so effectively the 'up front payment' would be swallowed up and there was nothing for the customers goods. Sorry for the long winded post but hate to see this happening.

We've part paid in advance tradesmen with their own small business. But check references if you can get any.

We had an electrician years ago we paid in installments, though my DH foolishly paid the last payment when there was a small job left to do. He didn't come back , but DH didn't chase him either, said he'd do it himself.

I recently paid 25%, you could probably negotiate on a deposit but finding a decent roofer is hard so sometimes it's a choice of getting it done or not. Depends how likely you would be to find an alternative, I contacted a dozen and only one interested but it's a smaller job. I think with roofing, given the risks of working at height etc that some assurance like a deposit that the customer will pay up is sensible

Its normal (possibly depending on where you live!) Lots of sole traders cannot afford to provide their customers with a new roof and keep a roof over their own DC's head if a customer decides not to pay at the end.