To withhold payment

[Helpmegetajob]

Had some work done on the house, scaffold went up a couple of days before, work took a week and is now complete. Work was 8k,They added and extra 400 for unforeseen work. Now they want the remaining 5k but have said the scaffolding will be up for around 2-3 weeks due to the owner being busy. Somehow this doesn’t sit right with me. I know there’s probably a cost saving having it on a house and they are trying to secure some more work on our road and so I’m thinking they just want to keep it up for convenience and cost saving to them. I said I’d hold payment until it’s down and they are arguing saying it’s not right. I’m concerned the longer it’s up it could damage the building and so want this as leverage but not sure if I’m being unreasonable. Is there a compromise here?

YANBU. I would pay half now and pay the balance upon scaffolding removal. Scaffolding companies are notorious for this unfortunately.

It will be an external company, so likely out of their hands.
I don’t understand why it would be a cost saving? Surely the opposite. The quicker the scaffolding is removed, the quicker it can be used for another job?
unless the other job is an adjacent attached property to you?

How do you envisage the scaffolding damaging the building?

Is balance on completion?
If so, tell them completion is when the job is finished - including removal of scaffolding.
Scaffolding businesses are notorious at leaving scaffolding in place until they need it elsewhere to save on storage.
If you've engaged with a main contractor and they've subcontracted the scaffolding that is their issue, not yours.
Once you've paid you'll have no leverage.

Speaking to someone in the building trade They agree holding 1K would be justified but not 5K
dint think they would be damage to your building because of the scaffolding

Charge them for storing the scaffolding on your property. £400 should cover it.

It’s not needed for another job yet and the ops property is being used as free storage. One of my recent favourite posts on fb was someone on a local page advertising scaffolding for free, as the company they used had abandoned it on their property for weeks and refused to pick it up. The comments and fallout between people who were offering to take it, the company who saw the post and people sticking their 2 pence in was comedy gold. It does happen

Scaffolding and skip hire seems to have the expectation that the householder won’t mind hosting the scaffolding poles or the skip, until the owner is ready to remove. I think it’s unacceptable.

Yes it’s a neighbour!!

@Helpmegetajob i would definitely not pay the full amount yet. I would make it clear only on full completion will they get all their money. I’d also send a DP formal letter advising when they need to have it down by as otherwise it’s essentially trespass and that you will be deducting this from the final bill since removal of scaffolding wasn’t part of the agreed costs. You have got some leverage here with them given the full bill isn’t settled yet so hopefully you can capitalise on that to get them to play ball.

If they store it in a yard far away they'd have to pay to take it there and back, easier for them to wait and take it straight to next job

Also they could put it up on your neighbours house early? Rather on leaving it on yours for longer

If the scaffolding is still there the job feels unfinished. Fine to pay some more just now, but the final bit on completion. Up to you what you think is fair.

Scaffolding is a safety risk ie burglaries. I hate it.

i know someone who had a skip left for four months. Imagine that happens with the scaffolding.
I’d want to have cash in my bank to pay for its removal by another company if they went bust or something.

Explain that if they'd taken the scaffolding down yesterday, you'd have settled the balance, because the rest of the payment was due on completion. The job couldn't start until the scaffolding went up, it was needed for the job, therefore the job isn't complete until it's gone, so that's when you'll settle the bill. Don't pay part of what's left just to shut them up - it's not in the agreement anywhere that the scaffolding could stay there indefinitely (I assume!).

If they argue again, quote their own words back at them and say it's 'not right' that you're being used as free scaffolding storage when that wasn't in the agreement and it's causing significant inconvenience.

If the scaffolding etc is still there then they haven't finished the work. One generally pays for work done when it's complete. In this case the work isn't complete. Furthermore, you don't know if they will damage the house/work/garden etc etc when they remove the scaffolding.

Seems appropriate to withhold payment until everything is actually complete and your house is free and clear of all scaffolding and any other mess.

YANBU. Let them wait for it until they’ve held up their end of the bargain. Otherwise they have no incentive to take it down.

It’s really standard for scaffolding to remain up until needed elsewhere. If you’re that concerned withhold a few hundred pounds but not the whole balance. If it’s a small business you could be causing them major cash flow issues for a really petty reason.

Being standard practice doesn't make it reasonable or acceptable.
Said business can get it sorted and get paid if the cash flow is causing them problems.

I really don't see this issue as "petty"!

If the job is finished then the scaffolding should go.
If you had a plumber in you'd expect him to take his tools away when finished wouldn't you.

It's exactly the same. Job done, all tools and equipment taken away.

We paid our roofer the balance in full as they did a great job and we knew from past experience it may take a while for the scaffolding to be collected as builders arrange that from a separate contractor usually that they have paid in advance themselves. And because we had a good relationship with builder and paid promptly we were able to phone after a few days and ask him to chivvy the scaffolding firm and get it down ASAP.And he did just that.

It depends if the scaffolding is owned and was put up by the tradespeople who carried out the work or if they hired an external unrelated scaffolding company on your behalf.
If it's their own scaffolding, then YADNBU n wanting them to come take it down and they should be communicating with you and resolving it quickly.

If it's an external company separate to the tradespeople then YABVU not to pay the tradespeople.

Even if it is a separate subcontractor then that's between the builder she used and the subcontractor. Withholding a reasonable amount until full completion if works is legal and reasonable.

Scaffolding can damage brickwork if placed directly against brick and also scaffolders can cause damage to property and gardens of slapdash when removing it.

Definitely retain some payment. I bet you will find its down pretty swiftly after that.

Are they coming back weekly to tag the scaffold? Tags can cost £100+ weekly

We've done the same thing. Balance on completion including removal of scaffolding. Builders weren't happy, but it was gone in 2 days.

Before withholding the balance they'd say it would be days and take weeks / months.