How to pay for my kitchen

[LL12]

We are having our kitchen fitted by an independent kitchen fitter, he has said that units will be delivered direct to my house and that he has to pay for them on delivery.
He said that the day before delivery we need to do a bank transfer to him so that he can then pay the company when they deliver the units to my house.
Does this seem normal? I have never spent this amount of money before and am feeling nervous about it all.

I have never ordered a kitchen but no way would I be paying for it before it arrived. A deposit, yes, but under no circumstances the full amount.

I have just been having my kitchen done and have paid my builder various different amounts by bank transfer. Dead easy!

Can you not pay the firm directly on delivery by bank transfer if you are worried?

This is just for payment of the kitchen cupboards, not the whole things.
It is about £6000 out of a total of £12000.
My mum says not to part with any money until I take actual delivery of the items, but my husband seems ok with what the fitter is saying even though we will have parted with money the day before taking actual delivery of the cupboards.

It would be different if the fitter was a kitchen company with recourse to card processing facility.

Your fitter most likely should have a credit account with the kitchen supplier so wouldnt have to pay on delivery. If he doesnt, then you have to question the fitters credit history to not get access to credit.

I would offer to pay by cleared funds on delivery but no more.

effectively you are buying a kitchen supply only through your fitter?
units etc will need to be paid prior delivery if so
if going for a solid to (i assume you are due to the 12k) then this should be paid in stages to the worktop company.
supply only and supply and fit carry different payment requirements.
When you order a kitchen from a shed or something then generally require full payment on order placement regardless of delivery time.
Even still i would pay the company not the fitter, my dh has never been asked to except payment by a fitter and would check with the customer if this is what they wanted before doing so

soild top

I recent spoke to a manager at Benchmarx who told me that two of her customers had paid their builders upfront for the Benchmarx kitchen (Benchmarx normally deal directly with the fitter who has a contract with them) and the builders took their money then did a runner. I would proceed with caution. I would either ask the kitchen company if you can pay them directly, or tell your builder you won't pay him until the kitchen is on site.

Listen to your mother, OP!

Listen to your mother, OP!

I went with my builder to pay the kitchen co on my card before delivery. Yours sounds a bit of a strange arrangement. My builder is a family friend of a friend and I already knew him.

I keep explaining all of this to my husband but still doesn't seem to think there is a problem.
He says that it will only be 24hrs or less before that he will do a bank transfer and that we will have confirmation that delivery is to take place.

You need to explain to your husband that if there is any payment before you have received the goods, you run the risk that the fitter will do a runner with the money.

If it is such a non-issue for your husband, you have to wonder why it is apparently such an issue for the company...

I would personally be ringing up the supplier and checking their policy.

Do you have any proof that he has placed the order?

The order is not due to be placed until the first week in Sep, the fitter said it would be about a 3 week wait for delivery.
The kitchen is booked to be started on 22nd Sep.