What's the normal timeframe when it comes to paying workmen? Someone is hassling me for immediate payment and I'm not sure if that's reasonable.
Background: I've had some work done on my house recently. I wanted it doing quickly but he said he wasn't available for several weeks and gave me a provisional date; I have to admit that it was never definite, it was more like "x date looks possible." He didn't indicate any problem with that date (despite me requesting a firm date several times) until a few days beforehand, when he said he'd been inundated with emergency work and couldn't do mine until later. This was inconvenient for me as I had already had to rearrange other work until this was done, and the further delay gave me a lot of stress; he knew this.
So, the very day he finishes the work, he asks me (by email) for payment. I replied to the email and said I would let him know when I made the payment. Today, another message chasing for the payment.
To be honest, the various work I've had done has used up my house fund and I really need to pay him after I get paid myself, which is towards the end of next week. If he'd done the work when I wanted him to, or even when he originally said he could, I could have paid him and delayed something else. But his delay meant that the other things got done (and paid) first. I do have some savings I could use but there would be a penalty.