Deposit for Building works

[Cobnuts1]

Hi all
I just wanted some advice,
The builder we are planning to go with wants a deposit to secure a time slot. The works will not commence for another 12 weeks or so but as the builder is getting busy he wants a 10% deposit paid into his client account until work commences. The work should take around ten weeks and he is a ltd company.
Any thoughts would be much great, thanks!

I paid a 10% deposit when I had a kitchen extension although the builder I used accepted credit card payments.

What form of payment is your builder asking for and have you verified they are a registered company so you can use small claims if required?

Thanks for the reply, yes he is a limited company i the checked that company details too and he wants a bank transfer so I should be covered, just a bit nerve wracking!

Do you have a signed contract?

hi roses2
no just a detailed estimate, the email states;
'I hope you understand that the deposit will secure your time for the works. The amount will be paid into a clients account and will not be used until your work starts. At any time the money can be retuned if you change your mind. There may be a fee charged if time scales are close to start date'
He has been good at getting back to me about my concerns prior to this, just not sure where i stand with handing over a deposit when the work won't start for about three months. Although I can see that he needs to book jobs in advance. Thanks again BTW

It's a difficult one. I am currently having an extension built, and the our builder wanted a similar deposit up front, which we paid. He then started work for about a week, and then left us for about 6 weeks before returning. We would have fired him on the spot, except that he had about £10,000 of our money with very little to show for it! From then on he only worked about a day a week, such that we ended up only about 50% through the build after 11 months (original estimated duration 16-20 weeks).

We then fired him and hired a new builder who didn't require an up front deposit. However, as the first builder basically arranged the payment schedule so that the payments were always ahead of the work, we essentially overpaid for what was completed.

I suspect we are a bit of an extreme case, but I have now learnt to only pay once things are completed and to an acceptable standard. Reputable builders should have a trade account for buying materials etc, so shouldn't need an upfront deposit.

How much money are we talking about and what is the payment schedule thereafter? I paid £4k upfront and the rest in arrears against a clearly specified scope of work.

I paid nothing upfront. It was a 22 week build and the cost was fixed before work started, so I knew what I was in for financially. I then paid regular but variable payments every four weeks or so, depending on materials used to date. The builder is very well respected locally, and I had to wait over a year for a build slot. I would not be happy paying anything upfront. If he says you could have the money back (presumably if your situating suddenly changed), what is the point of him having it anyway? I would be careful about any sliding scale of monies returned. Read the small print.