Pay for scaffolding before it's up?

[Goldfish50]

I need to get a bit of roofing work done, and as it's an awkward angle, scaffolding has to be put up.

The builder's contacted me to say the scaffolding needs to be paid for in advance.

Does anyone know if this is normal? I can understand if I was having a new kitchen put in and was ordering units, tiles, etc, they might need to be paid for in advance, or the fitters could be left with unwanted stock if I changed my mind. But surely this doesn't apply for scaffolders?

I'm reluctant to pay a large amount of money upfront and don't see why it's necessary. I'm really worried that the scaffolders then will delay the work, or even not turn up at all. Or am I being too wary as I've been let down by a couple of bad builders before? On the other hand, if this is normal, I don't want to be awkward and refuse to pay it in advance!

Any experience or thoughts would be very welcome, please.

Does anyone know if this is normal?
Don't know. Is this the scaffolding people saying this or your builder's version of events?
Round here there don't seem to be that many scaffolding firms, only a handful. They usually have some advertising on them. So you could spot (on your daily walk) who else has used the same company and (from a distance!) ask them for their experience.

I thought that the problem was usually the other way round: they put up scaffolding for your job and then leave it there until it is needed for the next job i.e. use you as free storage!

Thanks so much for your reply. It's the builder telling me this - I don't even know who's providing the scaffolding.

Good idea about asking people - there's a house nearby with scaffolding so will try to ask them today.

Yes, leaving the scaffolding up is something else I'm worried about! I was hoping to pay most of the money when they put the scaffolding up, and the rest when it was taken down (hoping that might be an incentive not to leave it up for too long!) but not sure if that's realistic?

He is probably paying another firm for the scaffolding so yes, absolutely can be normal.

Yes it's normal. The builder has probably contacted a scaffolding firm to put up the scaffolding, and builders are notoriously late payers (the ones I deal with are), so will want payment in advance. Just make sure you have everything in writing.

Scaffolders are normally pretty good at taking it down as they need it elsewhere.

You need to watch for damage tho, generally good at sorting any issues as they are just doing the one thing, so need to keep people's business.

Definitely outsourced usually, so only bigger builders with cash reserves and good clients would take a chance on paying for it without upfront cash. A smaller roofer I would expect to pay out in advance.

Yes totally normal to pay upfront.

Thank you so much for the replies. It sounds as if this is quite normal so that's put my mind at rest - thank you!

The builder's contacted me to say the scaffolding needs to be paid for in advance.
I think that you need to be clear about what is going on. Is your contract solely with the builder? (in which case the up front payment is his problem although I can totally understand him, in turn, wanting the money off you) You need to be sure that the supply of scaffolding is his his responsibility so it is up to him to co-ordinate the timing of scaffolding hire with the building work.
Has he specified times for all other payments within the contract or is he going to surprise you with anything else!?