50% deposit on 1k Job?

[Badgertime]

Hi, i had a carpenter around to do a few bits in my house.

He's now said he requires a 50% deposit before we set a date for the work.

He has a website and good reviews.

Should I go ahead?

Job is priced around 1K. Door and bannister need to be purchased.

Sounds normal to me

I've had various kinds of work done in recent years. I think some of them are on very tight margins but some try to keep costs down to keep below the VAT limit.

• interior painters wanted us to buy all the paint ourselves (not a deposit per se but an investment in the job)
• carpenters sent invoice for timber as soon as they'd bought it.
• currently exterior painters are working but have not asked for any money yet

(and there was a guy who actually declined to visit the property b/c he didn't want to spend the petrol money ...:)

Yep sounds normal

No, I never do. I always offer to buy materials so they are not out of pocket, and pay day by day when it's a longer job.

It's a real risk but I think.it is becoming more common.

We had two bathrooms fitted and they wanted 50 percent before diary booking (about 3 months wait). 35 percent on day of arrival. 15 percent on completion. And I literally had the call within an hour of them leaving!

The firm are a reasonable size so I used a credit card for the deposits. I was less concerned for the second one of course, but it's still a risk.

That's their terms and there's no other option if you want them to do the work.

Thank you. Happy to do so if it's pretty standard now.

When we had work done it was 25 percent down then another 30 percent when work was completed as it should by a certain date. Then the remaining when everything was done and all cleaning and snags completed

I would absolutely not pay 50% upfront

If it is for the materials then ask for the details and order them yourself or at the very least get them delivered to you. If it’s not for materials then it’s far too much to secure his services and reviews can be faked