Deposits on installation only

Agreed.

 

I wouldnt take a deposit on a job unless I was going in for more than £3k in materials alone. I would estimate that at anyone time I have between £3-5k worth that I have already laid out for. I dont really like to owe anything on accounts but I have them in place if I need to use them. Hudson I am not taking the mick but you must really struggle if your business account is at less than £1k. What about tax, paying rent on your workshop, what if your chopsaw dies or your van needs tyres. you need a float of a few grand to cover eventualities and ordering materials in advance.

 

lamello maybe hudsons business is new stop with the putdowns people will carry on and do well in what they do regardless of your input.

 

If you've only got £1000 there's not a lot you can do about it.

 

Stop being so sensitive. Where have I put him down. All I have said is that in my opinion £1k in your business account is not enough of a contingency fund and not enough to allow you to plan ahead. I havent got it in for anyone. This is a forum for discussion and sometimes peoples opinions differ. You need some form of a business head to succeed in business. And I am sorry if it offends peoples but going to a customer and asking for £100 deposit for materials is not professional. If you routinely cant stretch to laying out £100 for materials then you need to go back to working for someone else and save up a bit and come back into it when you have two or three grand behind you. I'm not having a dig at anyone in particular. You cant not tell the truth for fear of offending people.

 

Ref my earlier post - I am "staggered" by the number of you that book your time in advance without taking a deposit - and then take it on the chin if the job goes tt up or is delayed the inevitable week.

Ask for a deposit when taking on the job - people are not fazed by this at all - providing you put across the reason why properley.

By properley - whats wrong with the truth!!!! - they are asking you to attend their property on their advised date to fit their "complete" kitchen (come on two out of three would be a bonus - three out of three just don't happen)

ASK ASK ASK - dont ask, dont get.

 

See thats where you are wrong. My customers fit their work around my diary not me fitting my diary around them. I work almost exclusively off referrals and I have never had anyone pull out of a job. Maybe I just dont get the issues that others get off their customers. I wonder why?

 

Also I like picking up a nice cheque at the end instead of dribs and drabs.

 

To be honest with you I would never ask for a deposit
for labour only. As for asking for a deposit on jobs
that have materials over £100. Do you not have a
balance on your business account or something. In my
personal opinion I dont need financial commitements
off my customers in advance. I dont have a bad word
to say about my customers because they always pay on
time. If you ask me its always the same people who
have trouble getting paid, perhaps you should look at
yourselves in order to establish why you arent
getting paid. I have never had a customer not pay and
never had a customer back out on a job. The only time
I would even consider taking a deposit would be if I
needed to lay out more than around £3k on materials.
You come across as amateur if you are going to a
customer asking for £100. If you operate in the way I
do by keeping the customer informed about the costs
but invoicing them right at the end for everything it
is all a far more professional operation and the
customer will notice that. The occasional date change
is just part of the job. Those who moan about their
customers generally are rubbish at their job

Thats all very well for regular clients that you know you can trust, but what about first time customers that you have never met before? Recomendation or not you cant trust everyone and in the event of none payment doesnt necessarily mean that the work is not up to standard.
Last year I did a load of work for a shop owner and I am am still chasing up the money for labour and mats through the courts.
The work included 50msq of laminate flooring, new skirts and archs, 3 new internal doors, 1 small stock room completely shelved out and re-decorated his living room
in the flat above is shop.
The cost of materials around £1000, labour cost £850.
I fitted new gates and fencing for his back yard 2 months beforehand and got paid for it so I thought he was a man I could trust. Before taking up the work I produced a detailed specification of the work in which he signed for, agreed labour cost and provided invoices for all materials and labour. The work in his own words was done to a very high standard, ie skirting mitred and scribed neatly and scribed to the floors, doors scribed neatly into frames 2mm gap allround, door and levers fuctioning properly, no gaps in floor joints and sub floor prepared properly before instalation and decorating was done nicely with no air bubbles, wall paper cut neatly ect.
Obviously there was no quality issue for non payment, but he still decided to give me a rubber check. I made the phone calls went around on several occasions for the money, he was never at his shop and sent several payment reminders. Turns out he sold up.

 

I'm sorry you've had a bad experience Damo but the point of this thread (which seems to have been forgotten) was should you take deposits on labour only? My answer is still no. You should always have more than one job on your order book and if you get a cancellation at short notice a lot of customers are happy to have their job brought forward.

 

we always ask for a 50% deposit to book any job, refunds are negotiable dependant on circumstance.

Never really had a problem with this system, and if they dont want to pay it, the other clients do, see you around then and good luck with the job.

 

you need a deposit on any job, not only for fear of not getting paid but mainly late cancellations.
If someone cancells a weeks work at short notice you may not be able to move jobs forward to fill the spot and even if you can you are still out of a weeks work it's just that it's at the other end of your diary.
We get lots (because we fit floors so are last in) of cases where others trades don't finish on time and the customer thinks they can have us come back a couple of days later.
You try if you can but it's not always possible and when you say ok fair enough see you in 3 weeks (thats the next space i have) they get narked with you.
I have a job booked in for a few days before christmas, new build, full house carpets and wood floor, i don't think the house will be finished and i have told them, i have also told them if it gets moved to after chrismas they will have to pay a penalty on the labour.
I can't afford to have staff scratching their rse the week before christmas, they have been assured (lol) the property will be finished on time so they way i see it is if the builders are late let them pay the cancellation charge, their fault and i bet they are getting paid more than me.

 

50% deposits on a labour only job is not the way forward as far as I am concerned. Perhaps I am a bit old skool but when I've given my word to do work on a certain date and they've given their word that they want the work done thats good enough for me. I am booking for January now so are you suggesting I demand 50% off my customers to book work in for nearly six months time. Sorry but thats too complicated for me. If and it hasnt happenned yet I have some on pull out on me I would have no trouble filling my time at a seconds notice. I have a long list of bits and bobs that customers want making in my workshop. Running a business is all about maximising your time. As Ive said before I would only take a deposit where I am going in for more than £3-5k in materials. So according to your system if I go and measure up for 6 doors+ironmongery supply and fit tomorrow say £600, written quote them, they give the ok and January is fine with them I then tell them that they need to hand me over £300 now to secure my services. Sorry but that doesnt sound like the way things should be. Maybe run my business in a different way.

 

Thats good for you lamello, having bookings up till Jan.
Maybe you are running a different type of show than us, or you have better clients.

Either way, we will still require the 50% deposit, this applies to all of our work, and we only ever book 2 or 3 weeks in advance, leaving other customers the understanding that we will call them soon to arrange a start date.

I think it stems from the fear that jobs can go wrong and take a bit longer, have 2 go wrong on the trot and the next one is well delayed

 

We charge deposits on all jobs too. We are booking up for February now. We will request a deposit in time for funds to clear before each job begins or for ordering materials. Usually the deposit is enough to just cover materials, We could take losing the labour but not materials and legal action is costly.
Even on an install only there will be costs for fixings, tool wear and other consumables. On a large job there are still wages to pay each month. Customer's have never questioned deposit requests, we give written quotes and receipts and are registered and insured. If a customer cancelled we would return the deposit in full unless they had really messed us around and left us without work. Even then we would try to find a better solution first.
For those who say "Don't you keep a balance in the bank to pay for stuff" my answer is - Not when Corporation Tax is 19%!

 

I'm sorry but I fail to see why it is needed to take deposits on small jobs. I will only start taking deposits when people stiff me on jobs and that doesnt happen to me. I think it makes life too complicated. If you havent got enough funds to cover materials on a job with under a grand or twos materials then you have someting wrong with your setup

 

Nobody is suggesting you charge deposits in advance for work booked in 6 months time. Its common sense really, even if you book in advance, you can still charge a deposit when it is time to do the job. If you are confident enough to spend up to thousands on mats/labour upfront on a job or even a few hundred on a small job then fair play to you. Just dont come crying to us if the **** hits the fan and you dont get paid for it. Like I say, you cant trust everyone wether its fit and supply or LABOUR ONLY.

 

What you are talking about is simply getting your customer to pay for their own materials, not give you a deposit. Sorry but when I go to my kitchen supplier or my flooring importer I dont need my customer holding my hand. If you are giving your customer the impression that you cant pay for the materials and then invoice them later then that comes across as amateurish in my opinion. Others on here are saying that they feel the need to take money off their customers to secure diary dates as they worry about or do experience customers pulling out on them. I find trust goes a long way. I trust my customers to have their work done and they trust me to turn up. As for running to you if it goes wrong I think Ill cope on my own thanks. Seeing as virtually all my work comes off word of mouth or friends I'll take my chances.

 

Lamello.
Stop being a smug *. There are a lot of people on this forum who aren't as fortunate as you and don't have the customer base you do.
I went to a job yesterday and the client had changed her mind over what she wanted done so 2 fitters lost 1/2 a days work each and that was from a recommendation.
Labour only is difficult but I would try and take a small deposit as a gesture of faith.
Unless I know or trust the customer I usually take 25% on ordering so that I am covered if it all goes **** up.

[Edited by: admin5]

 

Why am I being smug. I'm not fortunate to have a good customer base. Its because I am good at what I do and I am reliable. Sorry if that appears smug but its the truth. Im not going to temper my opinions because it annoys you. Sorry but if you have been in business for any period of time and havent got a solid customer base then you are obviously doing something wrong. Having a good customer base doesnt just happen by chance it happens because of the way you conduct yourself. So explain to me how your customer just changed her mind then, when did you book the job in, when was the last time you spoke to her, where you working off a written quote