whats the thoughts on deposits for work

No way I would pay that amount up front, goodbye money.

Pay for the work of digging out.

 

I agree with KIAB.

That surely is way over the top to cover materials.
I personally wouldn’t hand over that much before any work was done.

 

That's a hell of a lot of money when you are waiting several weeks for any materials to be delivered to site.

Some folk are 'local' everywhere.

 

Well, one builder would be having one hell of a Christmas this year.

I would rather order & pay for the materials myself,then they are yours, seen it a few times over the years where the materials to be delivered, then recovered by bailiff, or firm who supplied them,when builder doesn't pay for them or goes bust.

 

I agree with taking a deposit, but that amount is laughable. As KIAB says, pay for digging out and purchase the skips, then pay for the work done before xmas, then sort the rest out once completed in the new year.

 

It's all depends how much the whole job is, 15k is an awful lot of money for a driveway deposit, unless the job is a 40k+ job.

Why is it not possible to finish before Christmas???, I for one wouldn't want my driveway in a half finished state over the holiday period.
If it was to be i would expect a sizable discount for the inconvenience.

 

Tell your paver that you're not happy with such a large amount and buy the materials yourself.

 

That's a massive deposit, what proportion of the total price is it?

 

Your drive must be huge! handing over 15grand to a stranger over Xmas if he insists on it then I would do some checks, I know some have said buy materials yourself the thing is most trades hate that

 

As folk say, that's a HUGE deposit (how big's your bludy drive?!)

However, I would not recommend you sourcing the materials yourself - leave EVERYTHING to the installers and then you'll be fully covered should anything go wrong.

Solution? Simple - a deposit protection scheme, which any self-respecting company should have in place, especially with such sums.

I had a couple of windows fitted a few years back and the deposit was only a few £undred. But they still had that insured and sent me the cert.

 

Fairly expensive mats?

What is size of the area for drive.

 

Good luck - I hope they appreciate your point (and I'd be truly worried if they didn't).

I'm astonished that any company thinks it's 'ok' to ask for £15k up front with no protection - that's just crazy.

If their business credit rating is decent, this insurance shouldn't cost them much at all - as I said, the local window co I used did this as a matter of course (and I wasn't even expecting it for such a small deposit).

This company wants your job - they'd be nuts not to. It's time they acted professionally to ensure it.

I honestly think you'd be crazy to hand over any significant sum without this protection - and by significant I mean less than one thousand.

You are not being unreasonable. All you have to ask them is "What would happen to this money if your company folded? Or if your accountant ran off with the money?" Any flannelling on the answer - "Och, that'll never happen!" - tells you instantly they are not as professional as they should be.

 

Stop it, you.

And Merry Christmas!

 

I personally think that most companies should have enough 'contingency' to get the job started without expecting the customer to cough up the cash up front, but as soon as they do buy materials/start the job, the first instalment can be asked for.

This should all be worked out, agreed and written down. (Again, from a personal example, when we had the loft converted over a decade ago, I knew exactly when a payment was expected from me, and this kept pace with the job. Bottom line - if they had folded, I wouldn't have been left too badly in the lurch - pretty much all the materials and work I'd paid for I would have already received.)

So a company should either use that method or else deposit insurance.

£15k, tho'? I can't get my head around that figure - what the heck do they need that for?!

I'd, too, be interested to hear how the tradesfolks on here handle this, especially on bigger jobs like yours.

 

Same here, can buy a lot of materials for that large sum.