Joiner looking for 40% deposit to lock in cost of materials for work due in October

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richard231

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Hi Guys

I have found a carpenter to build bespoke media cabinetry and shelving in a 3m alcove. He appears a good chap, trustworthy and genuine.

He cant start the work until Oct/Nov but tells me the cost of sheet materials is going up and up, with large fluctuations happening almost monthly. I've heard this form other trades too.

In order for me to secure the price he wants 40% up front to pre-buy the materials.

My concern is that on a £4300 job that's a lot of money and if he goes bust between now and then I'll lose out.

Is this normal practice, what's reasonable? He's not VAT registered and a one man band.

thanks

Richard
 
Do you have room to store the materials?
 
Can only agree on cost and availability of materials.
if you like his work then agree to pay him the cash for the materials on the proviso you store the materials until he can start.
 
Even better, you offer to pay directly for the materials and store them. He supplies labour only.
 
or just wait for things to improve. Once the covid/brexit chaos is sorted there will probably be a surplus of materials sailing over.
Unless, of course, everybody in the world is doing home improvements ... could be the case!

Might start planting trees ...
 
Well it's your choice don't pay it and when the materials go up you pay the extra. So it's £5200 say. Simples

Wood has gone up 100%

Sterling board is like £45 a sheet now we were paying £28 for wbp Ply last year!!
 
When I was working at full steam, I was pre-booked for months.
So anyone wanting to join the books had to prove commitment and pay 20% of the quote as a non refundable deposit.
I started doing this after having 2 people cancelling 3/4 weeks projects on a Sunday night when we were due to start on the Monday.
If the tradesman is trustworthy people pay the deposit and wait for their start date.
Unfortunately there are so many scammers about that nobody trusts anybody anymore.
 
richard231 said:
In order for me to secure the price he wants 40% up front to pre-buy the materials.
Click to expand...
Cant you pre-buy the materials from his supplier on your credit card and give him a small deposit as a sign of good faith? Worse case scenario if he goes bust is you lose the small deposit but you’ll still own the goods?

Come to think of it, I don’t know how this pre-buy works. If the goods are say, £1,500 now and you pay it, do they store it for you until you want it in November? Do they charge storage? How does it work?

Only way I can see is that you buy it and keep it on site.
 
As has been reported before there is a (world wide) shortage of building materials.

'Pre-Buying' materials works in 2 ways - both of which have some benefits to both parties.
Pre-buying and the customer storing until the contractor can start means the materials are (hopefully) immediately available when the contrator is ready to start and he cannot use your materials to do or complete other previous contracts. The purchaser can also collate all the materials as such become available in this time of shortages.
Pre-buying and the contractor storing until the contractor can start means the materials are available for the contractor to use - quite probably on other jobs.
I do know of cases where the contractors are shifting pre-bought materials from job to job as the contractor or customer do not storage facilities. That has 2 disadvantages - handling damage from multiple movements and the materials are available to contractor to use on other jobs. In either case if the contractor cannot scource replacements it does mean your job is delayed.

I reccomended above that the thread originator if he has storage facilities available to him he stores the materials himself until the contractor is ready.
Materials prices are changing almost daily and certainly on every delivery (to the merchants) - I can only reccomend that you purchase ASAP. (Just done a job for a neighbour - in between telling him the cost on Thursday and collecting the materials on Monday the materials cost had gone up nearly £10 on a £70 quote for materials).
 
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It’s not normal practise but these are not normal times and the plan sounds reasonable.
You secure the material prices, so secure his current quote and when it comes to build time you’re not facing delays and issues because you can’t find the stuff you need.
As others have said, it would be preferable if you stored the material yourself in the unfortunate event he goes bust.
 
The problem currently is materials costs are increasing at a rediculous rate, demand is far out stripping supply and it is said to do so for at least another 6 months.

There is also no evidence that once the prices rise they will ever go back down, only time will tell.

There also isn't a garuntee at the moment that the materials required will be available by the time your start date arrives.

To ensure he is not scamming you, tell him you'll give him the money when he drops the materials off for you to store until October.
 
I would pay him up front if you trust him, better than being left with the materials that another chippie might not want to use. If he lets you down sue him, he's not a ltd co., so will have assets. Get the arrangement in writing.,

Blup
 
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