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Deposits up front


Coco
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Bob - probably my words were unclear, items such as workstops or tiles which once cut to order are reduced in value or items which a custom built I would consider paying a for on order. Lapeyre fell of my list suppliers some years ago. Too many missed delivery dates and fruitless drives to Limoges

[quote user="benson"]

'I will prove I have the money available and will make arrangements for weekly stage payments on evidence of completion of work'  You will begin stage payments AFTER completion of work??? I dont think that would work!!! Payment in FULL after completion maybe!! Another solution maybe is to pay for the materials yourself before commencement of work and be billed for labour only after completion. 

[/quote]

Without wishing to drag quantity surveyors into the equation, possibly the only people on Earth who are less exiting that either actuaries or accountants. The whole point about stage payments is that they are paid when particular stages of a job are completed or on the basis of measured work. There is case law back to the 1800s on this, there is European law back to the 1600s. I would not expect to pay for half a wall being painted, I would pay when a room was completed even if I had contracted for an entire house. I am sorry if you not recognise the term "Stage Payments", it was in standard usage in the Constuction Industry in the 1960s through to the 1990s.  If the job warrents paying by the week then I would expect to check progress by photographs or reports from trusted neighbours.

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Anton

Sorry, please dont get narky, I realised as soon as i posted that you meant stage payments by stages of completion and work in this way ourselves but still ask for a deposit to cover start up costs etc, which is the norm around here for french and english artisans, then a payment either midway or in stages depending on the size of the project and final payment on reception of the facture after completion.

You are quite right that trust is a 2 way street which is why I suppose we have not had to many problems as most of the work we do is now through reccommendations as previous clients are more than happy to put our name forward although we have had problems in the past with people who live abroad and who have taken weeks after compltion of work to come up with the final payment. As pointed out by another poster, proving you have the money and actually paying it are 2 different things. 

in response to a different post it is not just people on the black who arent TVA registered   Micro enterprises are TVA exempt  but are a legit business and devis and facture in euros.

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Sorry - worst thing about the internet is the inability to correct anything as soon as you relaise it could be misinterpreted.

10 years ago when I stated work on our place in the Haute Vienne the local builders merchant would leave an exercise book for you to write in what you had taken when he went on holiday. Sadly that day has gone and a couple of the local yards have added much higher fences in the last couple of years.

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"Bob - probably my words were unclear, items such as workstops or tiles

which once cut to order are reduced in value or items which a custom

built I would consider paying a for on order. Lapeyre fell of my list

suppliers some years ago. Too many missed delivery dates and fruitless

drives to Limoges"

Anton,

Thanks for clarifying that.

Seems that you have had a bad experience with Lapeyre - in our area the

main branch in Agen is hopeless with disinterestered staff. I use the

‘relais de vente’ in Marmande which is first-class.

Kind regards,

Bob Clarke

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/grindoux

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"in response to a different post it is not just people on the black who

arent TVA registered   Micro enterprises are TVA exempt 

but are a legit business and devis and facture in euros."

I think that I was actually agreeing with your postings!

Realistically, I would imagine that it would be hard to run a serious building business under the Micro-Enterprise regime.

Even if your turnover is under the level required for registration then I believe you can ask for registration.

Kind regards,

Bob Clarke

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/grindoux

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Bobc

I understood you were agreeing with me! -Thankyou.  It was just to point it out as when we first started trading sevaral years ago the CdM advised us to register as a micro and we felt it sensible - at the time as we were unsure how well the business would do.  It was fine for the first 6-12 months but you are quite right if your business does well as thankfully ours is, it is impossible to run as a micro not just due to the amount of turnover but in most other aspects such as banking finance etc, if you are a micro, for some reason you are not really considered a serious business as they do not consider your finances transparent enough to judge your financial situation!!

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I agree with you about LaPeyre. I went in to the branch at La Roche sur Yon with an order of potentially €8k. Got a young guy, totally disinterested, very unhelpful and struggled to let him know what I needed. Eventually he made an appointment for someone to call and see the project but no one arrived. I called and they made another appointment but once again no show and two wasted mornings for me. It's a shame because they do some great stuff but I would never use them again.

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One thing you should bear in mind - if the company you give work to subcontracts, you may pay the company you are dealing with but if they do not pay the subcontractor the subcontractor can sue you for the money, so you can pay twice!

Beware!

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An update for those who said "walk away" and those who said I should expect to pay a hefty deposit up front.

(BTW  I'm Coco, I just didn't seem to be able to log back into the new system, forgot password and even original email address used to register, so had to re-register!)

We took the guy who originally appeared to want 60% (we were getting desparate for someone to start and I decided that I would negotiate this ludicrous deposit lark!!)  So with my heart in my mouth I took him on.  When I broached the subject of the deposit I was told than NONE would be necessary.  They just put that as a matter of course on their paperwork so that if someone is having a huge job done, with loads of purpose-made stuff (as someone else has already mentioned) then they cover themselves if the client changes their mind about the spec, gets divorced etc etc.

So that was half my worries laid to rest.  The second part was the fact that he could start so quickly.  Now this, I think, is down to what we experienced when our house was just a holiday home.  WE ARE HERE and some of his other clients aren't, so he just slipped those jobs by a couple of weeks to fit us in.

He's still here, should be finished by Thursday, although we keep adding jobs because we've been so pleased with what he's doing.  He did disappear after the first 3 days for nearly a fortnight but I had expected that of any builder/artisan (I've had a lot of extensions, renovations etc done over the years and every one of them has done the same).  But that's why I was so desparate for someone to start in early December, I just knew that the project would slip by a few weeks.  Now we're still on time, working to my "secret" schedule !

Anyway, the good news is, his work is good quality; he's given my husband lots and lots of tips for how to continue with the work that he'll be doing himself, along with the addresses of lots of suppliers (floorboards etc) that are much cheaper than the "big boy" builders merchants or DIY shops that we would have otherwise used, and so far he has only asked for 1000 euros, which was AFTER he had put down the concrete floor and bought quite a lot of other supplies.

So the gamble paid off, and to top it all, our carpenter friend (top-class master carpenter as far as I'm concerned) knows of his work and thinks he's of a pretty high standard.  So all's well that ends well!  Unless of course, he wrecks the barn between now and Thursday!!!

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