paying on time!!!

[Badger]

Finished a rewire off today me and a mate worked our nuts off to get finished by tonight i even stayed late yesterday till 6pm to get finished, came to end of job, well get the money for the weekend, bad day explodebad day explodebad day explodebad day explode why do people think they can tell a trades person that does work to wait for their money yet do they reckon tescos would allow them to pay for their shopping 4 days later, no i dont think so!!!!!

RAnt Over!!

---------- Post Auto-Merged at 18:06 ---------- Previous post was made at 18:05 ----------

im bloody fuming at the moment!!!!!!!

 

[matt.leung]

i hate it when clients do not pay on time, when the job has been completed...

 

[Badger]

jobs been certified this afternoon while i was doing the testing aswell!! just takes the p!!!

 

[Theorysparky]

If he knew the job was going to be finished today then he should be ready with the dosh

but if he didnt then you cant blame him

 

[Sidewinder]

I know its terrible mate (polite wording on)!

I lost in my first year with my new co. including the VAT

 

[Badger]

they knew we would be finished either today or tommorrow and said we will get cash ready for then

 

[Theorysparky]

at least he is not waiting for the invoice !!!!!

 

[Badger]

theinvoice was handed over at the time of the cert :coat

 

[Theorysparky]

well if you need to go back at any stage leave it a few days !!!!!!!

 

[Robin Spark]

I know a good dentist by you Badger, he could always come round and offer to pull your customers teeth out very slowly.... :^O

unless they decide to get the cash out

 

[Badger]

I know a good dentist by you Badger, he could always come round and offer to pull your customers teeth out very slowly.... :^O unless they decide to get the cash out

ive already been out and bought my new persuader :slap :^O

View attachment 1721

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Hmm...

Not wanting to upset anyone..

BUT

I think it is reasonable and normal practice to wait a few days after completion to allow the customer to pay....

If it was my mom & dad (both very elderly now) I would tell them NOT to pay the full amount to any tradesperson until they are happy all work is done ok ....

You say this was doing a rewire?

I presume you have some sort of written contract agreement?

What payment terms did you have on the contract?

and what penalties did you have written for late payment?

Personally I ALWAYS have a written contract signed by the customer for all work thats

 

[steptoe]

I wouldnt pay a job instantly, not for something like that anyway, it will only be a few hours/days later you find a socket not working, when the vacumn doesnt work in there!

or the RCD trips when the outside light is on,,,

I dont think its unreasonable to have to wait a few days for payment,

after all, we all know most firms like tesco will happily exchange goods,

and,

we can go there and do so,

on the other hand, the customer may well be without electricity until you can be bothered going round to sort out your F up, and now you have been paid you might not be bothered to go at all.....

 

[maselec]

I wouldnt pay a job instantly, not for something like that anyway, it will only be a few hours/days later you find a socket not working, when the vacumn doesnt work in there!or the RCD trips when the outside light is on,,,

I dont think its unreasonable to have to wait a few days for payment,

after all, we all know most firms like tesco will happily exchange goods,

and,

we can go there and do so,

on the other hand, the customer may well be without electricity until you can be bothered going round to sort out your F up, and now you have been paid you might not be bothered to go at all.....

I don't agree. So long as the job has been certified then it should be payment upon completion. If something is found to not work later then that is a seperate issue which should be dealt with seperately. What if the customers faulty vacuum tripped the RCD? yet the customer is now dissatisfied and thinks they have ammo to negotiate a discount. If the customer has a genuine greivance then there are correct processes they can go through, just as you have your statutory rights when you go to Tesco. You don't do your shopping and say 'I'll pay for it when I've made sure there's nothing wrong with it', you return on the odd occasion that there is.

Personally I have written, signed contracts and payment terms are always on completion.

 

[steptoe]

Personally I have written, signed contracts and payment terms are always on completion.

there my friend you have a difference,

and my argument would be its not complete until I am happy that the work is to my satisfaction, which will be 3 days from now when I have personally checked everything works ok,

maybe this is why good hard working proper sparks are getting shafted by fly by night cowboys on their 5WFW courses.

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

to some degree the Tesco's shopping is a "Red Herring".....

It is common practice within the plumbing, Electrical and Building trades for a trades person to have..

30-day.. 60-day or even 90-day accounts with their suppliers....

so why don't you say..

my electrical supplier waits over a month for payment....

So I can wait a bit for my customer????????????

I have a bill due to supplier at the moment that is 30+ days but still within the terms of agrements....

a cowboy could write any old certificate to "waffle and blind" a customer with paper and jargon...

trying to get a quick payment..!

If you have done a good job... There will be no comebacks!

If you have reasonable terms... There will be enough money already to pay for the outlay of materials!

you will only be waiting for a bit of your labour costs!

 

[maselec]

to some degree the Tesco's shopping is a "Red Herring".....

I used the analogy already established. However to use my own, would you take your car to be repaired then tell the garage you will pay them after you've driven round for a week to make sure its ok?

Of course in certain circumstances such as a larger job or contracted maintenance, an invoice would be issued with delayed payment terms but I think in the situation of a domestic re-wire the customer would expect to pay on completion unless they didn't know the job would be finished. When the job is complete and the cert issued the customer must trust that the contractor has finished the job, just as the contractor must trust that the customer will pay him. If this trust is abused then both parties must use the proper channels for thier grievance. The issue of cowboys, comebacks etc has nothing to do with payment, thats what trading standards, county courts etc are for. A sole trader who has just spent 2 weeks on a domestic re-wire understandably needs a wage. His wholesaler might wait a month but his bank won't for the mortgage. Neither will Tesco's! :^O

 

[Ali]

All this talk about how it should work is fine, but it sounds like the Badger's customer had agreed to pay on completion. To decide at the end of the work to pay later than agreed is just bl**dy rude and would make me as angry as Badger is. Why is it that it's always the tradesmen people are wary of, not the customers?

 

[Badger]

All this talk about how it should work is fine, but it sounds like the Badger's customer had agreed to pay on completion. To decide at the end of the work to pay later than agreed is just bl**dy rude and would make me as angry as Badger is. Why is it that it's always the tradesmen people are wary of, not the customers?

thanks for your valued support ali much appreciated abgry isnt the word more like bl dy fuming is!

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

I used the analogy already established. However to use my own, would you take your car to be repaired then tell the garage you will pay them after you've driven round for a week to make sure its ok?Of course in certain circumstances such as a larger job or contracted maintenance, an invoice would be issued with delayed payment terms but I think in the situation of a domestic re-wire the customer would expect to pay on completion unless they didn't know the job would be finished. When the job is complete and the cert issued the customer must trust that the contractor has finished the job, just as the contractor must trust that the customer will pay him. If this trust is abused then both parties must use the proper channels for thier grievance. The issue of cowboys, comebacks etc has nothing to do with payment, thats what trading standards, county courts etc are for. A sole trader who has just spent 2 weeks on a domestic re-wire understandably needs a wage. His wholesaler might wait a month but his bank won't for the mortgage. Neither will Tesco's! :^O

I think the situation for payment would actually be whatever the terms and conditions are on the agreed contract..

As stated previously it is not difficult to write a contract for domestic works....

and if you are on a longer job, you include part payments at suitable stages so you are not out of pocket at the end even if the last payment is delayed.

It is not uncommon for a customer not to know what the final bill is with electrical work due to minor variations and changes during the course of the work.

i.e. the final balance may be higher or lower than originally estimated...

If the customer has to transfer funds between their accounts or maybe obtain a building society cheque then to expect them to have this immediately ready the day you finish is a bit unrealistic IMHO...

Which is why I have 10 days terms for final payment, allowing them a weekend to go to the bank/building society....

With your garage illustration... this will be as per the terms you agree with the garage...

when my car goes in for service I the customer sign a bit of paper at the start of the work saying I agree with their terms...

Also I doubt you would go and hand over some money for a new car until you have given it a test drive and checked all the electric windows, door locks, CD player etc.. all work?

Yet your customer is expected to hand over final payment just because you say it all works?

giving them a couple of days to check they are happy will NOT break any business..

As for paying your own bills mortgage etc.....

If your business is running that close to the wire the business is not likely to survive very long anyway...

Go have a read of any book about self employment.. (any trade you like)...

Key rule repeated time and time again is keep at least 2 months preferably 3 months funds in the bank to cover basic essential living costs as any sole trader has erratic income even when business is good...

IT IS NOT LACK OF WORK OR LOW ORDERS THAT KILL MANY BUSINESSES.... ITS MANAGING CASHFLOW!!!!

1000'S of companies large and small have failed with full order books.. but cash flow is the killer!

Which is why even as small trader keep contracts clear and payment terms easily defined and agreed by both parties...

A problem many electricians have is just to dive in and do work without having formal signed contracts with thier customers...

If in this case there is a signed contract and the customer is in breach of it...

Then I would assume penalty clauses and additional costs will be going to Badger...?

TBH I am a bit unclear in this particular case about what or how much is outstanding and/or how it was agreed ..

1/ All of the payment for the whole job.. materials and labour?

2/ Just a final labour balance payment? (materials already paid for)

3/ Breach of a previously agreed written contract signed by customer?

4/ Just a verbal can you do this work ASAP, we will do it for