Paying builder - solicitor's undertaking??

Hannaho

I am doing up an old house that I have and would like to return to live in in the next 18 months or so. I am happy with the price the builder has given me and the spec. I am paying for the work with money from a house sale. I can pay the builder about a third on a schedule without the house sale going through immediately. However, I feel very rushed by the builder. I hadn't intended to start the work until April when the house sale would be through and the money would be in my Bank. The builder said if I didn't start now, they have a big project starting in April which might not be finished until the end of August!!! He said if my solicitor would be happy to give an undertaking re the monies, i.e. that any monies I owned him would be taken out on sale, he would be happy to go ahead with the third of the money that I had already - that is e10,000 deposit and the rest on schedule as per work. However, I am really nervous about this, and would rather wait until the sale is completed. The house I am selling is sale agreed. It is in a very popular area so there was a bidding ware, but anything could go wrong, there could be a delay due to the purchaser's mortgage, the deed etc. I would rather wait, but it seems that I may lose the builder that I think would do a good job - any advice - new to building game. Cost of renovation of house is e95k.

Metric Tensor

There's a million reasons why your sale could fall through.

You should 100% wait. If you lose the builder in the process it will be mildly inconvenient. If you have the builder on site and lose the sale it will be a LOT worse!!!

Hannaho

Yes, that's exactly what I thought - I don't know what his rush is really - it's quite risky for him also.

sky6

Hannaho wrote: »

Yes, that's exactly what I thought - I don't know what his rush is really - it's quite risky for him also.

I wouldn't attempt to part with money for any reason. It's your home and your project don't let anyone bully you into starting until you are ready.
If the builder is trying to get you to start now means he''s not working at present. That should sound alarm bells as any Builder worth his salt are always busy.
You also must be getting an awful lot of work done to justify that price of 95k.

Metric Tensor

Hannaho wrote: »

Yes, that's exactly what I thought - I don't know what his rush is really - it's quite risky for him also.

He might be trying to lock you in.

To be honest it doesn't matter to you why he wants to do it. Your answer should be no regardless.

I'd prepare yourself for his price to be gone up a little in a few month's time. He may have genuine reasons and he may not. You'll just have to call it at the time.

BryanF

have you spoken to your solicitor ?

Dos they mention arch/end/Qs? When you discussed paying a builder?

Hannaho

Hi! Everyone, thanks for your replies. Solicitor is a family friend - so text him and he phoned me back last night and said there is no way I should lock myself into something like that. To be honest, the builder wanted a e10,000 deposit up front when we met on Friday - and I think, just dealing with a woman, he fully expected me to give it to him - I think when I said I was going to run it past my solicitor, he cooled off - said he would contact me over the weekend to see what my solicitor said - but no call yet. I haven't got an engineer/architect/qs - I have tired to get them, but they say it's too small a job to be worth their while!! Celtic Tiger here we come again!! But now am going to double my efforts to get architect/qs etc. Really appreciate the advice.

mfceiling

The one piece of advice i will give you is not to have any work started without having the funds to pay for it.

I've had it happen to me in the past and it's an awful thing to hear "ah we're just waiting on a payment from the bank or I should have it for you in the next month or two"

I can't say the same thing to my bank manager or my local supervisor in Tesco - "i'll pay for these groceries when i get paid next month"!!!!

mickdw

Do not pay him any money in advance.
Pay in stages based on work completed.
Jesus 10k up front - you might never see him again.

Metric Tensor

Yup. He gets nothing up front.

Tell him your professional is working on a list of stage payments and that's how he's going to be paid - full stop.

Have you talked directly to previous clients of his? Were they happy? He sounds a LOT too pushy for my liking!

You will find an Engineer/Architect/Technician to help you - just keep looking. A smaller firm or sole trader might be better suited to this type of job. Put a query up on the dedicated thread in this forum saying where you are and you might get some recommendations.

enricoh

10k up front - no chance.
Work out stages for payment
Say first 10k when floor is poured etc.

I don't see any harm in telling him u,'ve say 20k and work away up to that figure as long as old part of house can be left weather proof if funds don't materialize

the_pen_turner

are you serious.
you would expect a trades person do start work of this scale with out giving a deposit
I wouldn't start the job without some deposit to cover the materials to start unless I really knew the person
how is the builder to know that you will pay when the stage is done
the best you should expect is some small deposit 2-3k depending on the total value(10k is too much unless your talking 100k+)
then payment for first stage on start of ground work.
any tradesman running a business properly should always be ahead of the costs . why are you asking the tradesmen to finance your job.
divide the payments into stages like ,ground work+ foundations, walls up +roof(separate on big job), 1st fix , slabs+ skimming , 2nd fix, finishes, completion, retention. on smaller jobs you can put these together into maybe 3-4 payments.

hold back a few % to back sure all the snags are done

he is probably a bit slack at the moment and hoping to fill that up. and is also trying not to be pushed too hard later
I wouldn't worry about him wanting it now. I would be a better time to do it if he was a bit slack

what does your contract say

richban

Hannaho wrote: »

I am doing up an old house that I have and would like to return to live in in the next 18 months or so. I am happy with the price the builder has given me and the spec. I am paying for the work with money from a house sale. I can pay the builder about a third on a schedule without the house sale going through immediately. However, I feel very rushed by the builder. I hadn't intended to start the work until April when the house sale would be through and the money would be in my Bank. The builder said if I didn't start now, they have a big project starting in April which might not be finished until the end of August!!! He said if my solicitor would be happy to give an undertaking re the monies, i.e. that any monies I owned him would be taken out on sale, he would be happy to go ahead with the third of the money that I had already - that is e10,000 deposit and the rest on schedule as per work. However, I am really nervous about this, and would rather wait until the sale is completed. The house I am selling is sale agreed. It is in a very popular area so there was a bidding ware, but anything could go wrong, there could be a delay due to the purchaser's mortgage, the deed etc. I would rather wait, but it seems that I may lose the builder that I think would do a good job - any advice - new to building game. Cost of renovation of house is e95k.

Your solicitor would probably advise you against this arrangement anyway - and charge you for the time - it would be wise to ring the builder and just say you must wait -

JonathonS

OP, regarding builder's deposit you might find this thread useful, esp the comments from the builders:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=95559022

JonathonS

OP, regarding builder's deposit you might find this thread useful, esp the comments from the builders:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=95559022

Hannaho

Hi! Johnathan, thanks for that - it seems a mixed bag - some builders insisting on deposits an others not - a 5% deposit seems ok - but the cost of the work was e95k and the builder was asking for 10k up front - slightly over 10%! Feel the builder was a bit too pushy. Tried to say if I didn't pay now he couldn't do the work in April, but when I said I was going to get another builder who would be happy to start in April, he said April was no problem!!

sky6

As I've mentioned before Work comes to good builders they don't have to search too hard. Unfortunately theirs more Cowboys than good ones. Ask what Architects they've worked with and then phone the Architect for a reference. That alone should weed out a lot of Cowboys.