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I received a qoute and the price was good. But he said he wanted 3/4 up front because it's material heavy. We will sign a contract. Is this normal. I'd rather pay once the job is done
Last edited by jobseeker2013; 03-28-2016 at 05:58 PM..
Here in NJ, I gave 50% deposit. It was the same for sprinkler, landscaping and for fencing projects. So long it is a well known firm or been in business for a long time, it should be okay.
I received a qoute and the price was good. But he said he wanted 3/4 up front because it's material heavy. We will sign a contract. Is this normal. I'd rather pay once the job is done
I dont care what contract you sign. DO NOT PAY 3/4 up front. I would ask exactly why he wants such large deposit? If he says to buy materials that's his problem. Most contractors have running accounts with supply houses.
What this tells me
The contractor does not have the money to carry the job. UNLESS the material is special order. But I doubt any landscaping stuff is special order. Unless you're ordering African black mahogany trees,
If you're in California legally ALL a contractor can charge us $1,000 or 10% whichever is less. He can do progress payment or ask for a large payment upon material delivery.
I dont care what contract you sign. DO NOT PAY 3/4 up front. I would ask exactly why he wants such large deposit? If he says to buy materials that's his problem. Most contractors have running accounts with supply houses.
What this tells me
The contractor does not have the money to carry the job. UNLESS the material is special order. But I doubt any landscaping stuff is special order. Unless you're ordering African black mahogany trees,
If you're in California legally ALL a contractor can charge us $1,000 or 10% whichever is less. He can do progress payment or ask for a large payment upon material delivery.
Correct. Choose a higher priced guy with a lower up front payment.
My landscaping person is a small outfit, so she requests 50% up front, 50% at completion. If I were a small business, I wouldn't want to front all of the expense and risk getting shafted if the person chooses not to pay at the end. I think the longer the relationship, the more willing contractors are to advance costs. Our tile people originally asked for 50% with the first job. Once they got to know us, they just got to work and got paid at the end. With the landscaping lady, I've given her 50%, but she already had started work before she even received a check. I think 3/4ths is too much of a deposit and heavily favors the contractor. 50/50 is middle ground and is customary from what I've observed.
I received a qoute and the price was good. But he said he wanted 3/4 up front because it's material heavy. We will sign a contract. Is this normal. I'd rather pay once the job is done
That's odd. Whenever we landscaped, we were billed at the end (keep in mind that the landscaping took ~5 days).
I would assume a reputable landscaper would have 30 days to pay the nursery. Other than that, maybe they need some cash up front to pay day laborers, but I don't know why else.
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