Should I give a deposit up front before the work is carried out?

You are going to get conflicting opinions on this! Some tradesmen will say its not professional to ask for a deposit whilst others that have been stung by cowboy customers in the past will see it as essential.All i can say is that if a tradesman does ask for money up front,it doesnt mean hes going to run off with it! Check his references and make sure that the payment exists officially (DONT HAND HIM A BUNDLE OF CASH) and dont give him anymore than enough to get started.ie dont hand over 50% ! Remember we are trying to run businesses and cannot survive by offering all of our clients credit and the trust thing has to work both ways.

you do not say what is being done ? but personally any work that is going to take me more than 7days to complete or where scaffolding is required I always cover some of the costs by taking adeposit , it shows trust , if they dont want to pay a deposit they can get someone else, some jobs are a lot of outlay. then you wait for ever to be paid by the customer never used to take a deposit but there are a lot of slow paying customers out there and most builders have morgages and familys to feed

yes you should,why should the builder trust you to pay him at the end of the job.It works both ways ,there are cowboy clients as well as cowboy builders.

Most tradesmen ask for a deposit as confirmation of booking and to cover the cost of materials. Ask your contractor to confirm what they will use the deposit for, only pay it if it seems like a fair amount for the materials required and pay by bank transfer or cheque- that way you have a paper trail/proof of what you've paid out. The tradesman should also be happy to provide a receipt for all payments made. Hope this helps

sometimes the contractor can not afford to pay for the materials as they may not have any accounts. I lost rather a lot of money not too long ago because the customer could not pay the bill. I think there should be trust on both parties.

How well do you know the builders, enough to trust they wont take the money and not return. Depends on the value, if its a large job you could agree to pay the materials only when they have arrived on site, or some form of stage payments. Whatever you decide, it needs to be discussed between you and the builder and put in writing. Personally I wouldnt give, or expect a deposit.

yes if you can trust the builder who is carrying out the works ,some ask for deposits ,some dont

Hi,if is for labour only not,if is for materials than yes

Depends on how big the company is most probably. Smaller companies may ask for enough to cover the costs of supplying materials,scaffold beforehand. Lot's of builders/trades getting ripped off these days, so they are more cautious naturally.

I've never asked for a deposit but, depending on how much I have to outlay, I sometimes ask for a part payment when the customer can see visible progress.

no

can you provide more details of project? thanks CBS