A word of caution - check your trades material costs

[Moonshine]

if you have trades working in daily's + material costs (maybe with a uplift), give a sanity check to the cost of materials they are providing.

 

I would expect any trades working under this arrangement to be transparent with the materials they provide and should be happy to provide receipts.

 

I have just had a trade invoice me with hourly break down and lump sum for materials. The material cost looked very high for what they provided and i queried it.

 

The tradie gave me the contact details of the manager of the builders merchants he used, if i wanted to see the receipts (i don't know why they didn't have them in the first place).

 

After a faff of phoning around i got one set of receipts, and i had to physically go into the other supplier this morning. The manager went away and 5 mins later came back looking very sheepish.

 

They had told my tradie a material cost that was wrong to the tune of over a grand, which my tradie had verbatim put on his invoice to me.

 

I still don't know why my tradie didn't have the receipts himself to check before passing the material costs on, embarrassing for the BM, and pretty embarrassing for the tradie. 

 

Also note that any materials they buy and pass the VAT onto you, you won't be able to claim it back. 

[nod]

Hopefully this arrangement isn’t for a full build and only short term 

Any recipe they give can be claimed back if eligible Jus get them to add your name or the address BMs always ask 

 

The problem with trades buying the materials is They won’t shop around 

Just use where ever is the most convenient 

 

[ProDave]

I always encourage my customers of a new build to buy the materials themself and I just give them a shopping list. 

[saveasteading]

34 minutes ago, Moonshine said:

They had told my tradie a material cost that was wrong to the tune of over a grand

And the builder didn't notice? Be suspicious. Potentially the builder could  also be issued with a credit note which you wouldn't see.

[Canski]

If it is at short notice I have the same problem getting receipts from my merchants for materials. When they do eventually come through they are usually wrong and I spend hours going through them. Even the merchants that have online portals are usually slow getting them uploaded.

 

 

[Moonshine]

48 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

And the builder didn't notice? Be suspicious. Potentially the builder could  also be issued with a credit note which you wouldn't see

 

This was what the explanation was, that there was a credit note that wasn't seen by the supplier, nor was it seen by the tradie (i don't think they even had the receipts). I now have copies of all the receipts so will see what they invoice me.

 

I don't fully understand the implications of the 'credit note' and why be suspicious of it.

Edited December 16, 2022 by Moonshine

[Moonshine]

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

I always encourage my customers of a new build to buy the materials themself and I just give them a shopping list. 

This is how it is working with my sparkie, he just tells me what he needs as an when, though saying that i swear his is eating the 2.5mm T&E for how much he is getting through!

[MortarThePoint]

I don't know what other peoples experience are, but I doubt the tradie is very motivated to worry about the cost of the materials if they are passing it straight on, so he may not have noticed. I always have a a conversation with the BMs that starts with a silly price and then settles on what feels a reasonable price. Even with the same guys week after week, they never go straight to a sensible price. I don't like it as I always feel the price could have been less and never know if I have actually got a good deal or not. I doubt tradie is going to bother with any of that if he's passing it on.

[nod]

4 minutes ago, MortarThePoint said:

I don't know what other peoples experience are, but I doubt the tradie is very motivated to worry about the cost of the materials if they are passing it straight on, so he may not have noticed. I always have a a conversation with the BMs that starts with a silly price and then settles on what feels a reasonable price. Even with the same guys week after week, they never go straight to a sensible price. I don't like it as I always feel the price could have been less and never know if I have actually got a good deal or not. I doubt tradie is going to bother with any of that if he's passing it on.

Exactly 

They won’t even ask the price if it’s your money Why would they 

 

[saveasteading]

44 minutes ago, Moonshine said:

don't fully understand the implications of the 'credit note' and why be suspicious

Call me suspicious. 

1. Builder buys stuff worth £1,000  including £100 for your job and £900 for his own.

2. Ditto, £100 worth delivered and £900 'to follow'. Cancel the latter and builder gets credit against his account.

3. Worth £100  but bill me at £1,000 and correction credit  note. Customer pays £1,000 and builder keeps all but £100 and a bung for the shop asssistant.

 

4. Or of course it was a genuine mistake, but by what process i can't imagine.

 

[Temp]

When we lived in Belgium it was normal over there to be quoted a figure ex VAT and be asked "how much you wanted on the invoice"? This reduced the VAT which was otherwise 21.5% but if you ever had to take a supplier to court you might have a hard time getting all your money back.