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Please pay your plaster on time


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I’ve just done a job in Skelmersdale and a scouser hadn’t been paid for his part in the brickwork He turned up and knocked all the corners off an eight block of houses It took a gang two weeks to put it right 

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16 minutes ago, Mr Punter said:

Criminal damage carried out by morons.  Not big or clever.

Absolutely. But when a client says" I'm not paying, what are you going to do about it?" this perhaps is very tempting.

He is never going to get paid.

I've met a few small builders who have had this. One went back and demolished the porch he had not been paid for, but only after discussion failed.

The rich go to court. The poor, and becoming poorer,  get the sledge out.

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Might not be criminal damage if your contract says all materials supplied remain your property until invoice is paid for?

 

Perhaps add something about right of access to collect them?

Edited by Temp
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OK here is photo example of some "work" that was carried out on a tenanted property we own.  Not surprisingly I refused to pay.  They were supposed to renew the lead flashing.

 

He persisted in trying to get payment and threatened to come back to the property.  We politely said he would not get any money from us and it would be harassment and criminal damage if he attempted to visit the property.

 

This guy has 100% positive google reviews and his modus is to get the customer to write the review while he watches them.  There are some right cowboys around.

 

This was a £450 job:

 

image.thumb.jpeg.0983d4ba83dd7563f775874413054073.jpeg

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I heard about a plastering contractor who wasn't getting paid for large  housing estate.

 

After much negotiation it was apparent the developer was going to leave him high and dry so his crew did one last days work. 

 

Shortly after the first house was sold the developer received a complaint that the house was making an intolerable beeping between 4-4:30am. Mystified, they eventually spent a night in the house and after much distruction they found a very annoying battery alarm clock inserted in a stud wall. 

 

Thinking he had won the petty battle the developer rang the plasterers to gloat. The plasterer apologized for forgetting the alarm and asked for his bill to be paid. The developer laughed at him. 

 

Soon the clients of the second house rang, and then the third. It turned out the plaster had "forgotten" several alarm clocks per house in the entire estate, all set for different days and times.

 

When the second house was almost demolished to try to find the offending alarms the developer remorsefully called the plasterer. Paid him in full for his work and included a bonus in return for detailed map of the lost clocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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11 minutes ago, Iceverge said:

developer was going to leave him high and dry

In the nasty world of the major contractors this is common enough. there is a long chain between the workers, gangs, subcontractors and so on. any one of them can be the weak link in the worker getting paid.

But I well remember that being a subby to big, even national' contractors was the worst. They didn't do collaboration and they wanted a discount for paying on time. Their QS would be  on a bonus for monies not paid out.

 

And once as  main contractor to a family business, a consultant warned me to expect trouble getting the last payment. The client even carelessly said he never pays a bill if he doesn't need the supplier again. It went true to form except I had my alarm clocks in place too. Horrible though.

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21 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

In the nasty world of the major contractors this is common enough. there is a long chain between the workers, gangs, subcontractors and so on. any one of them can be the weak link in the worker getting paid.

But I well remember that being a subby to big, even national' contractors was the worst. They didn't do collaboration and they wanted a discount for paying on time. Their QS would be  on a bonus for monies not paid out.

 

And once as  main contractor to a family business, a consultant warned me to expect trouble getting the last payment. The client even carelessly said he never pays a bill if he doesn't need the supplier again. It went true to form except I had my alarm clocks in place too. Horrible though.

 

It's a real failure of the building industry, and the law system in general. 

 

If someone rich wants to stiff you they can afford to impoverish you through delaying and outspending you in the courts. 

 

Like you say the only way is to hold the keystone in your pocket until all the money is handed over. 

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Yeah it cuts both ways. It helps if you are familiar with the county court system though - I can file a new money claim in about 5 minutes. A few days later the client gets a formal looking writ from the court with a deadline for response. This won't phase the professional non-payer but will often help the casual non-payer 'come to terms with their priorities'.

 

Don't let your receivables build up unnecessarily, collect as soon as you can.

 

Act professionally and on a timely basis with quotes, invoices, statements, payment follow up, discrepancies, complaints, final notice, letters before action etc - if you signal that you're careless about being paid ... then guess what.

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I have found in the past as a LL - if the work quality is plainly “ sub standard “ you tell the tradesman you’re not going to pay . 9/10 if you stand up they back down - if not you say you’re gonna bust their face . It’s not nice , it’s not “ who I am “ - but honestly ; they’ll square up if they think they have a chance . 

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Worked on a job where the plasterer wasn't paid. He turned up a month later after several failed attempts to get his money... And wrote "CNUT" on all the walls with diesel and a paint brush. 

 

No matter what they tried to paint over it with, it still showed through. 

 

They ended up having to gun it off and reskim. 

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16 hours ago, saveasteading said:

major contractors

I spent 8 hours in Tarmac head office telling whoever turned up that I was waiting to get paid. Tarmac were in the national press at the time as an example of a company that did not pay small contracts in time, if ever.

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