Cheques

Buildings still being built too. There will always be work for Plasterers as long as there’s enough plaster
Yes s**t loads of artex to be covered in the UK. Pised people keeping Christmas decorations in atic foot through ceiling Bath coming through ceiling chimneys leaking after 20 25 years gable end need rendering old cottages need lime render just down my road. so like you say if thers enough plaster should be OK for work for a long time
 
Who da fook r u??
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I was talking to customer once while he wrote the cheque, was supposed to be £1,630 but he wrote £1,360
I didn’t notice till got home so had to drive back to get it changed. He was going on holiday next day! :oops:
Don’t think many of us scrutinise them thoroughly as in date, signed etc. :)
 
Good few years back. I took 3 cheques in a week she went to pay them in and 1 wasnt signed. 1 had wrong year . And 1 somthing else wrong. Right pain in the arse .took a week to sort it. All my invoices say bank transfer or cash only. Over.
 
I took a cheque from an old couple yesterday. They said they didn’t like going out in the cold for the cash so I agreed to take a cheque. Been a good 3 years since I’ve taken one. Forgot how much of a ballache they are!
Rode to the bank in the rain today after checking online that the bank was open until 3. Couldn’t be arsed with traffic chaos so went on the bike. Got there, piss wet through and the shutters are down. Shuts at 1! Haven’t updated it online.
Internet banking or cash is the only way now! When I finally do get it to the back it’ll be another 3 days before it’s in ffs :crying:
You always think you're alone when these things happen to you. Several times I've been to the bank after checking their website to find it closed. Last time was for staff training. "Yes, but there wasn't a notice on your web........ oh forget it"
 
It's rare that I get paid with a cheque these days. My rules for cheques are are in mt T&C's and state that if it's for more than £2k that's fine, if it's for less than £2k I charge £50 for banking and admin. Otherwise I'd be paying (time and van running costs) for someone else's convenience.

It works the same way as my penalty charge if the customer hasn't cleared the room/garage/drive as asked ready for access. i.e. it never happens because people seem to focus their attention more as soon as they have to get their hand in their pocket.
 
It’s surprising I get quite a few cheques even In this day and age.
A developer we work for still pays his account with a cheque at the end of the month, he runs a big outfit so I guess all his sub contractors and suppliers are the same.Ive said to him why can’t you just pay us bacs? He says I don’t trust the banking system...
Bat s**t crazy, but a multi millionaire so find a logic.
 
I bank with Santander (free business banking) you can pay cheques into there cash machines.
 
It's rare that I get paid with a cheque these days. My rules for cheques are are in mt T&C's and state that if it's for more than £2k that's fine, if it's for less than £2k I charge £50 for banking and admin. Otherwise I'd be paying (time and van running costs) for someone else's convenience.

It works the same way as my penalty charge if the customer hasn't cleared the room/garage/drive as asked ready for access. i.e. it never happens because people seem to focus their attention more as soon as they have to get their hand in their pocket.

I like your style. Do you find that it loses you work sometimes? That’s always been my worry about being too strict about everything.
 
I like your style. Do you find that it loses you work sometimes? That’s always been my worry about being too strict about everything.

You don't frame it as being strict though - or call it a penalty charge. You call it a saving.

Look, if you can clear the decks for me before we start, that will be a day saved that I don't have to bill you for.

Sell it as a discount, you big racist. Up here for thinking, down there for dancing.
 
I like your style. Do you find that it loses you work sometimes? That’s always been my worry about being too strict about everything.

Not that I know of. I explain that the quote is fixed and won't increase unless they add or change something. Then I run through what it doesn't include, decorating, laying tiles but not choosing/buying them etc. Then anything which I need them to do and what can happen if they don't.

Nothing heavy or unreasonable, and all clearly explained. Customers always seem quite happy when it's all laid out and there are no surprises.
 
You don't frame it as being strict though - or call it a penalty charge. You call it a saving.

Look, if you can clear the decks for me before we start, that will be a day saved that I don't have to bill you for.

Sell it as a discount, you big racist. Up here for thinking, down there for dancing.

I always explain that the contract (quote with T&C's) is there to show what I will do, what they need to do, and what it'll cost. I never describe anything as a saving or discount, just a price for a service and the costs involved if they don't keep up their end.
 
It’s surprising I get quite a few cheques even In this day and age.
A developer we work for still pays his account with a cheque at the end of the month, he runs a big outfit so I guess all his sub contractors and suppliers are the same.Ive said to him why can’t you just pay us bacs? He says I don’t trust the banking system...
Bat s**t crazy, but a multi millionaire so find a logic.
He is a very wise man. If he pays you he is physically issueing that cheque and it is physically received and banked by yourself. So almost failsafe.

Electronically anything can happen and you try and prove it when you are not in control.

For example..........How many times have you lost an email or a file on your pc? And with internet banking it aint even your pc.
 
I always explain that the contract (quote with T&C's) is there to show what I will do, what they need to do, and what it'll cost. I never describe anything as a saving or discount, just a price for a service and the costs involved if they don't keep up their end.

It goes like this with me -
How much?
Lemme get back to you later today. (unless it's a very simple job) Will you be clearing the decks.
Oh...erm..I suppose I could put some stuff in the garage.
Right, it's just that if I have to do it, it's an extra day, y'see, and it's all gotta be paid for.
OK, no problem...I'll get everything out of your way at once.

And that's it done.
 
It goes like this with me -
How much?
Lemme get back to you later today. (unless it's a very simple job) Will you be clearing the decks.
Oh...erm..I suppose I could put some stuff in the garage.
Right, it's just that if I have to do it, it's an extra day, y'see, and it's all gotta be paid for.
OK, no problem...I'll get everything out of your way at once.

And that's it done.

It's always going to vary by area, person, and mostly what type of work you do. So just because the way I do it works for me and the type of work I do, doesn't mean it will for everyone.

That said, it's getting to the point where most jobs will need some form of contract paperwork. The changes to the CDM regs for example means that if you're arranging the trades for a bathroom or kitchen you can end up classed as the main contractor.

Or things like rendering the outside, or plastering the inside of external walls where technically they must be brought up to current insulation requirements and building control should be notified. If you have no paperwork you can't demonstrate that the customer was advised of this but asked you to carry on without doing so. Paperwork puts you in the clear, without it you're complicit.

It's a pain in the balls if you're doing small jobs, and no one really bothers, but things are changing which will only mean more cost to the customer.
 
It's always going to vary by area, person, and mostly what type of work you do. So just because the way I do it works for me and the type of work I do, doesn't mean it will for everyone.

That said, it's getting to the point where most jobs will need some form of contract paperwork. The changes to the CDM regs for example means that if you're arranging the trades for a bathroom or kitchen you can end up classed as the main contractor.

Or things like rendering the outside, or plastering the inside of external walls where technically they must be brought up to current insulation requirements and building control should be notified. If you have no paperwork you can't demonstrate that the customer was advised of this but asked you to carry on without doing so. Paperwork puts you in the clear, without it you're complicit.

It's a pain in the balls if you're doing small jobs, and no one really bothers, but things are changing which will only mean more cost to the customer.

Well, if you're arranging on the customer's behalf, then you are the contractor pretty much. The fact that you haven't billed for it is your own fault.

Customers can be pretty stupid too. My last nightmare was a job in the Hebrides that I'd only seen photos of.

Got there and the customer had 2nd fixed everything...kitchen fitted, bathroom fitted, tiles, sockets, the f**k**g LOT...in his mind, he must've lumped the plastering in with the decorating.

I said to him one day....

Build.
1st fix
wire, pipes
board (which he'd f**k*d up...some bizarre combination of drylining and prep for skimming)
Plaster
fit kitchen and bathroom
paint
2nd fix and tile
snag

He said 'oh well, I don't always think like a builder'....no s**t, Sherlock.
 
Re cheques... Get more than 1 cheque under £500 and use banking app on phone as will clear next day although never tried myself. The other way is to go in a post office but you need to follow procedure for your back as you just can't walk in and deposit cheque. Each bank is different
 
Why not ask for cash and if the person is too old and scared to go to hole in wall. Why not offer to take them and stay with them while the get it for you. Suits both parties then.

Some people may only know the outside world from the news and newspaper headlines and it may scare the shite out of them to do internet banking and go to a cash point.
 
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