help - think my plasterer is trying to rip me off?

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mole

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hi,
we had a plasterer in today, we agreed costs up front and payment method etc was never mentioned. he has now called me to say he had issues with the ceiling having distemper on it, which i understand is a pain to skim over. he said half the house has taken the plaster and the other half it had fallen off and we will probably need to put some plasterboard up and skim over it. this i totally understand and think he is being reasonable.

however, he wont do that work as he is only a plasterer, so he has asked me to rush home so i can pay him cash before he goes. he never mentioned paying in cash, let alone the same day the work was done. all of our previous tradesman have given us invoices and we have done bank transfers. he says he will have to charge us 20% VAT if we want to do it that way, I think that is unfair as this was never mentioned before although he said he normally puts it on his card(we never got a 'card').

on top of that, i am worried he wants us to pay cash now and he knows the rest of the plaster will probably come down in the next few days and then he won't get paid at all. is this a valid worry ? and do u think he could be trying to do a runner before it all caves in?
 
haha - yes wish it was that simples :)

just don't like it when people try pressure you into things and don't particularly want to get on someones bad side when he is home alone in my house!
 
think you should pay him for what hes done then get someone else in and get 2 quotes and ask them the questions ur asking here
 
thanks steve - what if the ceiling work he has done falls done in a few days/weeks? is that possible?
 
one of mi dogs got distemper an died, left me gutted for years oh the pain:RpS_crying: .
where`s the bottle:RpS_crying:
 
LOL he is trying to escape with the money, if he hasnt done what you asked for dont pay him and if some has fell off the rest will. What has he done for you? what has he charged?
 
his basic price was £15 per sq. metre + £45 for materials. most of it was ceiling and then some walls, so about £600 worth I reckon, as you say, I reckon the rest will probably come down sometime.....
 
mole said:
his basic price was £15 per sq. metre + £45 for materials. most of it was ceiling and then some walls, so about £600 worth I reckon, as you say, I reckon the rest will probably come down sometime.....
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Has he done it in a day?
 
yep - said he would be there all day and into the evening probably, then at 3pm i get a call saying its all done and he has had to leave about a quarter of the job unfinished due to distemper....which seems remarkably quick
 
Thanks Danny - one note on that, he was aware of the distemper as I had never even heard about it until he came round to quote the job and told us that it was there :) But he thought he could get around it.

As I say I have no problem that he couldn't do it, just why change his tune about payment method so late in the day when I haven't even seen the job...besides I don't walk round with £600 in my wallet either!
 
Exactly dan, how much of the money is he asking for and if he cant plasterboard he aint much of a plasterer, how did you come to getting him in?
 
Dont pay him anything you havent got what he said he was gonna give you, you wouldnt pay for your shopping and just accept the carrier bags :)
 
the problem is...he has done the lounge ceiling and a bedroom ceiling....so i need to pay for them then...but what if they fall down? this is why i think he is pushing for the cash!

found him on myhammer but had a funny feeling and went against my gut which was a mistake!
 
mole said:
the problem is...he has done the lounge ceiling and a bedroom ceiling....so i need to pay for them then...but what if they fall down? this is why i think he is pushing for the cash!

found him on myhammer but had a funny feeling and went against my gut which was a mistake!
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when you get home if they arent right dont pay him and if you tap your nails on the finish you can tell if it hasnt bonded, get a scrapper under the skim and see if you can scrape it off. How much is he asking for the ceilings he has done?
 
i can remember the exact costs, they are at home but I think it is about £500 for what he has done and maybe £150 for the ceiling he has "left".

Going to phone him now and say sorry I cant leave work early to come pay you at the last minute and banks have closed anyway. I will check job when I am home and then we can talk from there. I think that is fair enough...?
 
Agreed, but then you should let your client know upfront and not phone them at 15:30 when they are working and tell them to come back and pay you now when no such agreement was ever discussed....javol!
 
well as a naive client i would assume he would be wanting to be paid the same as my 4 other tradesman I have used, via an invoice and a bank transfer!
 
Is this a d*m**o strikes again moment!!! If the stuffs falling off you can't expect paying. I personally would never come out with an excuse like that for not finishing, if he could see problems he should have explained them to you and the various ways/costs of correcting them. I went to Reskim a landing ceiling last month which turned out to be chipboard, I'd been and looked at the job and it had not crossed my mind, so I was took the chipboard down, plasterboarded and skimmed at the original price as would not want to get a rep as someone who bumps quotes up or even worse as this just gets off
 
Pay him when ur satisfied and ready and tell him u don't carry cash so he will have to wait. I dunno any decent tradesmen who cant wait a few days for cash.
 
but don't take the piss, assume he is genuine unless proven otherwise. Keep a line of communication open at all times
 
get him round your house talk face to face about your worrys,then pay him for the work he has already done!!
then agree to pay him in stages as and when he completes the work!!
some jobs start off a small job but once you start hacking off or scrapping paper off walls/ceiling e.t.c we open up a can of worms!!and theres only 2 options!! pay to fix the problem or live in a sh*t hole
 
I can't see the problem with him asking for his money obviously minus the ceiling but I'd expect a couple of days to give you the chance to get it, the cash thing should've been sorted before he started between the pair of you so you'll have to fight that out between yourselves you can still pay him cash and ask for a receipt make sure his address etc on there so you've got something on him if it all goes tits up with the other ceilings
 
distemper can be a nightmare. i learnt the hard way in regards to it. two ceilings is not too bad. at least he brought it up. could have been worse. shouldnt be pushing you so quick for payment though. not untill your happy at least. like the lads have said you will have to find common ground on payment. what part of the country are you in??? youd have none of these problems if you got a plasterer off here!!!
 
He obviously never told you that he was VAT registered either, although he probably isn't, and just thought you would cough up the cash so you wouldn't have to pay extra. Sounds like a liar and a chancer to me.
 
TonyM said:
He obviously never told you that he was VAT registered either, although he probably isn't, and just thought you would cough up the cash so you wouldn't have to pay extra. Sounds like a liar and a chancer to me.
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hud on a minute sounds a tad harsh whats the plasterer dun wrong again???its only the client story weve heared and hes panicking probably about nothing and lets face it weve all had clients trying 2 rip us off
 
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