Prepaying for repairs

[Bycrick]

+1 to walking. I’d never pay up front. I might buy all the materials, on my account, and have them shipped to me. But not the labor. I did half dozen big lighting repair jobs for people. They bought and paid for all the materials. I got paid when the job was done and they got the insurance money. Was I taking a risk that they’d sail off? Yes. If it were my food money, I’d want some advance on the labor, maybe progress payments if it was a really long job. But all up front? No way.

[gonesail]

no way. don't do it. bad business practice.

[FlyingScot]

Generally speaking the more money anyone wants front means less financial stability on their part.

If they have legitimate concerns about you not paying them, they should ask for proof of funds and a large depsoit to cover materials.

Paying up front gives them absolutely every reason to shuffle you down the priority list leaving you with almost zero recourse for timely work completion.

[DirtPete]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

Paying up front gives them absolutely every reason to shuffle you down the priority list leaving you with almost zero recourse for timely work completion.

I seen this line of thinking over and over, this is simply not true on quoted work.....If it takes longer, somebody is paying for it, and it's definitley not the customer that recieved a quote, and whose work is now delayed.

50% is normal deposit, and reasonable. Everything up front seems odd.

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by DirtPete

I seen this line of thinking over and over, this is simply not true on quoted work.....If it takes longer, somebody is paying for it, and it's definitley not the customer that recieved a quote, and whose work is now delayed.

50% is normal deposit, and reasonable. Everything up front seems odd.

Let me be more clear. Paying 100% up front means that they may never finish your job. Sometimes not even start. If they do the work, you can almost guarantee it will take longer than if you paid them incrementally.

Money is an incentive. People work for money (generally).

NEVER pay 100% up front. That is an easy rule to follow.

[geoleo]

Originally Posted by nknowland

We offered to prepay for materials but not labor. Company said no. Thinking we should walk???

Dont walk-run.

[SailingHarmonie]

On big jobs with my clients, I bill them weekly. It works great for everybody.

I do not get deeply out of pocket. I learn very quickly who is slow to pay. For someone with even the most basic computerized time tracking and invoicing system, generating an invoice once a week is a trivial amount of extra work over monthly billing.

They get an itemized invoice for everything that has happened, so they know what progress has been made, or not.

If a job involves a large capital expense, I will want the customer to pay for those goods up front. If they feel the need, I am more than happy to delivery the items to their possession once they have been paid for. Nobody has ever objected to that.

But to be fair, I have a very small customer base, and we trust each other.

[Bill_Giles]

Stage payments as the work is completed plus paying up front for materials?

[lifeofreilly57]

Originally Posted by nknowland

We offered to prepay for materials but not labor. Company said no. Thinking we should walk???

Walk.
Either they don't want to do the job or they're going to rip you off.
The other possibility is they're financially unstable.
None of those situations is one you want to be in the middle of.

I used to manage factory installations, putting in factories around the world.
We had to alter our payment terms when dealing with the Chinese, although many companies were straight up the number of scam artist was not good (government backed loans to prefered party lackies).
Payments to be paid in milestone/equipment delivery schedules, no money, no equipment. The last 5% paid on satisfactory production ability, when the factory was producing sellable product.

Any contracts I've worked with boatyards is similar, either I buy the hardware or pay them for the hardware they buy based on a fair market assessment of the cost. Then progress payments tied to the work being done.

[Giro]

Ever since Covid, the “supply chain” bologna and all the other nonsensical excuses the suppliers and service industries have had a field day ripping the consumers off!
They all think that they have “licenses to steal!”
If we let them get away with it, it will never stop.
I’d tell them to shove it and go find someone else.

[mcon12000]

I just had my rigging replaced and my mast repainted. My very competent marina asked for 70% down of the estimated cost. They use an outside rigger but do all the paint in house. I believe the 70% is going to be closer to 50% when the final bill is presented so expect to pay some form of deposit. On small jobs (under $5k) they have never asked for a deposit and for your reference this is a large well established operation on the east coast with multiple travel lifts and over twenty employees full time.

[Senojev]

Definitely walk away quickly unless they will work with you on a compromise payment system. Funding materials upfront would be fair if you get possession of major equipment and release it as needed.

[jimellifritt]

[QUOTE=nknowland;3859883]We had a lightening strike on our boat last June. We got a repair estimate for $15k. We are in the process of scheduling the repair, and the company is asking for full payment (parts&labor) before they start the job.

Is this standard practice?? We’ve never had to prepay before, but we’ve also never had such a big job.

Our big fear is getting scammed.

Your thought please…

Bad plan. Reputable places would allow you to order and have shipped direct to you all major components, then they are yours. A weekly deposit or 50% labor deposit to have someone work against would be normal. Do not upfront all cash, either they are new, little expierence or scam.

Just had many 1,000s of dollars spent on huge project in Panama, this is what we did.

[ccanupii]

Even on motor yachts this is out of the ordinary. Yards capable and competent to do the work have you pay for parts, especially electronics, up front. Final payment is do when finished, no cash, no splash. With a lightning strike refit, quoting a set price is also a red flag to me. I can tell you how much parts are, I can tell you hourly labor rates. But as we all know, regardless of the boat you have, you never really know the cost until you start fixing the problem. How many times have any of us started a simple easy project with low cost to have it end way over budget because of what we find once we started.

Run away.

[Goodxcharly]

If your boat is being repaired in their yard I don’t see a need for a large down payment or any.



Most places the boat doesn’t leave the yard till paid in full.