As a last resort, demand that the contractor use payment via credit card. If you have a problem with the contractor, you can contact your credit card company and have them intercede. In general I agree with all of the comments above. We did pay our landscaper upfront for the plants (about 1/3), and the remainder when the project was finished. The particular landscaper had done several projects in the neighborhood, and was known to several neighbors.

A Fool And His Money Will Soon Be Parted.....But They Were Lucky To Be Together In The First Place.....Never Pay Upfront. If Someone Is Going To Feel Uncomfortable About Money Always Let It Be The Other Party! Otherwise :sad::cus:

:agree:

This is the Very first time that I have ever seen a contractor advising someone here on TOTV...I am really Impressed.

This is sound advice just one of the reason why I am going to call this paint company when I am ready to have the interior of my home painted.

Another terrific contractor is XL Construction Tel 352-266-1102..Paul White. No Down payment and No....Get this... Port a Potty.

You have obviously missed all the posts written by Frank D'Angelo, TOTV favorite home inspector.

Perhaps I did..however I did a Search on Frank D'Angelo and he does have a good reputation and apparently very busy as a " Home Inspector ".

However, I did not find one posting from Frank D'Angelo alerting people to Not put money down before the start of the project.

Since I obviously missed "All" post ( Your Words ) from Mr.D'Angelo...please enlighten me on what I missed.

Thank you Sally for the kind words. I do try to help when I can here.......but of course there are so many other helpful folks here that often others solve the issue well and my 2 cents would just be redundant.

Sadly, one does need to be careful on who you hire and how payment should be made. I too generally agree with everything said so far....the more reputable contractors are usually set up to handle cash flow well without unreasonable demands.

I think sometimes the problems you read about stem from when one hires less well known businesses that do not have a well known presence or a good reputation that took years to build. Their attraction is many times being cheaper or "I can be there this Thursday..." The best guys are usually not the cheapest and usually can't start the job tomorrow.

The cheapest guy is often the cheapest because of cutting corners or is "learning the trade" on your job. He may not know the true costs of running a business and may indeed be out of business before the warranty he gives you expires.

In this internet age it is easy to learn about the improvement you are having done. Do some homework. Go see examples of other projects like what you want and ask the owners what small things made the quality difference. Often it is the small details that make the difference in both materials and installation as well as design.

Hope this helps! Respectfully, Frank

No need to get your feathers ruffled.:ho:

Frank, You have made it crystal clear, Well Said

:bigbow: