I’m hoping to have some repair work done on my wooden fence, and a gate replaced. The estimator told me it was 33% down, another 33% on start date, then the final payment when all was done.
Is this the new normal? I’d appreciate your thoughts. Thanks!

Never heard of that, I’ve always seen it done as payment when the fence is finished. Maybe they’ve got ripped off by people not paying when the fence is up.

It depends on the state and local customs.

Max upfront payments are often by statute, MA is 33% upfront or the cost of custom materials whichever is greater.

Fl it is up to 50%

CA is 10%

I would purchase the raw materials myself rather than hand over 33.

The way I’m looking at this, it’ll be 66% upfront. I’ve done 50% down, but this is new to me..

The last time we replaced a fence was a couple of years ago. I was given a very close estimate of the raw materials and paid that in advance. The rest was paid after the job was done.

Many years ago when I was a service manager for a fire protection company in New Jersey part of what I did was install fire protection systems in commercial restaurant kitchen hoods.

We worked with a local sheet metal company. They put the hood in and we installed the system.

The way we worked was, a third at the sighing of the contract, a third when the fire system was installed in the hood, and the final third when I did the final inspection with the fire inspector.

When I moved to Florida I needed a fence. When I moved here it was still very rural.
I found a local feed dealer who also did fences. He came to my house and gave me a verbal price.
I asked if he needed a deposit and a sign contract to start. He reached out his hand and I shook it and said, when I am done if you are happy with the job come to the store and pay me, boy have time changed. That was almost 24 years ago.

I guess it would all depend where you live.

If the bastards don't have a line of credit to purchase the materials for the job, fuck em. I'm not giving any of these grifters money up front again for anything. Once you do that, they have little incentive to do the job as promised. Ask me how I know. Once burnt twice cautious.

I just had my fence replaced three months ago.
Paid the full amount at the completion of the job. The company did not require any deposit.

We fenced the back yard of our daughters house as a house warming gift last year and payment was upon completion.

The last time I had part of the fence replaced they showed up and did the job and I gave them a check for the full amount when they were done. It wasn’t a huge job, they completed it in one day.

Bigger jobs like when we did the windows and siding involved money up front and a payment schedule base on completed milestones but unless the fence job is huge that seems excessive but, as mentioned, that may be how they roll in wherever you are located.

As far as what's legal, that's entirely a state-specific (and maybe even local) question. In Maryland, a contractor may not collect more than 1/3 as a deposit, but beyond that, the law is silent.

The 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 you describe isn't uncommon here, but I've had plenty of work done where I haven't been asked for a deposit and a couple of jobs where I was asked for more than the allowed 1/3.

Know your state/local law & regs, then know what you're comfortable with within those parameters.

Given my experiences with no-show contractors over the past few years, I would hesitate to pay too much of a deposit unless it was by CC.

-Rob

$3,200 worth of split rail work last year.

Local company required 50% when we signed the contract, 4 weeks before the work was performed.

Balance due after the work was completed.

It was a local company with decades of experience.

We did pay with CC.

We put new fencing in at the daughters home, zero down, 100% on competition, in fact I think they just billed us.

Look around find a local company, family owned which is what we used, quality work, done on the right day at the right time.

Payment terms drive behavior. They can drive good behavior, they can drive poor behavior, and anything in between.

I work for a large, multinational corporation and so contractors know there is likely repeat future business if they perform well the first job. The dollar amount is many, many orders of magnitude greater than anything I do at home. We have incentivized the right thing (e.g. customer satisfaction bonus) and seen great behavior (e.g. work a couple Saturdays to recover schedule and meet mechanical completion milestone) from Contractors. We have incentivized the wrong thing (e.g. too much money on an insignificant schedule milestone) and seen poor behavior (e.g. do work out of sequence to get payment but 2 block subcontractors on later milestones with less incentive).

I have to do a reset with my thinking when I have projects contracted at home. Future work for me is unlikely as most stuff I'd have contracted would last a decade or more. Future work for word of mouth referrals will generate some good behavior. The dollar amount is significant to me, but it's not enough where 33% hold-back at the end of the job is going to drive desired behavior of start on-time, finish on-time, and do quality work.

Way too many horror stories of homeowners giving somebody 33% up front and never seeing them again.

Way too many horror stories of homeowners giving somebody 33% to show up for day one and:

they never show up for day 2 or day 2 is many months after day 1. You've given them 66% of the job for buying materials and showing up, and they're going to make more money doing the same day 1 for somebody else rather than showing up for day 2. How is your life impacted if they tear down the fence on day 1 and day 2 is building the fence, but day 2 happens 60 days later? A contractor could easily have a low cost crew tearing down old fences, and a crew with more skill building the fences and the 2 crews get out of synch schedule wise.

Also, 33% of show up doesn't mean they're going to be there at 8 AM and put in 8 hours. They could show up at 4 PM and work an hour to get 33%.

For a fence and gate, I wouldn't be comfortable any more than 10% up front and 90% at end of job. I'm with others that I'd much rather 100% at the end of the job.

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

Fenced in a 1/3 acre yard with black chain link a few years ago. It was 100% upon completion. That was a pretty small job though, so it may have been different if it was bigger or needed custom materials.

I think I would be happy to front material cost, but basically 66% up front would give me pause unless it was a very reputable company.

Unless the materials or something are very unique and special order and they would be stuck with if you didn't pay or it's a very long job to complete, no way.

Most times the job is a day or two, maybe a week at most. That's the sign of a fly by night contractor to me.

I've heard too many horror stories of people fronting money to smaller contractors and a variety of problems were the result. Sometimes you don't know until months later when the supplier files a lien on you for the materials, but you paid the contractor up front. Yes, that's your problem then.

If you have someone that's starting out but you know they're trustworthy, I'd go when they pick up the materials and pay that part directly myself and get the receipt. Then what you're paying for is really just the labor.

Speaking of fly-by-night's, I'd also ask for a liability insurance policy certificate to be sent/emailed to me if they seem at all questionable (normally free to them by their insurer). Or even better, pass on them.

I learned the hard way. Handyman dude disappeared with tasks half done, scammed me out of $$. Screwed my neighbor the same way. No more payment in advance, once burned, twice shy.

I've never paid anything up front for any contracted service at home. Not even on big jobs like a nearly $20k reroof. That's definitely not the norm around here.

I've only ever paid 100% at job completion. However, I have purchased materials on my own before and provided them for the contractor after they gave me a list (like all the tile, waterproofing, and grout for a shower remodel).

Personally, I’ve always bought the materials, at the supply house of the contractor’s choice.

Never had someone gripe about that.