I am bidding on a job that has $ 17,000.00 of light fixtures and another $ 10,000.00 for materials. What should the down payment be and howmany payments should I collect.
Thanks
you don't say where you are located, and what you can legally ask for
varies.
in calif. it's 10%
i bid a little remodel earlier this year. total with extras came to $29k.
general assured me that he paid as soon as he was paid.
sure, wilburr.... the guy was a pathological liar.
materials were about 8k, two weeks work, spread over a month.
job took 7 weeks, 'cause the general had no money for material.
it was 5 weeks after the job was done, before i saw any money
whatsoever.
last week, i got the retention. 5 months after the permit was
signed off, and as builts, letter of warranty, and final paperwork
was submitted.
when was the general paid? he was paid in full for his progress payments,
within 4 days of submitting them. i checked.
and i got paid first, as i had some leverage that the other subs didn't
have. some of them still aren't paid anything... 7 months in.
trust me, you will not have the leverage i had in this situation.
you will be one of the other subs.....
if i'm not doing work directly for the customer, on today's market,
doing work for a small general contractor, there is no way in hell
i'd do work without getting the material up front.
every general i know of is struggling to stay afloat, and you will become
their de facto silent partner, like it or not.
make sure that you comply with letters of intent to lien, and other
requirements appropriate to the state you operate in, to be able
to secure your position.
if you have a wholesale house you are on good terms with, have the
material delivered to the jobsite by the wholesale house, then the
wholesale house has a direct recourse to the owner of the property
to lein or file stop notices, instead of just coming after you.
good luck.