Devis - payment terms

Hi all. Is it usual in France, to pay an electrician 40% up front and 60% on completion? Totally new to getting work done in France so just want to check. :blush:

We are normally asked for 30%, but if lots of materials to buy they can ask for more. Also, check whether they intend to cash it straight away, often then wait until work actually starts.

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been some years since we had a devis for our new build but I do remember paying a substantial %age up front which was intended to cover materials purchase - at that time, the material costs were increasing and this was explained as a hedge against the overall price being increased - which made sense.
At the end of the day, it really relies on whether you can trust the artisan to deliver and not disappear with your hard earned… Maybe as a hedge against that… get him to deliver (or have delivered) the supplies to you for your safe keeping in secure storage :thinking:
In our case, the electrician used the same accountant we did and this, after consulting him, increased our confidence.

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Never used an electrician but 20-30% up front is normal for most trades in my experience

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I expect to be asked 30% upfront on signing the bon d’accord, 30% part way through and the remainder on completion. Which I guess is very comparable to 40% upfront and 60% on completion, six of one and half a dozen of the other.

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Yes it is normal for artisans to ask for a deposit and we always did with paperwork to cover both parties. Clients normally had no problems with this and I have just done the same with the new build, paying the artisans of each trade a certain percent with the last payment on completion of works.

Thank you for all your comments.

Much the same as all the above here, but twice felt a bit cheated for different reasons.
20 years ago we doubled the size of our small house and used the original builder, a local factory which makes prefabricated buildings. The PDG was the maire of the next village too, but that didn’t stop him threatening us for non-payment of the final 70% because we were waiting for 2 final items to be finished. We agreed that if I paid straight away, he would get both things done at the same time. We did but he only got one thing done, the other has never been done to this day.

The 2nd one was with a local English builder who did a €10,000 rebuild of our kitchen and bathroom. We paid up front 30 % but the job he did was less than the best to say the least and I was really ticked off when he came to me in the middle of the job asking for a large paymnent ‘because it is the end of the month and I have bills to pay’. Not only that but on seeing my wife’s fragility he took me aside and said ‘if she dies before we are finished, will I still get paid?’ :astonished:

Needless to say we won’t go near him again, but there has been a change at the top with the first one so, in the unlikely event that we should need them again, we would go back there.

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