Conversion Payment

[Saracen21]

Firstly has anybody used Freedom Conversions in Chorley Lancashire.
Their Facebook page all looks good and I've been chatting with the owner Paul who seems genuine. All their conversions look good just thought I'd see if anyone else has used them or heard good/bad things.
Secondly, is it common to pay a large deposit/payment (50% of final bill) before commencing the work? Also is it common for the payment to be made via bank transfer or is there a safer way to make the payment?
TiA

 

[DaveyB]

Firstly has anybody used Freedom Conversions in Chorley Lancashire.
Their Facebook page all looks good and I've been chatting with the owner Paul who seems genuine. All their conversions look good just thought I'd see if anyone else has used them or heard good/bad things.
Secondly, is it common to pay a large deposit/payment (50% of final bill) before commencing the work? Also is it common for the payment to be made via bank transfer or is there a safer way to make the payment?
TiA

Howdy @Saracen21. As to whether it is normal or not, can’t really say. Equally 50% will seem more if the final bill is large than if it’s a couple of hundred. My roof cost a bit over 5k, and I had to pay £3800 up front at the time of making the booking. This is because that was the physical cost of the roof from the supplier, which the fitter hands straight over to the customer so that they are not holding any risk. It could be that your conversion company is doing the same thing.
I paid by credit card. Whilst an electronic bank transfer is totally safe, not sure I would want to be using that method to pay up front! Payment at the end once I have inspected the work etc i’d have no hesitation; but up front..... mmm not sure.

 

[Ed Webb]

My conversion was done by bodans of Shrewsbury. Their waiting list at my time of booking was about 6 months. At the initial booking I paid £200 for my place in the que.
After about 2 months they wanted a small deposit and again 2 months later a similar payment. These two payments were for similar reasons as @DaveyB. They were used to purchase the pop top and bed the two biggest costs in the build.
Those two payments also made about half the deposit with the final amount being settled upon completion.
So again again with Dave the deposit situation sound normal. But I'm not sure what protection you'd have using bank transfer. I made sure a put some of the payment on my credit card so that I was protected if anything went wrong.

 

[andys]

But I'm not sure what protection you'd have using bank transfer. I all made sure a put some of the payment on my credit card so that I was protected if anything went wrong.

That's a good point that a lot of people don't realise, it doesn't have to be the whole amount on credit card to get the protection, just put £100 on the card and they're jointly liable

 

[MikeB]

Our conversion was done by Exploria. To our surprise, they didn't want a deposit of any form. I guess the larger companies have either the financial resource to cover their costs during a build, or have an adequate line of credit with the relevant suppliers.