(snip)
Shrug. I've had it go both ways, fixing up this place. The furnace company wanted half up front, the painters wanted a token 'good faith' deposit, and the roofer looked at me like I was an idiot for asking if he wanted anything up front. So did the insulation guy. Plumbers and such got paid at the end, and the flooring guy (who was after-supper moonlighting on himself, from his one-man-company's day contract with the borg) got paid at the end, in cash. (No, I didn't ask for a receipt.)
On small work (under 5-7 K), if I know the guy has an actual local business location, and is in the real phone book, I'll risk paying front money. If the guy works out of his house in a plain truck, him asking for front money starts to set off my BS detector. Now if I ever do anything big where I have to get the bank's help to pay for it, I'll let them make the call. I do understand the concepts of draw payments at defined progress points- doing the punch lists to meet the bank guy's checklist was one of my duties as a kid. (Is the house 'dried in'? Are all the windows and doors set and lockable? Is the permit board current and legible, with the proper inspection stamps for each trade? That sort of thing.)
aem sends....