Paying tradesmen

Canucklehead

john0612 wrote: »

a decent tradesman has accounts with suppliers so their bill is not till the end of next month. I would be wary if the guy says can i get £150 to buy the paint tbh.

cash payment sounds like he's on the fiddle, i assume there is no VAT ???

Good morning: Not all tradespersons have accounts with suppliers but prefer to pay via cash or card for materials/ equipment (often thousands of pounds worth for a new central heating system) . Cash payment does not always correlate to a tradesperson being 'on the fiddle' (cash and electronic transfers don't bounce). Many sole traders are not VAT registered as their turnover is below the VAT thresh-hold. My OH has been running a successful plumbing and heating business following this model for 20+ years...it works for well him and his clients as they will pay less i.e. no 17.5% VAT on labour etc. Some customers prefer to purchase their own materials but this has repercussions which I have discussed on other threads.

One way for a customer to protect him/herself is to have a written quotation (not an estimate) before works proceed from a tradesperson recommended by a source they trust (also check out certification, trade membership etc. eg. for gas work check at CORGI , plumbing at CIPHE ) and agree to terms and conditions by signing 2 copies of the quotation, retaining one and returning the other: alternatively, use a standard building works contract form.

HTH

Canucklehead

john0612

Canucklehead wrote: »

Good morning: Not all tradespersons have accounts with suppliers but prefer to pay via cash or card for materials/ equipment (often thousands of pounds worth for a new central heating system) . Cash payment does not always correlate to a tradesperson being 'on the fiddle' (cash and electronic transfers don't bounce). Many sole traders are not VAT registered as their turnover is below the VAT thresh-hold. My OH has been running a successful plumbing and heating business following this model for 20+ years...it works for well him and his clients as they will pay less i.e. no 17.5% VAT on labour etc. Some customers prefer to purchase their own materials but this has repercussions which I have discussed on other threads.

One way for a customer to protect him/herself is to have a written quotation (not an estimate) before works proceed from a tradesperson recommended by a source they trust (also check out certification, trade membership etc. eg. for gas work check at CORGI , plumbing at CIPHE ) and agree to terms and conditions by signing 2 copies of the quotation, retaining one and returning the other: alternatively, use a standard building works contract form.

HTH

Canucklehead

as long as "the company" are giving a receipt then cash payment is fine, also just making sure that the price hasn't got VAT included as i've heard of rouge traders asking cash plus adding VAT, and i'm pretty sure it's not getting declared.

the £67,000 VAT threshold is a killer, and it kills me every quarter. I would love to get under that because that extra few hundred pounds can be the reason you don't get the job, but with the type of work i subby out doing my turnover is high.

the harder you work, the more THEY take off you, but that's another thread :rotfl:

Chichi_2

Ok builders have worked 18 days. Not good weather so couldn't really do exterior until this week. Kitchen now beginning to take shape.. floor tiles down, cabinets put together..

The kitchen was stalled due to old electrics in my house. I wanted a certificate of installation and decided to use an electrician for that. He completely re-wired kitchen and extension ( great cost) but far less than it usually costs.

Electrician ignored the channels my builders had made and made sure that every appliance has a local means of isolation.

Builders :

wanted to hide switches in cabinets
used wrong size earth cable

Basically all builders attempts at electrics was wrong.

I asked this morning for a deduction from their quote which included electrics.. this resulted in an argument.

I told them that as they were the 'expert kitchen fitters' they should have made it clear that they don't do electrics and quote accordingly. They are now panicking and adding costs for all the extras they had to do - self-levelling compound etc.. which has increased original quote by nearly £1000.

We still haven't agreed on a final sum as they keep adding things even though the jobs more than halfway finished. Should I insist that they deduct for the shoddy electrics? BTW they have moved my washing machine several times and needed to feed the waste hose into outside drain through hole in kitchen wall. It didn't work so I was without a machine for days!! The engineer came and said that the hose was lower than water level and hoisted it up high and then down. I couldn't understand how the builders didn't know a simple thing like this... and they're gonna plumb in my sink and washing machine!!!

The corgi guy who will connect the hob will check the plumbing and if it's not good I will ask for a deduction for that as well.

Would be interested to know what others feel about asking builders to revise their quote if the work was not completed or unsatisfactory. Had I not said anything I would be in a shiny new kitchen now but a very unsafe one!!

allan673

im having a new kitchen fitted, plastered, tiling, laying new flooring, new consumer unit and im not paying a penny untill the works complete and im happy with it.
thats what the tradesman said.

27col

I'm not sure that having outside painting done at this time of year is a very good idea. My neighbour, who does painting and decorating, will not accept any outside painting during the winter months.

phill99

Flapjack. Have you got nothing better to do? This was originally posted 18 months ago. I imagine bothe the painting and kitcheb are finished. Why do people reactivating dead posts?

misgrace

allan673 wrote: »

im having a new kitchen fitted, plastered, tiling, laying new flooring, new consumer unit and im not paying a penny untill the works complete and im happy with it.
thats what the tradesman said.

You better be happy with it then,lol cause if you dont pay they might rip it out.
I am not saying your builders do this, but one lady I did a job for was having a brick wall built at the end of her garden, the builders said the same to her, only pay at the end, and of course Mrs smith if your happy with it.

I was inside working, and the lady in question complained the wall wasnt straight, she wasnt happy with it, and said to the main man, I am not paying you, you said I only paid if I am happy with it, the builder wiping his sleeve under his nose said, fair enuff Mrs Smiff, if that ow ye want it, no problem.
Next thing builder and mate took every brick back off and put them in thier lorry and went.

I had the same line when I had someone in to do the patio, exactly the same, dont pay unless your happy, the bu55ers had the cheek to ask for some money on the tuesday, they had only started on the Monday!!!!