MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Would you pay Brian the Builder in cash?

TinyMolly

...so to follow the thought process behind most of these replies - if someone offered you a cheap sat nav without a box then that would also not be an issue - not your problem where he got it from?

wild666

I would want a receipt but would jump at the lower price, I would also ask why he was offering the lower price, he may have over calculated the time it would take for the job and is offering a genuine reduction for cash so he could move on to his next job more quickly.

treforsouthwell

In my experience many good trades people ask for cash, it is a fact of life. Make sure you trust them before handing it over or you will have no proof if something goes wrong. Never pay cash up front for a job, always after the job is done and you are happy with it.

BobbinAlong

My builder gets a better deal than cash - love and a home!

But if I was employing another it would be someone I knew and I'd pay cash. Business banking doesn't come as free as personal banking so it would save some charges there too but most Brian the Builders don't have the turnover to be VAT registered and are often self employed. How they account to the taxman is their business.

If a builder asks for money up front to buy the materials they may have cash flow problems. Your best bet is to refuse but say you will buy the materials direct yourself (he should supply a shopping list) and have them delivered direct to your property by the merchant. That way you have supplied and own the materials, having shopped around the merchants for discount - when the builder says that xxx merchant will give him a big discount, go direct to that merchant and ask for a similar discount with the carrot of immediate payment. At least if the builder fails you have the materials and can get another for labour only. £100 to £150 is par for a day's skilled labour at present. Sounds good but remember this is pre-tax and has to cover the times they can't get work.

Builders and builders' merchants are struggling at present. With sites shut down there are plenty of good tradesmen available. Those who work on building sites have a higher standard than the domestic odd-job bodge-it-and-scarper as they have professional inspections and snagging recalls to pass on every job.

cw18

No I wouldn't -- without some form of receipt from him (which would presumably only be forthcoming for a 'non cash' payment) I wouldn't have any guarantee on his work.

slickvic

Is brian a cowboy who does shoody work? then can't be traced, if you can find him you may find you will have no comeback as you have no recipt. buyer beware.

where'd he go!

gavsmillie

This throws up the age-old dilemma of integrity ! Most poeple, not all, have a right/wrong response to these type of questions. It is the way we are brought up etc etc. However I have always believed that certain people should set examples especially those in power. If they pay their taxes correctly then so should I !

Unfortunatly last year both the ousted PM and the other party leader both claimed back their TV licences under some parlimentary ruling !!! These people earn a lot of money yet they can't afford to pay their TV licence without having to claim it back !!!

In answer to the question I would take the offer given it was for a product that I did not require follow up at a later date. In that case I would look for some sort of guarantee. Britain has long being the rip-off country with the ususal excuse of transport and other excuses. Now the power is with the people and not with the banking, fuel and other manafacutures who have been ripping us off for years !! Honda's £12.5 billion profit last year - this year asking us to support them !! What happend the profit ! What happended to future forecasting ! Do they not read Martins' advice on 6 month emergency funds !!

Seems like I have gone off on a tangent here but this is why people do pay for work without VAT !! If you lead by example and with a fair price I will gladly pay my VAT for work done !!

Right soap box away and a happy Hogmanay to all !

Biggles

Exactly what he's up and why to is hardly my problem; he might have cashflow difficulties and not want to wait a month to send an invoice and be paid by cheque. I'm not the Fraud Squad.

And what if his original quote was to pay my cash and he hadn't used the words 'if you know what I mean...' (presumably accompanied by a nudge and wink). They aren't all as obvious as this is made out to be.

But, as it was his suggestion to cut the price for cash, and he said 'tomorrow', I'd say I thought I might be able to lay my hands on £1,000 at such short notice.

leaphaze

Miss-spent wrote: »

That's tricky. Because that is a lot of money I would want a proper numbered receipt, letter headed and everything in case something went wrong or I needed it to claim on insurance, so in this case I wouldn't.
My mum had almost an identical situation recently with regards to buying some railings and she paid the VAT. We are glad because they have not turned up yet but at least she has proof she handed over £1400.

However I do pay the man who chops down my trees once a year in cash with no paperwork etc but then I inspect the work first.

Nice to see Prince Charles making a contribution to this forum!

:rotfl:

charleston_2

Too true I would - after Gordon Brown's 'prudent' treatment of the pension funds has reduced the value of my fund to a third of what it was worth ten years ago. It might be morally wrong but GB has set a precedent & if he can get away with it is it wrong for me to do the same.