New roof, cash in hand?

postmenopause

We are booked in to have a new roof with a roofer that recently did a new roof for our neighbour and did a good job.  We had a few quotes and the prices were all about the same with the same guarantees so we decided to go with the one that did our neighbours roof.
After waiting months due to bad weather etc ( which he kept us informed of), he came today to say the scaffolding will go up next week and a few days later they will start and said we dont pay him anything until after the roof is finished which is great, but here is the big ‘ BUT ‘… he has told my husband he wants paying in cash.  My husband asked how this affects our guarantee but he says it wont.  He is obviously doing this to fiddle the tax man, but how will this affect us?  Im really worried about this as its over £5000 😢😢😢😢

la531983

His tax affairs are none of your concern.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Are you having the full roof done? If so has building regulations been mentioned?

As above his tax affairs aren't really your concern but what should be of concern is whether the job is done to the correct standard. 

What exactly does the job cover OP?

la531983

Tax or not the "guarantee" may not be worth anything anyway, depending on the nature of the operation.

user1977

If he's fiddling HMRC (though he might not be...), who else is he fiddling? Customers?

Aylesbury_Duck

postmenopause said:

We are booked in to have a new roof with a roofer that recently did a new roof for our neighbour and did a good job.  We had a few quotes and the prices were all about the same with the same guarantees so we decided to go with the one that did our neighbours roof.
After waiting months due to bad weather etc ( which he kept us informed of), he came today to say the scaffolding will go up next week and a few days later they will start and said we dont pay him anything until after the roof is finished which is great, but here is the big ‘ BUT ‘… he has told my husband he wants paying in cash.  My husband asked how this affects our guarantee but he says it wont.  He is obviously doing this to fiddle the tax man, but how will this affect us?  Im really worried about this as its over £5000 😢😢😢😢

"Obviously"?  You can't be certain, but since you now think he's dishonest, why don't you simply cancel the job? 

Hoenir

If the roofer was registered for VAT would cost you another £1,000. 

la531983

Hoenir said:

If the roofer was registered for VAT would cost you another £1,000. 

And if the roofer was "caught" they would merely make him pay the VAT to the Treasury out of the £5k he had taken for the job, so whatever one sixth of that is. It wouldnt come back onto the customer, if that is the worry the OP has.

TELLIT01

As has been suggested above, any guarantee is of limited value unless it's underwritten by insurance or a trade body.  As you won't have to pay until the job is complete I wouldn't be too concerned about paying cash.  Just make sure you get a receipt for the work and information about the guarantee.

Aylesbury_Duck

la531983 said:

Hoenir said:

If the roofer was registered for VAT would cost you another £1,000. 

And if the roofer was "caught" they would merely make him pay the VAT to the Treasury out of the £5k he had taken for the job, so whatever one sixth of that is. It wouldnt come back onto the customer, if that is the worry the OP has.

TELLIT01 said:

As has been suggested above, any guarantee is of limited value unless it's underwritten by insurance or a trade body.  As you won't have to pay until the job is complete I wouldn't be too concerned about paying cash.  Just make sure you get a receipt for the work and information about the guarantee.

Why would anyone contract with a tradesman they consider to be dishonest?  How's that going to play out if there are any problems with the work, or if the guarantee ever needs to be claimed on?

OP, just find another roofer, someone you do trust.

TELLIT01

Requesting payment is cash doesn't automatically mean a person is dishonest.  I do accept that requesting £5k in cash does look iffy.