Builder being weird / trying to guilt trip me
Discussion
Amateurish said:
Simpo Two said:
What's going on is that he can't run a business and has got into debt. Not your problem, and you don't owe him any favours either.
Minor point - an Estimate is not a Quote and therefore can vary.
I just used the wrong word. The work was fully specced up by the architect. He provided a quote against that spec. Although now claims not to have read it properly and forgot to price up quite a major and fundamental part of those works.Minor point - an Estimate is not a Quote and therefore can vary.
Amateurish said:
So just send the money even though he has asked me not to?
He hasn't told you not to pay him, he's just asked you to pay him differently. If he'd said he's closed that account now then it would be different, but if he still has the account I would use it and consider the debt settled. It's only a problem if something dodgy is going on, whether that's tax related, child support, divorce stuff etc etc.What you could do to cover all bases is have someone else add the account to their online banking and use the confirmation thing to make sure for yourself that the account is still active and that it still belongs to the person you're dealing with. I say someone else as I'm not sure what happens if you delete and re-add an account, but that might work too,
joshcowin said:
I am a builder, this is really dodgy as has been said already, pay him as you previously have, only pay an invoice presented to you.
Sounds like he wants to stay under the vat threshold or something more sinister!
Avoiding a trading while insolvent charge?Sounds like he wants to stay under the vat threshold or something more sinister!
Take the advice above.
As others have said it appears he's trying to save on VAT. There's no benefit for you in doing this and I can say that if a 3 month job had taken 12 months job in my house I'd be telling him to do one. I wonder if these tax dodgers ever offer an incentive like splitting the VAT saving. It's usual for builders to ask for cash for the same reasons, not sure what they do with said cash, into a personal account etc as anti money laundering checks seem to have been ramped up in recent years plus the use of cash must be continuing to decline.
on the additional money what was in his quote? It's something I'd want to know before I engaged with a builder in the first place, fixed price, firm price, reimbursable basis etc. If it's an estimating error on his part then it's likely he's either lying, or has underestimated the amount of time it would have taken, or the cost of some of the materials have increased given the timescale. Working on residential properties you can find unexpected buggery when you remove floors, walls etc so in that instance I'd expect to have to pay but also be notified by the builder before the work was done/continued.
I've had some cowboy builders in the past when I didn't know any better that have done small jobs and learnt a lesson from this. We had building work done ~12 months ago and went with a reputable builder and the difference was night and day, everything in writing for the quote and clear what was included and excluded, monthly valuation done and itemised invoice provided a month in arrears and then paid by bank transfer.
We had additional work done at our request-written quote always provided before we gave them the nod to start. Found that water was penetrating the foundation when an old concerete floor was taken up had a good chat about options and cost before cracking on.
on the additional money what was in his quote? It's something I'd want to know before I engaged with a builder in the first place, fixed price, firm price, reimbursable basis etc. If it's an estimating error on his part then it's likely he's either lying, or has underestimated the amount of time it would have taken, or the cost of some of the materials have increased given the timescale. Working on residential properties you can find unexpected buggery when you remove floors, walls etc so in that instance I'd expect to have to pay but also be notified by the builder before the work was done/continued.
I've had some cowboy builders in the past when I didn't know any better that have done small jobs and learnt a lesson from this. We had building work done ~12 months ago and went with a reputable builder and the difference was night and day, everything in writing for the quote and clear what was included and excluded, monthly valuation done and itemised invoice provided a month in arrears and then paid by bank transfer.
We had additional work done at our request-written quote always provided before we gave them the nod to start. Found that water was penetrating the foundation when an old concerete floor was taken up had a good chat about options and cost before cracking on.
sgrimshaw said:
He's not VAT registered ... no way he can "save the VAT" on the materials
No, if it's VAT related it's that he's trading above the VAT registration threshold, so should be registered for VAT, so wants to have less money paid into his business bank account, because that's a really simple check that would catch him out.paulrockliffe said:
No, if it's VAT related it's that he's trading above the VAT registration threshold, so should be registered for VAT, so wants to have less money paid into his business bank account, because that's a really simple check that would catch him out.
In that case don't pay him at all, you'll be doing him a favour.paulrockliffe said:
No, if it's VAT related it's that he's trading above the VAT registration threshold, so should be registered for VAT, so wants to have less money paid into his business bank account, because that's a really simple check that would catch him out.
If he were to register for VAT he would be able to claim the input VAT on materials back, not registering for any reason means he cannot reclaim the input VAT so he cannot "save the VAT on materials".TBF if he's permitted you to be in the position of power after all this he sounds like more of a prat than a proper scumbag.
Stop me if I'm wrong but he can present an invoice requesting payment is made to krusty the clown and what does or doesn't happen after that with him and his affairs with the taxman is beyond your need to care.
As for vat and all that, I did once get stiffed on a vat issue because the chartered accountant I was using for these affairs was an incompetent clown, so it may not be as cut and dried as those salivating at the idea he needs to burn on a cross are assuming.
Stop me if I'm wrong but he can present an invoice requesting payment is made to krusty the clown and what does or doesn't happen after that with him and his affairs with the taxman is beyond your need to care.
As for vat and all that, I did once get stiffed on a vat issue because the chartered accountant I was using for these affairs was an incompetent clown, so it may not be as cut and dried as those salivating at the idea he needs to burn on a cross are assuming.
pork911 said:
Teddy Lop said:
Stop me if I'm wrong but he can present an invoice requesting payment is made to krusty the clown and what does or doesn't happen after that with him and his affairs with the taxman is beyond your need to care.
You are wrong.I bet you're great at parties though right?
Super Sonic said:
blueg33 said:
I had a contractor on a site whose mother died twice in 3 months. I was mainly impressed that after Jesus, Buddha and Dracula she is the 4th person in history to have been resurrected
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