Daily labour cost how much ?

A few years ago a guy who works for a bulider did a small extension for a friend of mine. He demanded cash and told her there'd be no cheques etc. She ended up paying him well over the odds and he totally overcharged her for extras. To make matters worse, he didn't do a very good job and she had to get another guy to undo a lot of the bad work. She had rung him to complain and ask him to remedy the situation but he only laughed at her and told her there was no come back.

She's still very angry about it all and was recently advised that she should discretely contact the tax man and pass on the information about him. She recently discovered that he has bought a house in Portugal and she thinks he bought that with all the cash he's gotten for similar jobs to hers.

Any recommendations or suggestions as to what she should do?
 
cashman strikes again, unless you have some sort of proof, he was not even there, few years, bit long now. that is how it goes.
 
Mebs my best suggestion would be for you to start off a new thread with the title
'How do you avoid being stung like my friend was'
 
leghorn said:
I would also question the relationship between quality of work and tax compliance.
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I bet there is a significant correlation, though. Someone who's taken the trouble to operate legally (tax, insurance, pay rates, qualifications, etc.) is probably more likely - not guaranteed by any means, but more likely - to work to building / trade and health and safety standards.

Anyway, since the OP's question was about roofing, with a cash in hand implication, then quite aside from the important quality of work issues, she should consider the insurance implications. It's not unknown for even experienced tradesmen to fall off a roof*, and if they're not insured the OP may be liable. Her insurance may cover such eventualities, but it's important to know whether or not it does.

*happened at my former neighbour's house a few years ago: they had someone over to mend some flashing around the chimney, he skidded off the roof and fell into their paved front garden. Not seriously injured, mercifully, but enough for an ambulance to the hospital to be checked out.
 
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I have a man in for two days about every three months. He charges E300. I know he is insured but what he does with his cash after I pay him is his business. He just tidies up the garden, cleans gutters, washes and valets the cars, rakes the gravel out front, power hoses any place going green and so forth. He is not a handyman and will not touch anything that he does not understand. This I feel is a fair price.
 
Ive contributed to and read this thread with great interest over the last few days rates personalities guff waffle tradesman craftsmen aside. BUSYMUM can i ask has this been of any help to you? cheers
 
Re: Daily labour cost how much?

Many thanks for all the replies, I didn't realise my question would raise such heated debate. Perhaps I should have thought more about how I phrased my question before I posted. What I really was looking for was a guideline for a labour cost only as we are supplying the materials for the job. I suppose we are looking at a cash payment which has purely arisen from the fact that i have been already let down by 2 builders. This has been going on for months and I have already gone down the route of trying to employ tax compliant professionals and being prepared to pay VAT etc.

The first builder previously did work for us, was totally reliable and after chasing him for 2 months, leaving endless messages for him and he promising faithfully he would do the work we had to give up on him.

2nd guy kept putting us off again over a couple of months, saying other things had cropped up. Couldn't cope with the hassle again, so this time hopefully we'll get it sorted. At this stage i can only put it down to the job being too small, just a repair job really, beit a bit messy. If it was an extension etc.. there'd be a queue.!! What I can't get over is that we are supposed to be in a recession.

What we pay will be determined by the length of time the job takes, but the posts have certainly been very helpful in giving me a ballpark figure.. I am not trying to cut corners by any means but at the end of the day I need to get the work done and if this is the route I need to take then so be it.
 
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