Just because you paid him in cash doesn't mean that he is defrauding Revenue.
PS, this is a good example as to why you should always have contracts signed with tradesmen...... especially in todays recessionary climate... prices will be given to get in the door, but then extras will start popping up everywhere.
I disagree. Fixed-price contracts are poor protection against real and imagined "extras" if the customer is inexperienced/unwary/naive in the first instance.
If you insist on written contracts at the outset you will greatly restrict the number of tradesmen who will be willing to quote for you. Those who do will be careful to inflate their quote to take into account the possibility of future extras, and maybe their solicitors' fees on top of that again.
If they suspect that your approach is likely to scare off their competitors, this will motivate them to jack up the prices even more.
I would be extremly wary of any tradesman that wasnt willing to sign a contract, what are they trying to hide?
Its not a matter of trying to hide anything, its more the fear of committing to agreeing to something, either implied in the terms of the contract, or hidden in the small print, that may prejudice their interests later on.
The first question they would/should ask themselves is has the contract been drawn up with the benefit of legal advice. The second is, should they get their own legal advice? The third: is it worth the hassle?
a contract can protect both the client and the contractor.
But a contract won't necessarily guard against this?I have seen lots of examples over the last few months, with work getting scarce, of contractors quoting very low prices for jobs... and then trying to claim extras left, right and centre. Once the client has their initial preparatory work done then they are covered. Contractors who work in this fashion feel that clients are willing to pay over extra to get a job finish hassle free.....
edit: a contract can be as short as a one page sheet showing agreed price, date of commencement, estimated date of completion, short description of works and signitures of parties...
Surely detailed written quotes serve this purpose already?
So was all ready to ring and let him have it, when herself rings me and says" Just after remembering that they have a set of keys to the house from when they were working here!!" What a dose...So now I'm thinkin I should ring him and ask him to post keys asap, and then when I get them, ring him with my good news!!! Dunno though?
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