Builder gets upset when Travelodge owe him £600

What makes you think he works 220 days a year or every jobs £1000?

 

Carillion was paying massive bonuses of public money weeks up to them going bust.

 

The quote came on a SOW form as I recall, he gave a price, and gave me the form, it didn't give a price breakdown - im not Sherlock Holmes and immediately derive what isn't there (VAT element) over what is (a price).

I assumed it was seasonal work (being outside) and it wasn't until I was chatting with him at the end that I realised he was that busy....at that point the VAT conversation came up.

I'm unsure what you are driving at to be honest, it went through his books is all I know....am I somehow accountable for his business practices? Maybe he has more than one company, maybe he doesn't work all those days, maybe he's crap at maths....

 

He told me he was that busy.

I assumed that that was around the daily rate for typical jobs...could be less for some more for others.

 

Jeramy Vine on radio 2 said don't pay tradesmen cash? Stereotyping again!
when you go to the pub or get a Taxi or go to the shops should you not pay them in cash,
whats it got to do with him anyway.
Jeramy Vine earns a healthy £750,000 plus a year and i don't agree with that but i don't go round preaching how people should be paid.

Ps; all his shows are depressing and Rubbish he should be paying everyone to listen to him.

 

No it shouldn't I am a Member of the Federation of Small businesses and they are always campaigning for payments to be made inside the specified date

 

Having given it some thought...

Is your apparent annoyance with me because I am only seemingly intimating that the 'for cash' culture is driven solely by tax avoiding builders, whilst ignoring that a great many customers ask for it and won't take on work if they aren't cut a deal?

In which case I can understand, but then those people hack me off just as much.

 

Why should there need to be a campaign, this is big business squeezing what they can out of the little people to line their own pockets, why is it unrealistic to do a job and then expect to be paid? I was working with a company buying regulatory from me, they got a new buyer in, he wanted to pay on a 90day term, why would I ( a small business) have to support a multi million operation by offering my goods( essentially an interest free loan for them) on a 90 day term, I refused, they ordered nothing for months, then called me to agree our original and perfectly reasonable arrangement of payment for goods at the time of sale. They then ordered the months of backlog , but not everyone can afford to wait it out.

 

There has to be big organizations like the FSB who will work on behalf of smaller businesses the have the backup and power that you and I do not have

 

The point is that, on the basis of your own assumptions, that the fella was working way over the VAT threshold, but not VAT registered - you have effectively had a version of a 'cash in hand' job done.

I don't see the problem though - the first question I ask is 'how much for cash' ?

 

There is already legislation in place - The Late Payment Directive.

But it's never enforced, so generally ignored....

 

Those automatic sliding doors are rubbish - they should have slid open when he approached..... .but he's had to waive the bucket at the overdoor sensor.......

 

If you suspected that he was turning over way over the vat threshold, did you do the decent public spirited thing and report him to hmrc? Our nhs is crying out for funds which could have come from the tax he should have paid.

 

My assumption based on what he said after the works were completed and I was happy to sign them off and pay for them?

If what he said is true, then gadzuckes, I'm been strung up like a kipper!

I can't pay VAT to a company that's isnt registered for it....I suspect that like a few others (and sorry, they are in the building trade) that he had more than one limited company and balanced work across them to avoid the threshold on each. There is no law to stop that.

If he is nuts enough to do cash jobs to save the VAT, then at some points the wheels come off for him.


My point remains....the building trade on the whole don't want strong legislation as many companies would not be able to function the way they do now (I am not and have never stated that means anyone on here). Until they stop fighting it, then their own workers and subs will still fall foul of late or non payers. This I assume is a minority, but reading some of the stories here, it probably starts with the big players and hits everyone else I the way down.

 

No....it's nothing to do with the 'right thing', were I to report everything I suspected then I'd be constantly on the phone.

We pay HMRC millions of pounds a second to administer the system that they've built with such complexity - they, like all government departments are here to execute our will I.e. Serve the public interest. They have more than enough people to do inspections, it's not my job in life to assist, next I'll be popping by Wickes for some Tarmac and sorting the roads if we all went along those lines.

I appreciate my comments have led people to not look at the wider issue and instead concentrate on me and my actions as for whatever reason they seem to be taking it personally and also because that's far easier than identifying the actual issue and how to fix that.

 

Oh well . . .

 

Happens a lot on here, going off topic. But that's the fun of it.