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Paying tradesman cash in hand?

101 replies

Richtea67 · 01/08/2025 10:06

Hi all, our builder has offered a £500 discount on some work (£4000 instead or £4500), if we pay cash. I normally prefer the security of paying via bank transfer, but we're on a budget and this discount would make a massive difference. The builder seems legit, we've had recommendations and have gone to view previous jobs, checked out companies house details etc. The work comes with 5 year guarantee. Does this sound OK? Or would you be wary?

OP posts:
llizzie · 01/10/2025 19:26

Badbadbunny · 05/08/2025 11:49

Trouble is the "regulated" sections such as gas and electricity are still full of chancers/incompetents too! So even regulation doesn't necessarily improve the quality/competence.

I've had two GasSafe approved tradies who've screwed up installations dangerously, and reported both to GasSafe, but nothing was done. One was a botched gas fire installation where fumes weren't properly vented out as the installer couldn't be bothered to read the instruction manual. We had him back several times, but he kept repeating that it was just the artificial coal "burning off", so we ended up calling out an engineer from the manufacturer who condemned the fitting and disconnected it as it had been assembled incorrectly!

Second time was a new gas boiler installation. He heating engineer fitted it and buggered off really quickly saying it was "all done". It kept cutting out and he refused to return citing it wasn't his problem as he'd done it all right and just glibly told us to contact the manufacturer under the warranty. We did, they came out and, again, condemned the fitting and disconnected it. The engineer showed us the installation manual where our engineer hadn't filled anything in - apparently all kinds of readings need to be taken and noted down on the installation check list and he'd done none of it!

You'd think that GasSafe would take reports seriously of this kind of shoddy/incompetent work, but they seem to just ignore them. Another "toothless" regulator!

The gas safe register sent their inspector down when I told them about my problem. and they made a company put the installation of the flue right by a date in 2024, which they did.

If your boiler is new, it should be covered by the manufacturer guarantee.

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