Paying tradesmen in cash versus bank transfers

[SylvanMoon]

We arranged with a tradesman my DH found on checkatrade to replace all the radiators in our house. We have purchased the radiators and are going to pay this company £1500 to remove the old ones, flush the system and fit the new ones. This was arranged about a month ago and they're due to come tomorrow (Monday). The process will take two days, so they're due to finish on Tuesday. On Sunday, in response to an email from us to confirm their arrival time, the tradesman asked if we could pay them in cash.

I've no problem paying self-employed people cash if they want to avoid paying tax or whatever. So it's not any kind of moral issue for me. But that's generally for amounts closer to a couple of hundred pounds. If we are to pay this company in cash, it will require us to make several trips over two days to a cash machine and withdraw the maximum amount from at least two bank accounts in order to have that much cash ready for Tuesday. But we can do this relatively easily I think.

We had intended to pay via a bank transfer, which I understand has less consumer protection than paying with a credit card. So I guess my question is are we putting ourselves or our property at any more risk by paying in cash?

When I have jobs done and suggest payment in cash it's always assumed the price will be less the vat.

Thanks for that tip. And yes, we also quite surprised as to how much it was all going to cost. But in getting various quotes for the job, that seemed to be about the going price. There are 8 radiators to replace. We haven't decided what we're going to do about payment yet, but DH is going to say that if we are to pay in cash, we want a proper invoice before we hand it all over.

We're going to demand a proper invoice however we pay. But we live in a semi-rural village that is a bank desert. I can't be faffed to go all the way into the nearest city in order to pay a tradesman tbh. There's a Morrisons five minutes away with a bank machine.

Thank you to everyone who offered advice. We have now had the work done, which we're quite pleased with, and have received a proper invoice for it. We managed to pay in cash, which I was able to take out from cash machines over two days. On the first day there were two doing the work, and today just one to finish it off. Tomorrow someone is coming to collect the old radiators. So we're pretty happy with the new radiators and how it's all turned out.

I’d say no, like you say a couple of hundred fine, but not that amount. Many of these trademen avoid tax, and child maintenance, so i’d say sorry I don’t have the time to make multiple trips to the cash point.

I would be fine with that off the back of receiving a properly detailed invoice about the works done, when they were completed detailing dates, and the full costs laid out

I won’t pay in cash because of the tax implication. I had not thought about dodging child maintenance, that made me feel even more negative about it.

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