Hi again, I had my friend who lives up North phone me last evening. She has had a quote from an English registered builder in France for some work that she wants to do. The quote was within reason and did compare with another that she had. The builder in question arrived at her door and suggested to her that if she would order a substantial amount more materials needed for her build, he would take the extra as payment! The amounts would obviously be worked out price wise close to his estimate for his work. He said that he was building a new house for himself and he would use the materials for that. Is there some sort of dodge going on here? Would my friend be committing fraud, and what advantage would this be for the builder? This arrangement sounds wrong and I am thinking there must be a big advantage for this builder?
Regards William.
There is no obvious benefit for your friend that I can see from what you have said so far. There is however a risk for her if there was an accident during the work. We had a fatal accident whilst some roofing was being done and the police who attended asked for copies of quotes to show that the guy who died was clearly working for the company we'd employed and wasn't working on the black for us.
Hi Steve, thanks for your reply. I am not sure of the final details yet. So what you are saying this is a dodge, so it would be best to avoid this arrangement?
Regards William.
I guess it is a tax dodge. He receives material instead of being paid for his labour so won't pay tax/charges on it. He can also calculate the "price" of the material so that she will be "paying" his cost price + a profit for him. Would the extra material cover the full cost of the building work he will be doing or just a percentage ?