ukminch

Thats rather what I thought, thats life I guess just annoys me. It's not like theyve had the intention of buying it then they didn't get paid or whatever, just no contact full stop. R

What your saying makes sense, and I can't remember my source. I think it may have been a conversation with somebody about contractors liability and they said this included protection from subbies not paying tax, if you were to have an investigation. I think the answer they gave me was that you could just submit bits of paper with a fake company on to lower your tax bill. I don't know whether or not you would be liable, but I'm not going to put myself in a situation where I could be. You soon learn whether someones legit or not by bits and pieces of conversation with them. R

I maybe wrong there. CIS Still happens but it can be one of the easiest fiddles out there, if your on 40% tax then all of a sudden your labourers become better off and they give you a drink, after all there's 18% extra that can be shared out. Whenever I've tendered for bigger contracts, or maybe been accepted I've been asked to provide my tax info, normally the simplest way is a vat reg number. Think it's more if you know the person is not registered that they would sting you. R

I know of one going for sale................

Unfortunately you cannot leave negative feedback as a seller now?!?!? However somebody has previously left positive feedback saying he did the same thing to them. I've emailed them and they confirmed no response etc. I've got the buyers name and address. With buy it now it's normal for a deposit to be left straight away, this is what I asked for, or you'd leave a message when you press the button saying I'll be up next week etc. Looks like I'll have to re-MOT it. Don't think it will be a major hassle to do but it's finding the time to MOT and do any jobs that need doing means I'll probably just keep it, as for the kind of money it's worth quite quickly with tax, mot a tyre you've spent half as much as it's worth again. Don't 'need' to sell but equally don't want things sat round rusting........ R

I agree in theory with what they're doing but at the end of the day there not doing it right. It should be the police that pull people and then vosa that examine the vehicles, and they ought to know the rules. I asked them before doing the trailer test about the 750kg rule. I was towing a braked trailer with small ride on mower which weighed just under this. They didn't have the foggiest about whether it was actual weight or possible weight. R

Just after a quick bit of advice, and I'm sure I'll get a lot of lifes to short etc, but I've got a bee in my bonnet, and it's going to be released. Listed by bike on ebay as it's not had any use, and the money could go towards the extension etc etc. Now some tosser has hit the buy it now button and then I've got no contact at all, obviously no intention to buy. It's only got a short MOT and I didn't want to mess about MOTing it etc accordingly it means now by the time it's been relisted the MOT will nearly be up, meaning that it can't be legally ridden home, which would affect the price? Now as it's legally binding (and i'm pee'd off) I intend to follow up through the small claims court. How much do you reckon I can claim that would be seen as reasonable. £800 was the Buy it now, but I still have the asset, presumably I can claim for difference in what I sell it for plus the wasted time, or should I just go straight for the £800 Rob P.s Anyone wana buy a 91 zx750r??

I'd disagree there, you have a duty of care to fulfill. That means that you need to ensure that anybody you subcontract to fulfills their obligations. This is why doing work for bigger companies involves so much paperwork. It is them fullfilling their obligations, and arse covering. If you know they are not insured, or paying tax and ni then you can be asked to cover the tax by the inland revenue. R

In the circumstances you describe with the facts that you've given yes you are.

Well you only got round to asking the question at 1107 about employers liability, and at 1200 you had an answer if you'd read it. Before 1107 it was a bit wishy washy...... On here you get better answers if you ask direct questions, i.e Legally do I need any insurance to get two of my mates to do a job for me in a forest? Then you'd have got a simple answer of yes you do, no need for any other information or justification

And you've got your answer, yep you would be breaking the law. There's no charge for the extra info - Look on it as a bonus.............................

I got bumped on a site where I'd got terms with a supplier for the materials. Would have been a nice earner. Unfortunately the 90 days to pay the supplier soon came without any pennies from the job. Visa was the answer but it stung for a little while............

However my posts come across you've not made an enemy with me. I do things my way you do them yours. Just as a thought, would it help your mate if he was injured on 'your job' Like I said before if I was in your situation I would do the job yourself and not involve anybody else. By giving them work legally you are breaking the law, but I break the law everytime I use the motorway. My choice, your choice. R

Maybe buying the chipper before the insurance??? Your not gona get any sympathy here in fact we'll need Mr Ed to sort you out a big excavator if you want to dig any deeper............ Like I've said in other threads a lot of bigger companies take bigger risks with finance, you chose to do it with insurance, up to you. But why ask a question when you know that your not covered whatever happens? As for the £10 a week, well that's just not what it costs which is why we charge lots of pennies to do the work we do. R

Yep, hadn't thought of that.

If I were you I'd do the job by yourself, that way your not breaking the law, and you can be fully resposible for the job going right, would save a lot of bother. I started off in grounds maintenance, used to sub all tree work out to a bona fide sub contracter. Now I do it in house with subbie climbers, but they are only subbie for tax and NI purposes, when they are on my job they're my responsibilty. This meant there was no need to potentially get myself into trouble. It is possibly to do it the correct way, but it does require patience and hard work. Honestly not trying to knock you but you've asked a question that affects peoples livelihoods. Were you on strike? Similar thing........

Nobodys ganging up on you, you asked a question you got the answers you didn't really want to hear IMO. As for the write off, were you fully comp and just suffer loss of no claims, imagine how much worse it could have been??? What's your opinion of him being uninsured?? Then there's the saying what comes around goes around. As for the making ends meet, sorry but firefighters get a reasonable wage, certainly enough to live on, if your living beyond your means then you need a solution, nothing against that. Nuff said don't want to be bullying anyone.........

Sounds like we've got a different story coming out here, or at least what I perceived to be the story. Instead of running a business that is growing what your doing is a bit of cash in hand work for beer money. Now technically there's something wrong with it, but when I was 15 I used to dig holes, and paint fences for pocket money, similar thing to what your doing. What I don't understand is why you started the thread, it seems you know you have no insurance, your mates don't either either get on and do the job or ask for advice about how to get properly sorted. For what it's worth legally you do need employers liability insurance in the situation you're describing. The potential outcome is that you could go to prison and have lose everything you've got. In reality you'll do the job everyone will happy and you'll have a weekends beer money. Sounds like you know and accept the risks so what more is there to say? Just as a footnote, I presume the fire service know about your extra work, don't want to end up in trouble there for not declaring it...........

Yep I agree, and the most successfull businesses are normally the ones that have taken the biggest risks, just look at virgin and richard branson. At the end of the day it is all about risk management. I credit check all commercial customers before giving them terms, still nothing saying they won't go bump though. I did turn some work down for a firm once though as a result of this and it paid dividend. Domestic customers are a different ball game entirely. Now I will only do a job if I have enough in the bank to cover wages and materials before I start. If I haven't then I will arrange stage payments so I can't lose out to badly. As for kit on finance a good tool, however we have seen lots of people in the poo because of it. All about correct tools for the job, and each job is different...........

Does the username paper rustler mean bean counter, and accordingly the confusion caused?

Personally I think that you would be stupid to do it. As you will be fully aware chainsaws are dangerous. Many experienced users have hurt themselves and will continue to do so. Accidents happen, thats why we have insurance. In your situation you could lose everything, so why bother for a few hundred quid. It sounds like they are not insured either. Big risk IMO. I've also got a bit of a gripe that I am fully insured and have to compete with people like yourselves without any insurance - one of my big expenses if the tree work doesn't pay to be properly qualified and insured somethings not going right. IMO what you should be doing in your situation is pricing the job and subbing it to a properly setup tree firm. Just my tuppence. R P.S I do understand that most of us will have done a job at somepoint that were not fully covered for, but when your involving others the risks just aren't worth it.

Nope twos standard 2.5 diesel peugeot engine. Got done between chester and market drayton on the a41. I rate them as a van, does what is says on the tin and if it doesn't a quick tap with a hammer (big hammer for kingpins) and it soon does again!

I'm sure part of my policy is contractors liability or something like that, basically covers me if a contractor stuffs up or is negligent in anyway shape or form. It's actually more of a mine field than you realise, as you are actually responsible for them, and accordingly should audit them to check that they are fully compliant and record the findings. If you don't you can still be liable even if you don't know anything about the job whatsoever. In practice, price the job, sub it out, pay the subby, get paid eventually everyones a winner!! R

I'd have thought it would be done by vosa, same as a vic check. Nearest one to stonehouse was in Gloucester, think it was Ashville Road or something similar with a tree type in the road name....

It always scares me the way that people use credit to buy stuff. I know it's been discussed before but what happens if the customer doesn't pay. It then means you can't pay the supplier. When I first started I used to get the customer to pay direct for materials. Now I take the risk. All I'm saying is be very careful. I got badly stung and it was an eye opener. R