I had a general contractor doing some repairs (roof, fence, etc.) to my house for damage caused by some recent hail storms. My neighbor was using him and said he's used him for years. Now that the repair are done, I am going o write him a check for payment. He asked for it to be written to his name rather than his company. What's his angle here?

Ask neighbor who he made check out to.

He's using the company name but doing the work himself and pocketing it.

I assume not reporting it as income through his company so he won't pay taxes on it.

Ask for a 27% discount.

Does it matter?

Get a lien release from the guys that worked for him before you make final payment.

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Does it matter?

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Yes. First it tells me he's actually charging me an extra 27% to do the job. Second, if he's cheating his taxes, what else is he cheating on? Is he doing all work to code? Did he get a permit (if needed)?

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Does it matter?

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Yes. First it tells me he's actually charging me an extra 27% to do the job. Second, if he's cheating his taxes, what else is he cheating on? Is he doing all work to code? Did he get a permit (if needed)?

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Price and permitting should have been agreed upon before the job was started.. so who cares.

What does it matter to you? Get him to sign the receipt from the company and write the damn check.

He cut corners and didn't repair some of the minor things he said he would. Those weren't written in the contract but he said he fix them since they were so minor. That was my mistake there. Now he's saying he is not going to be able to fix them because they were not in the contract. I'm using the 27% to strong arm him to fix those minor things.

Permitting in Plano.

Call Randy Cody. Best in Texas

For those of you in the "why does it matter" camp, this is why it matters.

Why are his taxes your concern?

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Why are his taxes your concern?

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It's not just that. The company is (presumably) an insured and bonded entity, with assets it likely wants to protect. This guy would be hard to hold responsible if he screwed it up.

Was this the guy that was going to cover your deductible by paying you for "advertising?" The one that folks on another board tried to warn you about dealing with because if he was willing to skirt insurance fraud then what else was he willing to cheat on?

Well, the owner screws that up for himself as soon as he choose to purposefully comingle funds.

To the OP, just call the company's billing department and ask who to make the check out to.

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Was this the guy that was going to cover your deductible by paying you for "advertising?" The one that folks on another board tried to warn you about dealing with because if he was willing to skirt insurance fraud then what else was he willing to cheat on?

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He cut corners and didn't repair some of the minor things he said he would. Those weren't written in the contract but he said he fix them since they were so minor. That was my mistake there. Now he's saying he is not going to be able to fix them because they were not in the contract. I'm using the 27% to strong arm him to fix those minor things.

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Just slow pay him. Maybe 25% now, 25% next month, and then the remaining two installments when he finished the minor other repairs that you talked about. He's the one with a cash flow problem, not you. What is he going to do? Sue you?

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Was this the guy that was going to cover your deductible by paying you for "advertising?" The one that folks on another board tried to warn you about dealing with because if he was willing to skirt insurance fraud then what else was he willing to cheat on?

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Was this the guy that was going to cover your deductible by paying you for "advertising?" The one that folks on another board tried to warn you about dealing with because if he was willing to skirt insurance fraud then what else was he willing to cheat on?

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Yep. Lesson learned. However, I can still stick it to him and make him pay taxes on it. I'm a d**k like that.

It doesn't get him out of any taxes. If you get examined by the IRS, they will do a deposits test off of your personal bank account and compare it to your tax return. If the deposits are higher than the income reported, adjusting for withholding etc, then they will go into detail and find out why its different. If you can't show proof its not income (gift from parents or loan or something else), it will be income.

Now if he said to pay him in cash, that would be a different story. I have clients from Mexico that will pay for my services in wads of cash and I'm pretty good about reporting it as income, I just don't have the best memory all the time, and some might fall through the cracks, on occasion, but not on purpose of course, because that would be illegal, and I'm not into illegal if my memory serves me correctly.

Are you issuing him a 1099? This is a non issue

Edit - missed the part where it seems this guy sucks - go ahead and be difficult then

Coyly implicating yourself in federal crimes on an open web forum.

Yolo.

Do him a favor, while he is working bring him a coke or a Gatorade, you can also have one in hand. Say you thought he would like one too, don't let him refuse it, insist he takes it from you.

When it comes time to pay him, tell him the workmanship was less than agreed to and offer him 50 cents on the dollar. Make a slight concession and tell him after considering his needs, you will give him 75 cents on the dollar when he finishes the work, he will be happy you made a concession.

I hate housing contractors.