Black market is back for builders

IT APPEARS cash is king when it comes to getting odd jobs done these days.

A whopping 84 per cent of tradesmen and builders told an onlinetradesmen.com survey that increased demand from property owners for “nixers” or “cash only” prices for their home improvement projects were making the sector difficult for compliant and registered trade professionals. Thirteen per cent of tradesfolk said they expected to go out of business in 2011 and the widespread availability of under the radar nixers was identified as a big contributor to business failures.

The results are based on a survey of 6,400 tradesmen and builders nationwide according to Ted Laverty, managing director of onlinetradesmen.com. “Registered trade professionals with overheads such as insurance VAT and taxes are struggling to compete with non-compliant operators. This situation will result in more businesses failing within the sector in 2011 and the government needs to tackle it quickly.” Naturally onlinetradesmen.com says that asking for cash deals is a bad idea, but hey, it’s not all property owners looking for deals. Around the Block has come across tradesfolk recently who are more anxious than ever to get cashand, presumably, avoide tax.