Home renovations cost money whether you do it yourself or you hire a contractor. Most homeowners are looking for a way to get the best results at the lowest cost. When it comes to roofing projects, most homeowners are in a great position to compare estimates and decide what they want because estimates are streamlined, and competition is high between roofing contractors. However, the temptation to save money and putting yourself and others at risk should not be acted on. Hiring a contractor under the table means that you intend on hiring a contractor, licensed or not, with cash, avoiding sales tax and L&I taxes. Let us be clear, this is illegal, and we are writing this article in hopes that it will reach you and you will avoid this temptation to hire someone illegally. This article is being written because we often get asked if we would be willing to be hired under the table. Robinson Roofing will never agree to a contract that would compromise our business and integrity. Here is why you should never hire a roofing contractor “under the table.”
1. You put yourself at risk for a lawsuit.
Let us start with the biggest reason to not hire someone under the table to replace or install your roof. Roofing is the 4th most dangerous job in the United States. So, ask yourself this; what happens if I hire someone under the table and one of the workers is injured or killed? That is right, you will be sued. The Department of Labor and Industries is dedicated to the safety, health and security of all workers in Washington State and is critical in protecting homeowners from the liability of having skilled laborers work on their home. You are potentially risking your entire home and future income to hire a company or individual under the table. You can avoid this risk by hiring a licensed, bonded, and insured roofing company that also has L&I coverage for their employees. It is important to know that a company’s general liability insurance does not cover work injuries, so even if you are hiring a company that is insured, if you are hiring them under the table, you are risking a lawsuit if someone is injured or killed while working on your home.
2. What happens if there is a problem with the work?
Who do you turn to if bad work is performed? What happens if the person or contractor starts the work but never completes it? What happens if you give a deposit for the work to begin and you never hear from the person or contractor again? Is there a real warranty on the work? There are so rhetorical questions that also make the point; don’t hire someone under the table. If someone is willing to agree to an illegal transaction with you, it should be a good sign that they might be willing to cut corners or cheat you in other ways.
3. You are cheating legitimate contractors
There is a cost to running a business. In roofing, a lot of cost goes to taxes, insurance, and L&I coverage. Hiring a contractor under the table is cheating contractors who are not willing to risk their employees’ jobs, their right to own and operate a business, and their family’s income for someone else. This might be an obvious point, however, if you think about it, by hiring someone under the table, the legitimate contractor has no opportunity to pay for the overhead that goes into owning a business.
We hope this article helps you understand why you should never hire a roofing contractor “under the table.” Getting your roof replaced by a professional will cost you money, but hiring a contractor that believes in doing the right thing is more important than risking your home and money.
Robinson Roofing was founded on one simple idea; to do the best for us and everyone around us. This one idea spreads to everything we do, and one of the things we do is report all of our work. We accept all types of payment, credit cards, checks, and cash; however, we always report our earnings and pay taxes on what we earn because we know it is right. We would never want to put our customers in harm’s way.