2days graft for builder who won't pay up?

I did a couple of days labouring for a blocklayer. I could be jumping the gun (my instincts tell me otherwise) but it looks like he's not going to pay out.

He was to pay me today - I called to the site and he had *forgotten* his chequebook (like i wanted a cheque off of him) and had no cash on him. Hes to ring me tonight to meet up - and pay up.

Being one to be prepared for all scenarios, just thinking of ways of leveraging payment out of him.

Q. Would the fact that he employed someone without a safepass get him into trouble or both of us? Or could it land the main developer of the site in trouble?
Q. How much trouble would taking down the blocks myself get me in (the job was on a very small development).

Its not necessarily about the money - its a small amount of money really - but theres principal and having to live with someone getting one over on me that i couldnt tolerate. Been in this situation abroad a couple of times many years ago and took both individuals to court and won - but things are a bit different in ireland..

I would imagine that if you just spread the word around to everyone you know in the industry, it would probably come back to bite him. He'd find it hard to get people to work for him if they thought they wouldn't get paid. Mentioning that might act as an incentinve.

I never heard of anyone in the consthruction industry "not having cash on them" sufficient to cover the price of two days' labour...
In answer to your first question, I suspect your not having a Safepass would land him in a lot more trouble than yourself, but do you ever want to "work in this town again"? And for the second - for God's sake, no! What would you gain by (illegally) entering the site and spending more time undoing your work?

For the record — I abhor tax evasion of all kinds, and everyone knows the construction industry/"trades" are rife with it. Personally, I'd be happy to see both of you wind up in court, although the greater wrong is clearly on yer man's side...

I would imagine that if you just spread the word around to everyone you know in the industry, it would probably come back to bite him. He'd find it hard to get people to work for him if they thought they wouldn't get paid. Mentioning that might act as an incentinve.

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Don't think that would be enough to motivate him. Although i understand there is a logic to this in the normal run of things (but the irish building game is far from normal).

I never heard of anyone in the consthruction industry "not having cash on them" sufficient to cover the price of two days' labour...

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Of course...and this has been confirmed as of this evening.

In answer to your first question, I suspect your not having a Safepass would land him in a lot more trouble than yourself, but do you ever want to "work in this town again"?

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Yeah, I think this is my best angle. Think i will ring the main builder - tell him the story which will be of little interest to him, but if hes even thinking about paying yerman, i'm blowing the whistle. Couldnt care less about the 'working in this town again' aspect.

And for the second - for God's sake, no! What would you gain by (illegally) entering the site and spending more time undoing your work?

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Well, its the guy whos not paying up - its his work.

For the record — I abhor tax evasion of all kinds, and everyone knows the construction industry/"trades" are rife with it. Personally, I'd be happy to see both of you wind up in court, although the greater wrong is clearly on yer man's side...

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Thats fair enough. Although putting it in context of my scenario, i'm not really at any major financial gain. I'm a paye worker who has access to overtime but being so bloody bored of this mundane work, i opted to do a little labouring. As it turns out, theres no financial advantage of me working the regular job o/t and doing the nixer. It could be seen as a disadvantage in that its hard graft - but seeing as i didnt get any of this in my regular work, this didnt bother me.
On the court issue, i don't mind going to court either - just as long as this tósser doesnt get away with it. Its not necessarily the few euro, its principal - otherwise he will do the same again..and again to others.

lots of the gangsters out there, how about the small claims court reckon he'd rather pay then , could call the HSA as well as i'm sure they'd be somewhat interested in uncertified workers at least to note it anyway, yer dead right don't let him get away with a cent

I don't think that the Small Claims Court would deal with employer employee/contractor disputes such as this as it would not be a consumer issue.

HSA won't be bothered with any complaint that appears vexatious and rooted in a dispute over money rather than genuine concerns about a safety hazard.

could be true about the HSA , however if the story was coloured up like not supplying safety gear, gloves etc.insurance hazardous conditions and possibly employment discontinued when you voiced your concerns. Not saying to lie and ya probably wouldnt have to anyway
Always worth a call to them for info first (along the revenue if work was cash in hand) and throw a reference as opposed to threaten him, imho cowboys hate the very mention of any officialdom whatsoever

Revenue might also be interested in previous jobs you might have done for cash in hand too so you could tell them about these while you're at it.

You don't have to give any personal details when yer calling these people just explain a scenario and ask the procedure, I've generally found goverment depts and citizens advice very helpful in relation to dodgy landlords, banks, etc.
anyway as i said the mention to him will probably suffice

As Groucho Marx might have said, anonymous verbal complaints are not worth the paper they are written on...

Thanks for everyones comments.

I got my cash. Lets just say that I had to roll around with the pigs a bit to bring the guy round to paying me in full and being very pleasant about it in the process.

Did a bit of overtime this week in my regular job and think I'll stick to that to top up the funds...or at least till the one sound guy I worked with before is back working.