How Much Does It Cost
What’s
The Catch?
Let’s not beat around the bush – you’re here because you’re sceptical about what we do, or you think it’s going to cost you a fortune (spoiler: it’s not).
We love helping the construction industry, but we’re a business too, so there is a fee attached to our service.
The good news is it’s less than you might think.
It’s certainly less than HMRC would ask you for if they decided to reclassify your subbies.
And it’s a whole lot less than the legal fees and fines you might face if one of your subbies suddenly makes friends with a no-win, no-fee lawyer because you stop using them on jobs.
How are our fees calculated?
Our initial consultation with you is free. This is where we find out whether we can help you or not. If you’re not at risk, we’ll tell you. If you’re too much of a risk (because your subbies should actually be employed), we’ll tell you.
But if you fall somewhere in between and want our help, we’ll issue the first invoice.
This is a one-off £25 per subbie.
Once this has cleared, we’ll get to work on your contract. You’ll then need to get all your subbies to sign a copy.
You then pay a monthly protection fee. This is based on your risk factor but usually falls somewhere between £3 and £5 per subbie per week – get your subbies to buy their own bacon butties once a week, and you’ve covered it.
We won’t charge any extra if you take on any new subbies within the twelve months.
Once the twelve months are up, we’ll review your contract to make sure it still reflects how you work with the subbies and adjust your monthly fee according to the number of subbies you have.
And that’s it. No huge costs. No big hits to your cashflow. No need to take out a second mortgage to guarantee peace of mind.
Still sound too good to be true?
It’s not. We promise. And it’s not that nobody else is doing it. Payroll companies do what we do every day. They just don’t do it to protect you – they do it to protect themselves.
What do we mean?
Well, think about it this way. Payroll companies tell firms they can’t use subcontractors long-term. And yet, if that firm signs up with them, they can pay those same subcontractors forever, and HMRC never reclassifies them as employees. How do they get away with it?
Why can’t firms that don’t want to use a payroll company access whatever secret system payroll companies use and use it themselves? They can.
It all comes down to the contract between you and your subbies. We’re not going to go through it all again in detail – you’ve got our book, you know how it works. You can even create that contract yourself.
So why use HardHats?
Creating a contract isn’t a quick job. Creating one that’s completely watertight is even harder – HMRC love a loophole.
So why not let us take care of it?
If paying us to do the hard work for you isn’t incentive enough, we also offer a guarantee. We work with an international insurance company called Markel – they specialise in ‘hard-to-place’ risks that standard insurers generally steer clear of.
They have a history of successful self-employment cases against HMRC and underwrite all HardHats contracts before issuing the guarantee. And because they are involved from the start, we know they will pay out if HMRC ever does come calling, which is why we can take on your risk.
We handle any enquiries that come your way and pay any costs or fees in the unlikely event HMRC reclassifies your subbies.
All you have
to do is:
- Be completely honest about the true working relationship between you and your subcontractors
- Get all your subcontractors to sign one of our contracts
- Pay our invoices on time
Not really a big ask in exchange for twelve months of complete peace of mind that you’re protected.
Get Started!
So there you have it. We aren’t reinventing the wheel. We aren’t doing anything dodgy or illegal. We’re simply doing things differently. We’re offering you an alternative.
And if you’d like to discuss how that alternative can work for you, book a call.