Under-the-table deals are part of the New Zealand way of life. How do savings measure up to the risk of a shoddy job or prosecution? Kristina Greene reports.
Wednesday, October 13th 2004, 3:23AM
by The Landlord
It did not take long for them to decide: the choice was between paying $3000 or well over $30,000. Yet Andrea and Colin Smithson (not their real names) do not consider themselves immoral. Nor do they feel they are making themselves accomplices to fraud.
A well-educated, double-income couple in their late 20s, they are refurbishing their kitchen and do not see why they should pay 10 times the black-market amount just to be legal. This deal, struck with trusted tradespeople and friends, is being completed faster, with lower costs, and to everyone's satisfaction with a couple of bills in an envelope.
