Paying insurance payout to contractor in cash

I received an insurance payout for a damaged roof on a rental property and the contractor doing the work is offering a discount for cash payment. Does this make sense financially? If the payment is considered a business expense, then obviously it doesn't make sense, but I'm not sure if the payment is a tax write off since 1, I don't have an LLC, and 2 bc I don't even know if an insurance payout qualifies as a write off expense. Sorry, I'm new to rentals, so this might be a dumb question.