Extension extra's
Flipper73
Posts: 7 Forumite
Hi,
We have recently had a kitchen extension built. We we were quoted for the work this included everything for the extension but not the kitchen. We had agreed however that he should also do the kitchen fit and had verbally agreed prices. In hindsight we should have seen the problem coming as each time we asked for costs he was very vague and although he said he would get the costs to us in writing they never appeared. We weren't worried at the time, he seemed genuine.
However on completion of the job we were presented with a huge list of extras. Obviously we were expecting some of these and more than happy to pay but many items on the list had never been mentioned to us before and others seemed hugely inflated from what we had agreed verbally. The extra's totalled over £15,000 plus vat!
There is a clause in his contract that states: "The employer may direct additions or alterations to and omissions from the works. The parties shall agree a reasonable adjustment to the price resulting from such changes as necessary, save that the contractor shall only be entitled to additional payment where such increase to the price I see agreed in writing prior to carrying out additional or altered works"
We have tried talking to the builder but he is not budging on any of his costs. So after some advice we are trying to come up with reasonable costs. We have paid him in full for the original quote but he is pushing us for a payment schedule for the rest.
Does anyone have any recent experience of what a reasonable cost would be for the following:
1. Digging an extra 0.6M of foundation totalling 5.03m3. Cost should include materials (concrete), labour ( there was already a mini digger on site for digging the foundations) and removal of spoil (although he did dump this all over our garden totally ruining the grass and it wasn't removed for over 2 weeks. He is charging us £996.46. He didn't tell us about the extra castings at the time. Does this sound reasonable?
2.We verbally agreed a kitchen fitting cost of between £2000 and £3000 for pre assembled units. He said it would be up to £5000 for flat packed. We bought a preassembked kitchen yet he has charged us £4500. He has also charged us £1028 for kitchen electrics. A cost that was never mentioned and we assumed was included in the kitchen fit . The original extension electrics in the quote were half this cost.
3. He has charged me 2 days labour (£250 a day) for tiling 3.4m2 of splashback (there were 6 sockets to tile around) . It only took 2 half days (3 hrs and 2 hours respectively) and I am sure only one man was doing the tiling but he's now telling me 2 were doing it. How long would you expect this area of tiling to take?
There are lots of other niggly costs but I think we'll just have to pay them. Any help and imformation you can give would be very welcome.
We live in the Cambridge area so costs are relatively expensive.
I want to get this resolved and pay the man but at the moment am feeling a bit foolish and ripped off.
Sorry for the long post.
We have recently had a kitchen extension built. We we were quoted for the work this included everything for the extension but not the kitchen. We had agreed however that he should also do the kitchen fit and had verbally agreed prices. In hindsight we should have seen the problem coming as each time we asked for costs he was very vague and although he said he would get the costs to us in writing they never appeared. We weren't worried at the time, he seemed genuine.
However on completion of the job we were presented with a huge list of extras. Obviously we were expecting some of these and more than happy to pay but many items on the list had never been mentioned to us before and others seemed hugely inflated from what we had agreed verbally. The extra's totalled over £15,000 plus vat!
There is a clause in his contract that states: "The employer may direct additions or alterations to and omissions from the works. The parties shall agree a reasonable adjustment to the price resulting from such changes as necessary, save that the contractor shall only be entitled to additional payment where such increase to the price I see agreed in writing prior to carrying out additional or altered works"
We have tried talking to the builder but he is not budging on any of his costs. So after some advice we are trying to come up with reasonable costs. We have paid him in full for the original quote but he is pushing us for a payment schedule for the rest.
Does anyone have any recent experience of what a reasonable cost would be for the following:
1. Digging an extra 0.6M of foundation totalling 5.03m3. Cost should include materials (concrete), labour ( there was already a mini digger on site for digging the foundations) and removal of spoil (although he did dump this all over our garden totally ruining the grass and it wasn't removed for over 2 weeks. He is charging us £996.46. He didn't tell us about the extra castings at the time. Does this sound reasonable?
2.We verbally agreed a kitchen fitting cost of between £2000 and £3000 for pre assembled units. He said it would be up to £5000 for flat packed. We bought a preassembked kitchen yet he has charged us £4500. He has also charged us £1028 for kitchen electrics. A cost that was never mentioned and we assumed was included in the kitchen fit . The original extension electrics in the quote were half this cost.
3. He has charged me 2 days labour (£250 a day) for tiling 3.4m2 of splashback (there were 6 sockets to tile around) . It only took 2 half days (3 hrs and 2 hours respectively) and I am sure only one man was doing the tiling but he's now telling me 2 were doing it. How long would you expect this area of tiling to take?
There are lots of other niggly costs but I think we'll just have to pay them. Any help and imformation you can give would be very welcome.
We live in the Cambridge area so costs are relatively expensive.
I want to get this resolved and pay the man but at the moment am feeling a bit foolish and ripped off.
Sorry for the long post.
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Comments
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How does 0.6 in length equal 5 cubic metres of footing? I'm missing something.Everything that is supposed to be in heaven is already here on earth.
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How many units in your kitchen? That's an easy one. Was it just the for the units and tops or was there more building work?Everything that is supposed to be in heaven is already here on earth.
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The 0.6 m refers to extra depth. Trench was 0.6 wide and 14m long. So 0.6x0.6x14=5.04 m3.
There are 22 standard cupboards. Where there is a tall cupboard, i’ve Counted it as 2. It the utility he charged £60 per cupboard but they were flat packed so he had to build and fit them. Worktops were fitted by a specialist worktop company.0 -
The building work: relocating plumbing, electrics, plastering and painting was all including in original quote which we have paid.0
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Okay, well I think the extra on the depth is fair. Possibly more than fair.
For the kitchen fit - it's a big kitchen. Bearing in mind I have no idea what it looks like and I have no idea of the scope of the project, I still think £100 a unit is more than fair, taking into account that we include the worktop fitting, end panels, appliance fitting in with that.
I couldn't justify £4500 for fitting that doesn't include building work. Did the appliances/water etc go in the same places as the old kitchen?
Tiling - it's a straight run, just sockets to go around? I think the time taken sounds about right for a straight run. In my kitchen I did 3 metres but it went up the wall, round units, into the window reveals etc and that took nearly 3 days! But a straight run around - one day @ £250. It does need to be done over two days as grouting has to be done after 24 hours. I cannot imagine two men tiling a splashback - they'd need their own areas to work on.
Add VAT to anything I say if appropriate. It should be, given you built an extension.Everything that is supposed to be in heaven is already here on earth.
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Thank you for that. With the tiling, it's a straight run. I left the house at 2pm and no tiling was done. I returned approx 3 hours later and the kitchen area was complete. There was 1 man in house when I left and no one there when I got back. The following day, boss man arrived before I went to work. He told me at the time that his employee had tiled kitchen the day before and he was going to tile the utility (about half the amount of tiles and no sockets) that morning. I returned home 4.5 hours later and it was all complete. I have no proof how many men worked on it at the time as I was not on site. Just what I was told at the time.0
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I don't think it sounds unreasonable, from what you've said. I wouldn't have thought the builder was being deliberately vague eithet, it's most likely due to unknown and unforseen costs that are likely with such jobs. Quote too low & he loses money quote too high and look like he's ripping you off.£15k sounds like a fair deal regardless of which area of UK tbh.0
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Also with the tiling have you considered the ordering, transportation, the handling, the setting out, measuring & bead placement all of which need to be done before you'd see anyone working putting tiles on the wall. Sticking on the tiles is the easiest part. You weren't necessarily charged for the exact hours someone was there placing tiles, it's generally a total of what is a normal time taken over the collective hours of a specific job.0
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The £15000 isn't the cost of the job, that cost £46,000. The £15,000 is for extra expenses incurred. Some costs we were aware of, others we had a rough figure for but he hugely exceeded this typically by 50% or more and some costs were for things never mentioned at all and we were totally unaware of. In is contract it say he will let me know of additional costs in writing, a couple of which he did and I am more than happy to pay as I agreed them. Plus all these figure are excluding vat so we are talking a lot of extra money to find.0
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