Builder is asking us for more money?

choccywoccy

We had a quote for building work to convert our garage into a kitchen. Cutting the story short work started yesterday and the builder has just told us that the garage floor isnt to the spec it should be meaning there will be a step up into the kitchen where the existing internal door was. He is asking us for another £1000 to dig out the concrete base and make it all level - or live with the step. My husband is fuming - we are on a tight budget and this is day 2 of the work already we are being asked for more. Surely this is the builders fault for not checking the measurements before he gave us the quote? What do we do? have we any rights to request he does the work and refuse to pay the extra?

Hintza

That is building work for you.

If he finds something that is not as it should be then he will charge more. Is it not covered in the "written" contract you have with the builder?

sandiep

Did your builder quote off a building warrant?

Widelats

He should have stated this in the quote, its a common way of getting more work out of customers by making things up as they go along, he will have seen it in the first place and not told you, giving you a low estimate, then upping the price and work to be done.

Read your contract carefully, you should not have to pay extra if you agreed to a certain price, as it is the builders fault for not mentioning this extra work to you in the first place.

If you don't put a stop on it now, the extras will keep building up as he works, i tell you the truth, i used to do this trick myself.

choccywoccy

Im not sure. It is a very reputable company - andwe have a contract yes. Will read it again when I get home, I really dont think he is trying to rip us off and is very appologetic about it - he is saying we dont have to have it done and live with the step up but it will look awful and possibly create accidents being in a kitchen area. howeber it means a big chunk of our kitchen we now cant afford.. but think it is his mistake for not taking accurate measurements before giving the quote... after all he is the expert?

Tozer

Widelats wrote: »

He should have stated this in the quote, its a common way of getting more work out of customers by making things up as they go along, he will have seen it in the first place and not told you, giving you a low estimate, then upping the price and work to be done.

Read your contract carefully, you should not have to pay extra if you agreed to a certain price, as it is the builders fault for not mentioning this extra work to you in the first place.

If you don't put a stop on it now, the extras will keep building up as he works, i tell you the truth, i used to do this trick myself.

Not how it works at all.

Most building contracts contain provision for change control (i.e. pricing increases) if there are latent problems. The pricing would have been done on the assumption that the existing work was to the spec.

Building isn't an exact science so to an extent it is understandable.

Lifeisbutadream

choccywoccy wrote: »

Im not sure. It is a very reputable company - andwe have a contract yes. Will read it again when I get home, I really dont think he is trying to rip us off and is very appologetic about it - he is saying we dont have to have it done and live with the step up but it will look awful and possibly create accidents being in a kitchen area. howeber it means a big chunk of our kitchen we now cant afford.. but think it is his mistake for not taking accurate measurements before giving the quote... after all he is the expert?

My husband does extensions and it is extremelly difficult to price certain things without ripping up floors and walls, which obviously you can't do before work starts. Usually he is able to put something in the quote to warn customers that there may be a problem, but occasionally he gets a nasty surprise once the work starts.

£1000 sounds like quite a lot extra - is your kitchen very big? it may be worth getting a second opionion on that price and/or trying to barter the builders extra price down.

Failing that, you might consider offering to go halves on the extra price?

Anihilator

Or you could tell them to leave the step

At the end of the day if the extra work exists for any reason other than their neglience you either live with the step or pay for the work.

I would state though not being a mind reader/psychic is not neglience

choccywoccy

I dont think it was unforseen or hidden problems - I expected this when renovating our 500 yr old farmhouse a few years back...but this we are talking about a 9 yr old new built garage convertion! he didnt take measurments before the quote he went off "spec" and said the original builders got away with the "wrong spec"....this is why the floor is a few inches higher than it should have been....I thought he should have checked and measured up before the quote? therefore the fault lies with him for missing this?

Anihilator

But its hard to check items for a quote without ripping up floors etc.
He quoted based on your spec. If the property isnt to the spec then it isnt his fault and he is within reason to expect further payment.

If your not happy with this ask to settle for the work done to date and seek someone else.

Foggster

We have just had a garage conversion. The floor was always going to be dug up because it was on a slight slope (I understand alot of garage floors are like this) and we had the floor insulated which brought the level up to meet the floor in the hallway.

The first builder asked if he could make an exploratory hole in the wall to check the levels and the 3 other builders all checked using this. There was no need to rip floors up to check this.

£1000 seems an awful lot of money. As far as I could remember, they took half a day to break up the concrete and then laid the insulation and concrete over the next day or two, its not like it involves costly materials.