Hike from price quoted by Painter

Iain_L

We got work done by a painter we have been using for years with no issues. Last year we asked him to give us a quote for painting the outer woodwork which came in at £2190 plus VAT. We agreed and he did the work in Sept last year. While doing the work he said it might be a bit more than quoted as he had forgotten we had a patio and he needed his young lad to hold the ladder to stop it falling which was fine.

He came round yesterday to unstick some of the windows which I'd asked him to do earlier in the year and we spoke about the fact that he still hadn't invoiced us. He brought round a piece of paper with hours for the 2 tradesmen and the young lad and the material costs and told me it was £3560 plus VAT.

I am gobsmacked to say the least. As we have had him do work for us for over 5 years with no issues, we couldn't believe it and I know some of you will say we should have got it in writing. I still have the piece of paper with the quote on it that I wrote when he called me to give me the price. Can anyone give us advice on where we stand as we are obviously not happy. I was so taken aback that I didn't know what to say at the time so was vague.

Any advice will be gratefully received.

Iain

keystone

You need to talk to him - its as simple as that. You already have an agreement that there may be additional cost. Ask him to justify the difference - its as simple as that.

Something wrong about this anyway. How can it be that a one-man band painter is generating so much turnover that he has to charge VAT and does £2k+ worth of work in September but doesn't invoice until the following June. Have you got a proper VAT invoice?

Cheers

macman

'A bit more' than quoted might be 10% maximum? Simply ask him to justify the increase.
Sounds like this guy is not good with his paperwork (that's a serious understatement), remind him of the original price he quoted. He may simply have got the invoice wrong.
Where you will have lost out is that by not paying until now you'll have to pay the extra 2.5% VAT.

Iain_L

He's not really a one man band. He does domestic properties but I know he has also had contracts with the local College and at least one restaurant in the area.

We live in the North of Scotland and find that a lot of companies here take a long time in sending their invoices.

He has provided us with VAT invoices in the past.

Thanks for the replies.

Iain

macman

Iain_L wrote: »

He's not really a one man band. He does domestic properties but I know he has also had contracts with the local College and at least one restaurant in the area.

We live in the North of Scotland and find that a lot of companies here take a long time in sending their invoices.

He has provided us with VAT invoices in the past.

Thanks for the replies.

Iain

But not 9 months! `Most wouldn't still be in business if they took 10 months to collect.

McKneff

Was this a quote or an estimate, big difference,

was it in writing

Is his VAT registration number on his invoice.

Iain_L

McKneff wrote: »

Was this a quote or an estimate, big difference,

was it in writing

Is his VAT registration number on his invoice.

We asked for a quote as we always have done and never had this issue with him before.

It was not in writing as I said in my original post. He came up, saw the work needed and phoned me later with a quote. I wrote down what he said.

Yes, his VAT number is on his invoices.

macman

Then unless he disputes the quote he gave you, he has no case. You owe him £2,160+VAT, plus whatever hours he reasonably bills for the young lad to hold the ladder. Which won't be £1,370.
In fact, if he gave you a firm quote you're not even obliged to pay the extra for that, unless you verbally agreed to.
The absence of a written quote makes no difference, a verbal agreement has exactly the the same validity in law. However it does make proving the agreement your word against his.

olias

macman has it right. He said the extra would be 'for his young lad to hold the ladder'. The are above the patio, even accounting for a lot of prep and several coats, would not take more than a few days. Even being generous you're only talking about a week at min wage - £200 max extra is the most I think he could justify.

Olias

McKneff

Learn from it too, get everyting but everything on paper in future.
Yu will save yourself an awful lot of hassle

nickj_2

a quote is a quote , if he had forgotten about needing someone to hold the ladder that is his problem ,he should have allowed that in the quote as a painter myself i olny charge extra if the customer asks for extra work outside what i have quoted for , eg - not liking a colour after having painted a room etc , what i don't do is charge extra for quoted work unless it's a major problem that can't be reasonably accounted for from the original quote , most jobs i quote for come in about right on the price , some you gain a bit , some you lose , but that's life
the only increase he can justify is the vat rise , also i don't know anyone who invoices 9 months after doing the work, i invoice as soon as the job is completed to the customers satisfaction and i expect them to pay promptly ,