No Contract with Builders - Over Budget

Babrat

Macman we DID agree a firm price £20k with £2k contingency. Emailed to him before plans submitted to us for approval.

macman

OK, but that's not what you've said up to now. You said that you gave him a budget, and he gave you a spec without a price on it!
If he agreed your budget then that is what you pay-no more than £22K.
Ask him how he justifies the extra £3K.
It's a very strange approach to agreeing a price though. By allowing a £2K contingency you've effectively put £2K on the bill. In future ask for a written quote (not an estimate) and stick to that.

screwedagain

Very strange way to agree a price for building work.

Always get the party who you will be paying for the work to confirm back to you how much the work will cost before you instruct them to start.

Did the designer confirm to you that the work on his drawings could be done within your budget? You should have got him to confirm the actual cost before any building work started.

Babrat

We have now sorted this out. The designer who instructed the builders agreed he knew the budget but hadn't got the costs agreed with the builders before they started! We only have to pay what we agreed.