Tiling in new bathroom - company want more money

Gelly123

Hi all,
Hoping you can help.

We are in the process of getting our bathroom replaced and have a company doing the whole thing (removal, supply & install). They quoted us at the beginning for the goods, tiles and labour which we agreed to before they started.

Nearing the end now and the tilers have used 2 more boxes of tiles than the company anticipated and quoted for. Boxes are about £45 a box.

Now they've come back to us and told us we need to pay extra for the 2 extra boxes of tiles - is this right?

In our minds, it's a quotation not an estimate so the fact that they got it wrong and under quoted is their problem - it's the principle of it.

What are your thoughts?

Many thanks
Gelly

spacey2012

Pay the quoted invoice in full if you are satisfied with the work after they have left the premises and tell them to take it up with the estimator.
If they had used two boxes less, would they be offering a refund ?

Trust me, they will have cut a fair few corners and used materials left over what other clients have already paid for.

McKneff

spacey2012 wrote: »

Pay the quoted invoice in full if you are satisfied with the work after they have left the premises and tell them to take it up with the estimator.
If they had used two boxes less, would they be offering a refund ?

Trust me, they will have cut a fair few corners and used materials left over what other clients have already paid for.

Exactly this.......

They make a mistake and they want you to pay for it....:rotfl::rotfl:

Im surprised they aren't asking for the extra labour to put the extra tiles on.....:rotfl::rotfl:

A quote is a quote. Full Stop. An 'estimate' is a different thing altogether.

If it says quote, just pay what they quoted. Simple as that.

DirectDebacle

How many sq.m. tiles are on the quote and how many sq.m. to a box. Often but not always 1sq.m. per box.

Measure how many sq.m. you have on your walls.

Usual to add 10% to the total required for wastage/cuts.

Could be they ordered e.g. 20 boxes for 20 sq.m tiling and forgot to allow for wastage i.e 2 additional boxes. If so down to them.

If an error in calculating total area e.g. quoted for 20 sq.m. but 22 sq.m were needed and that is what is on the walls then my approach would be to pay original quote plus 2 boxes and they accept they had layed additional boxes for free.

Up to you what stance you adopt but first thing is find out why 2 additional boxes were needed.

ryder72

That's pretty poor. They provided a quote and they appear to have miscalculated the amount of tile you need. Unless their sales contract says that they are allowed to charge for you 'extras' or something to that effect, they cant charge you for this. And even if they are allowed to, you can try asking nicely if they would waive it as a gesture of goodwill.

We provide quotes for building work for kitchens and this is not a perfect science so sometime we overestimate and sometimes underestimate. We would always write off a minor amount like this as a goodwill gesture.

osdset

Has to be the firms fault, didn't allow enough wastage, or the tiler got the gauge wrong and used more than he should. Down to them IMO.

Mallotum_X

How happy are you with the job overall and have they explained why they needed 2 more. Is the company a large firm or a small local one?

I would weigh up what I considered to be fair. If i was happy overall and felt they had done a good job with minimal disruption etc (i.e did they make an effort with you) I would consider paying the extra.

If they had quoted the extra £90 would if have changed your decision on using them?

But make sure you are fully happy with everything first.

If you dont pay and something goes wrong that they should come back and fix how likely do you think they will help if you dont pay this.

Weigh things up overall as to what is the right thing to do.

Gelly123

Thanks all - I really appreciate you taking the time to reply. It's confirmed our thoughts but obviously we are blinkered by it so needed some unbiased opinions.

I think the concensus is "a quote is a quote" and he should have got it right in the first place - that's business.

The guy from the bathroom company has said that the tilers did a lot more cuts than expected but this isn't a new company, he's been doing this years so should know what to expect and price accordingly.

I do totally understand your comment Mallotum about weighing up if they've done a good job, etc but I think we are paying them more than enough for the job, it's not being done on the cheap at all.

Thanks again all.
Gelly

evoke

Sounds more like a lot of wastage rather than a miscalculation. Have you counted how many tiles are on your walls versus the number of discarded tile boxes?! It's quite rare to underestimate tiles. Most companies usually overestimate and then return the unused tiles for a refund. It's also useful to keep a handful of unused tiles in storage in case you need to repair a damaged one in the future.

Clive_Woody

Tell them it's fine so long as they agree to revise the labour costs from the original quote to 50% of what was originally agreed. If they want to revise the quote now I would suggest that you change the bits that you want to also to save money elsewhere.

Perhaps include a charge of £10 per cup of tea supplied + VAT

Have you charged them for the electricity that they have used for their tools?

keystone

Gelly123 wrote: »

In our minds, it's a quotation not an estimate so the fact that they got it wrong and under quoted is their problem - it's the principle of it.

The highlighted bit is concerning. Either its a quotation as per the paperwork they've supplied you or its an estimate. It can't be both neither can it be the subject of assumption or wishfill thinking.

If its a firm price quotation as all of the above. Tell 'em to do one. Its entirely their fault at one end of the process or the other. Either their tiler or their estimator is incompetant. Doesn't matter which.

If it was an estimate then you might not have much choice unless you are a good negotiator.

Cheers