Contractor looking for more money

Tyler119

In June we agreed an estimate with a contractor to carry out an extension and some renovation works to our new property at a cost for labour only. It was agreed that it would be completed with a reasonable time to allow us to decorate etc before Christmas.

Due to extras being charged for and the time taking to complete these extra, this finishing time will not happen. This is not the issue though.

I asked him to provide a cost of how much he would want for having carried out extra / unforeseen works. He has provided this and I have no issue with it as in my opinion it will compensate him for the time lost not working on the original quotation.

However he has sent another bill through asking for £5000.00 extra to complete the original quotation of works. This is exactly 25% increase on the original price. I had expected to pay a little extra and had agreed in principle that we would do so. In my budget I expected this to be £1000.00 at the maximum.

He has already said that he underestimated our job by like £5000.00. However it seems like he is expecting us to bear the entire responsibility for him underestimating the job. I work in the web industry and would never think of asking a customer to stump up more money for work I had quoted for, just because I had messed up my numbers.


I guess I am looking for advice or suggestions.

Thanks very much in advance.

RAS

If he provided an estimate you do not have a leg to stand on really.

If he provided a quotation, then there is a basis for discussion.

princeofpounds

Try the DIY board a bit further down (In the Home or something it's called) as well as here. They have a whole section for dealing with trades quotes etc.

Tyler119

RAS wrote: »

If he provided an estimate you do not have a leg to stand on really.

If he provided a quotation, then there is a basis for discussion.

Ive had the paperwork and he has listed what works will be carried out and then put:

Price: £20,000.00 labour only

Tyler119

princeofpounds wrote: »

Try the DIY board a bit further down (In the Home or something it's called) as well as here. They have a whole section for dealing with trades quotes etc.

Thank you, will do.

nidO

You can maybe ask him if there's any way he'd be willing to split the difference, but it's important to note that a quote is not the same thing as an estimate.
If he gave you a quote to complete the works outlined at a set price then you can argue the case with him to stick to his quote as that's the whole purpose of a quote, however if he gave you an estimate then by its very nature it can change.

My approach would be to ask for a breakdown of the additional previously underestimated work to try to determine whether the additional time/effort/labour needed is something he would have had no reasonable way to know when providing the original quote, or whether it's additional work he should reasonably have been able to see would be needed.
Anything that then falls into the latter category, ask him to knock off.

Tyler119

nidO wrote: »

You can maybe ask him if there's any way he'd be willing to split the difference, but it's important to note that a quote is not the same thing as an estimate.
If he gave you a quote to complete the works outlined at a set price then you can argue the case with him to stick to his quote as that's the whole purpose of a quote, however if he gave you an estimate then by its very nature it can change.

My approach would be to ask for a breakdown of the additional previously underestimated work to try to determine whether the additional time/effort/labour needed is something he would have had no reasonable way to know when providing the original quote, or whether it's additional work he should reasonably have been able to see would be needed.
Anything that then falls into the latter category, ask him to knock off.

I guess my issue is that he is saying because of extra works carried out that the original quotation of works will take longer. However I am paying him for the extra works and so he shouldn't be out of pocket. Except he is asking 25% extra of the original price to complete the work, because he got his numbers wrong.

Prothet_of_Doom

RAS wrote: »

If he provided an estimate you do not have a leg to stand on really.

If he provided a quotation, then there is a basis for discussion.

IIRC

ball park = +- 35%
estimate = +- 15%
Quote = +-0%

Tyler119

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

IIRC

ball park = +- 35%
estimate = +- 15%
Quote = +-0%

Thats what I thought, I budgeted for around 10% to 15% for any extra work that came along, which around what his bill for extra work will come to.

We were willing to pay him a little extra on top of this to be reasonable, however I think he is being very unreasonable asking for 25% extra.

Building_Surveyor

Did you sign a contract? Or did you draw up a contract?