Window Fitting Extras

Legacy_user

I know there's a few window fitters and contractors on here, just wanted to gather some opinions on a job on my own house window replacement.

Quote states "fitting of 9 No. Windows

exclusions: Disposal of Windows - £140
Internal Finishes - TBC"

These guys are a recommended fitting company from the manufacturer, which is why I wanted them to do the fitting.

Anyway, the job allowed for three days on site according to their covering letter.

During the fitting I had an issue with the wall below a big window being unstable and needing rebuilt, this was on day two of the fitting, which happened to be a friday anyway.
I rebuilt the wall over the weekend and called the contractor to say they could come back on site whenever suited them.
They came back a week or so later and finished the job within their three day timeframe.

Now, I fully expected to have to pay extra for the materials involved in temporarily covering the window opening while I rebuilt the wall. So I asked for a final invoice to settle.

I received a final invoice for almost double the original quote.
Extras were:
labour for an "extra day"
Silicone Sealant
Internal finishes
Materials for the Window infill

I have offered to pay for the internal finishes and the materials - but I don't see that there is an extra day as they completed the work in the three days allotted to them and silicone sealant should have been part of their quote for "fitting" surely, that have said that normally that is done by others?! Never heard of that on window replacement at all?

thebaldwindowfitter

I cannot understand unless the fitters never saw the job why they would not have some idea of trims/sealants needed both inside and out to give a true quote .As for the extra day it is possible they feel that they would have been coming the following day to finish off and due to brickwork couldnt after all they did say 3 but what would you have paid them more if it took four . They gave you a price for fitting not a daily rate this is something you will need to sort out

System

The inside wasn't decided when I got the quote because I wanted to try and keep the plastered ingoes but it was a bit dependant on what happened during the removal and then I wanted some different cill details inside too so I was happy not to have a fixed price for that...

I know they gave me the quote for fitting all the windows and it didn't include the time but if the problem with the wall had cost them another day of work then I would have paid some extra tbh as it was an unknown problem not found until the windows had been removed.
But since they weren't put back I don't feel that they have spent any more time on the job than they had allowed.
I have offered to pay for the extra materials and the disposal and nothing else, will wait and see what they come back with but I just wanted some options if I was being unreasonable.

glasgowdan

Sounds reasonable to me though it's not totally clear if they had to work two part days and two full days and are therefore charging 4 days on that basis? It's not like they could have gone elsewhere for two other half days of work.

But, as it was a fixed price job they shouldn't be charging extra for splitting the labour over 2 days

System

no, they were only here on three days, no half days , the problem with the wall was identified on the friday afternoon and they still had loads to do so it wasn't like they just came back to do the single window where we had a problem

thebaldwindowfitter

If the fitters were expecting the job to be finished on the saturday and they couldnt do that then they have lost work for that day which they wouldnt be able to cover at such short notice i wouldnt think

System

thebaldwindowfitter wrote: »

If the fitters were expecting the job to be finished on the saturday and they couldnt do that then they have lost work for that day which they wouldnt be able to cover at such short notice i wouldnt think

they weren't planning on working the saturday and they were pulled off "a big job" to come here as the company had been delayed on other jobs and couldn't fit us in when they were meant to, so I really don't think they missed any working days, if that was the case then their invoice should have explained it. And I would have been delighted if they had said they would work the saturday!
Originally they were to be on site two weeks prior, starting on a monday and finishing on the wednesday, but instead they started on a thursday, and weren't on site until after 10 any of the days

thebaldwindowfitter

thebaldwindowfitter wrote: »

I cannot understand unless the fitters never saw the job why they would not have some idea of trims/sealants needed both inside and out to give a true quote .As for the extra day it is possible they feel that they would have been coming the following day to finish off and due to brickwork couldnt after all they did say 3 but what would you have paid them more if it took four . They gave you a price for fitting not a daily rate this is something you will need to sort out

Sorry with mentioning it here and you not saying otherwise that is why a made my last comment .As i say you were given a price to fit the windows not a day rate .They have also done extra works ie the insides which you say yourself there was no labour or material cost for

System

True enough, although I am not disputing that I am due them money for the two internal cills that the guy cut and fitted in 20 mins!

thebaldwindowfitter

the_r_sole wrote: »

True enough, although I am not disputing that I am due them money for the two internal cills that the guy cut and fitted in 20 mins!

you have asked advice based on very little information as to what has been done other than the fitting of the windows except they have sealed the outsides and done internal work that wasnt originally quoted for are people supposed to be mind readers when giving advice and the possible reasons why your bill is so much higher every reason i have given you still feel fixated on the fact that they only took the three days yet say yourself they have done extra work ie finished off insides and fitted cills and there are a lot of fitters who only do new build where sealant is done by sealant companies .Choice is your pay up or dispute it

System

thebaldwindowfitter wrote: »

you have asked advice based on very little information as to what has been done other than the fitting of the windows except they have sealed the outsides and done internal work that wasnt originally quoted for are people supposed to be mind readers when giving advice and the possible reasons why your bill is so much higher every reason i have given you still feel fixated on the fact that they only took the three days yet say yourself they have done extra work ie finished off insides and fitted cills and there are a lot of fitters who only do new build where sealant is done by sealant companies .Choice is your pay up or dispute it

I know on new build there are different subcontractor arrangements, but the quote is for replacement windows for a domestic client so I can't see that they would think I have a separate sealant company appointed to do the silicone work and then also included for disposal - I have replaced windows on 4 of my own properties and not run into this issue

You say I've given little information but in my op - I have quoted from their quote, there isn't any more information.
They fitted two internal mdf cills, and disposed of windows, which I am happy to pay for, but if they have priced a job on three days and spent three days doing it, why would the labour be taken as an extra day for doing silicone work and two cills within the timeframe they had already allowed for.

The original quote for fitting 9 windows was 2k, final invoice totals nearly 3.7k - Which I am definitely disputing!

Thanks for your thoughts