Company trying to retrospectively charge for extra work

Walshy252

Hi all

Wondering whether anyone has experienced similar and more importantly what the legal stance is.

Yesterday we had a new solid fuel stove installed. We were quoted £2400 for supply and fit & knockout of existing fireplace, and paid this well in advance of install date. During the job the installers came foul.of some cowboy work done in the neighbouring property and had to knock in to the chimney breast in the room above to remove an obstruction that was preventing the lining kit being dropped. They then had to replace the couple of bricks that they had removed and replaster (not very neatly). The installer suggested that there may be an additional charge but did not reference this again or go in to any more detail. In fact I was given the impression that they had made up time as the job went on.

Today I've had a call from the company to say that they needed to charge me for the extra labour and that this would be £250 but as a gesture of goodwill they would meet me halfway at £125. Now I appreciate that there was some additional labour required that could not have been anticipated at the time, but £250 to knock out and replace a couple of bricks in another room seems excessive. I would have assumed that a quoted price is fixed and that any smaller unexpected issues would just be classed as a cost of doing business.

All in I would be happy to pay something towards the boys additional time on site but the initial suggestion of £250 being fair has got my back up somewhat.

Should I not make any further contact, stump up some smaller gesture and risk accepting that there is money owed, or pay up £125 now because they could chase me through courts?

Tom99

£125 sounds cheap for what they had to do, I would pay up.

Walshy252

Thank you for the view. Out of interest are you suggesting pay up on the basis that it is morally right, or that I'm legally obliged to do so?

seashore22

Speaking for myself, what is morally right is as important to me as what is legally correct. Isn't it to you?

We had some building work down and the ground work was far more difficult and time consuming than anticipated due to some frankly bizarre foundations put in by the builders of our old conservatory.

We paid the extra that our builders asked for because we saw quite clearly where the extra costs had come from.

steampowered

If they were to take it to court, the judge would need look at whether the £2,400 quote was fixed or just an estimate.

If you could prove that the installer told you that the quote was fixed (for an example in an email), the judge would expect them to take the risk of dealing with issues like this.

If you cannot prove this, then I think the judge will probably allow them to make an additional reasonable charge for any extra work which could not have been foreseen at the time.

Based on what you've posted it sounds reasonable to me for the builder to make an additional charge for going into another room to knock down part of a chimney. £250 also sounds reasonable to me.

Personally I think I would pay the £125.

AndyPix

personally , I would be a bit p1$$ed that they had done this.
And I would question any extra charge that was not agreed BEFORE the work was carried out ..


If it were me, id offer them £50 in light of the above.
Knocking a couple of bricks out doesnt take a full day, and i would be surprised if the labourer who did it was on more than £125 a day


disclaimer : I have no idea of the legalities of this - this is just my gut feeling

comeandgo

You were quoted a price to supple and fit and knock out existing fireplace. The contractors did more than that, you pay.

hollydays

Personally I’d just pay it.
You could ask for an itemised bill.
At the point they said there would be an extra charge, I’d have asked how much.