Additional day added to original quote by tradesman

Andybonaire

Hi all,
Was quoted £1,100 for a bathroom installation and the work was to take 5 days.
The work ended by taking 6 days and when we received the final invoice we have been charged £1,400 (£180 for an additional days labour and extra costs for plywood and other materials).
Although the original quote was an estimate and subject to change i find it hard to accept being charged an additional days labour when the tradesman often arrived at 10am and was gone by 4pm. I work from 8am - 5pm in my job and feel that this is an acceptable days work. Apparently he came across a few issues which meant the work would take longer. Also, he has stated that he needed to buy materials everyday before arriving. Is this reasonable or should we be expected to accept that 2 hours everyday is spent buying materials? My issue isn't with having to pay for additional materials but the £180 charge for extra labour. He did mention is may take a bit longer than 5 days but we were not told about extra costs etc which his quote stated would be mentioned before work commenced.
Would really appreciate the thoughts of anyone in the know before i pay the invoice.
Many thanks

Risteard

Stop calling it a "quote". You have told us it was an estimate. That's not the same thing.

ssparks2003

If you want a fixed price at the start, request one, though you will pay through the nose for it. You received an estimate so the timescales and thus price was not fixed. And your opinion of what a working day should be is irrelevant.

Pdbaggett

It wasn't fixed so whilst it's annoying I'd just pay up.

In the grand scheme of things I do agree with you however, in my experience trades people charge a fortune and work rather short ours. Hence why I just do everything my self.

The concensus around here though is £20+ an hour for most trades is reasonable but to be quite frank someone who is removing a toilet and putting another one in its place charging that amount is shocking to me, especially having refitted the bathroom my self and realising how easy it actually was.

Andybonaire

whoa chill, its a sunny saturday!:rotfl:

PhilE

Unfortunately if the quote he gave stated subject to change, there's not much you can do about it. You can have a chat with him and see if he'd take something off, but don't accept VAT being taken off.

£180 for 6 hours work plus materials is normal.

Next time ask for a fixed quote and get an invoice before paying a deposit and work commences.

Doesn't sound like you've been ripped off to be honest, if you are happy with the work.

Pdbaggett

Hi genau, since having the house just over a year I've managed to

Landscape the garden, turf and decking
Refit washroom, chased waste into walls, changed all fixtures .
Laid laminate throughout the whole down stairs
Fitted carpets upstairs
Tiled the bathroom
Boards the loft for storage
Fitted a booster pump to the whole house hot water supply
Fitted a new kitchen, units, sink, job, over ect
Wall papered
Fitted ip powered CCTV throughout
Fitted a projector, build a hidden enclosure for the remote controlled screen and chased the 5.1 surround into the walls.
Painted and decorated through out
Installed a wood burner into the conservatory
Changed every plug socket and light switch fixtures
Automated all the lights and most the electrics into Alexa and the WiFi
Fitted a hive

Probs other stuff, most of the things I just had a look on YouTube to see how to do it and had a bash my self. It might take you 3 times longer than a pro but saved a lot of money, depends how handy you are I guess.

martinthebandit

If he did a good job then don't quibble and pay up (what does seem to me to be a reasonably bill) nicely.

Having a good tradesman knowing that your a good customer is worth its weight in gold.

southcoastrgi

Pdbaggett wrote: »

The concensus around here though is £20+ an hour for most trades is reasonable but to be quite frank someone who is removing a toilet and putting another one in its place charging that amount is shocking to me, especially having refitted the bathroom my self and realising how easy it actually was.

What consensus is that then ?

The problem with people like you is that you have absolutely no idea how much it costs to actually run a business, you potter of to work & then come home again having all your sick days & holidays paid for & not having to worry about anything, what about the trade that has to go out & price a job for no pay, pay insurances, cover the hours when they have no work, the list goes on & on, so if we take your ridiculous figure of £20 then the trade would be lucky to see 50% of that for all the hassle of running a business

Doozergirl

southcoastrgi wrote: »

What consensus is that then ?

The problem with people like you is that you have absolutely no idea how much it costs to actually run a business, you potter of to work & then come home again having all your sick days & holidays paid for & not having to worry about anything, what about the trade that has to go out & price a job for no pay, pay insurances, cover the hours when they have no work, the list goes on & on, so if we take your ridiculous figure of £20 then the trade would be lucky to see 50% of that for all the hassle of running a business

I also bet my bathroom looks better and lasts a lot longer for it being properly designed and the work having been carried out by a pro as the significant building job that it is.

Pdbaggett

Go get another job if you resent running your own business so much then. I thought people ran their own business for the love of it not solely for profit. The amount of pressure and responsibility I have to deal with on a day to day basis in my job to earn £20+ an hour is unbelievable so yes I'm going to turn my nose up at someone wanting £20+ an hour to tile a floor or dig a garden up...

As for the "pro's" don't make me laugh the amount of times I have seen work performed from so called pros that is horrendous, shoddy and bordering on dangerous is laughable.

I can also unequivocally guarantee, you would not be able to tell my bathroom install from that of "pro" if we are going to use that phrase to determine quality.