Builder Quote Error - Liability?

adboltz

Hi all,

I will try and make this as brief as possible.

I am currently getting a brick porch built it is 2/3 built. The price was agreed before building work commenced at £5,700.

During the build i changed the plans for the roof before work on the roof had started, from a pitched roof to an hipped roof. I requested the extra cost for the roof on 6th August but did not receive the updated cost until work on the roof was close to completion.

After several requests for for the amended price, i finally received an updated price on the 31st August.

The final price of the build on the 31.08.19 is now £10,000. The additional cost of the hipped roof was £1,400 . However in the exchange of emails the builder has ACCEPTED liability that he miscalculated the size of the porch by adding the length and depth of the porch instead of multiplying.

Subsequently, in the last 48 hours, i have now had 5 different quotes off him.

1 - 10,000
2 - 8,900
3 - 11,000
4 - 9,100
5 - 8,300

I have rejected all of these, as i do think i should be liable to pay for his incompetence regards to miscalculating the size of the build.

I asked him the question if i had not changed the plan for the roof and the porch was built as planned with a pitched roof for £5,700, would you now be asking me for more money. His reply was yes due to miscalculating the size.

For a quick solution i offered £7,500 for the completed build which i believe is reasonable but he has rejected this but would accept £8,300.

Estimated build time was 2 weeks, we are now into the 9th week.

I believe i am in my right to stand firm as he as accepted liability.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks

Aylesbury_Duck

Some fault on both sides in my view. Yours, for allowing work to start without having a proper contract in place for a very different construction. His, for making a ridiculous mistake in the pricing.

Personally, I think your offer, being at a point somewhere between the erroneous quote and the true cost, is fair. If you refuse to offer any more he has the choice of accepting it or suing you. I don't much fancy his chances if he sues you, particularly since you've made a reasonable offer in an attempt to resolve it amicably.

DoaM

Was the contract based on a quote or an estimate? (They're different, and differences are important).

adboltz

I can ACCEPT this up to a point. But i asked for the updated quote before the roof works had started.

I came home from work one day and hipped roof was under construction. 2 weeks i had waited for the updated price.

The size of the build has remained the same through out. The builder said he miscalculated the size, therefore he has miscalculated materials for brick walls, footings, concrete and labour for bricklayer, no mention of roof costs.

I believe the change to the roof is not relevant with regards to his mistake, as i ACCEPTED i would pay extra for the redesigned roof.

adboltz

All these are quotes by the way, should have pointed that out from the start.

Thanks.

Aylesbury_Duck

adboltz wrote: »

I can except this up to a point. But i asked for the updated quote before the roof works had started.

I came home from work one day and hipped roof was under construction. 2 weeks i had waited for the updated price.

The size of the build has remained the same through out. The builder said he miscalculated the size, therefore he has miscalculated materials for brick walls, footings, concrete and labour for bricklayer, no mention of roof costs.

I believe the change to the roof is not relevant with regards to his mistake, as i excepted i would pay extra for the redesigned roof.

It's "accept" and "accepted" rather than "except" and "excepted". I'm not pointing that out just to be clever, it's because if this situation escalates it's important you don't create a misunderstanding because something excepted is very different from the same thing accepted.

With hindsight, you should not have let work start before agreeing the revised price for your requested change. That might have unearthed the miscalculation in his quote before work started. But I stand by my original point that whilst you've contributed to the problem, you've made a reasonable offer to resolve it which will be in your favour should this end up in court.

I'm not sure what else to say. If you're not prepared to pay any more than you've offered and he's not prepared to accept that amount, he'll have to take you to court.

adboltz

Thanks for informing me of the error. Amended.