Invoice far exceeds estimate

Chosenchief

Hi I am in the process of having a 2 bedroom flat renovated. The builder I am using has recently sent an invoice which (so far) exceeds the estimate that we agreed to proceed based on by £15k. The work covered on the estimate has not been completed as of yet and this invoice seems to cover work done up until the present state which suggests there will be even more billed on top of this at a later date. I am freaking out. Can anybody help?

[Deleted User]

Chosenchief wrote: »

Hi I am in the process of having a 2 bedroom flat renovated. The builder I am using has recently sent an invoice which (so far) exceeds the estimate that we agreed to proceed based on by £15k. The work covered on the estimate has not been completed as of yet and this invoice seems to cover work done up until the present state which suggests there will be even more billed on top of this at a later date. I am freaking out. Can anybody help?

An estimate is just that. A guess at what it might cost and can change.

Doozergirl

Is the invoice broken down in any way? Was the estimate?

You need to look at the value of work completed to date in comparison to the invoice.

You say it's over by £15k but we don't know:
What the estimate amount was to start with
What the work entailed
What elements have been completed to date
What extra work has been incurred

How long have they been there? How many people, on average, per day?

We might be able to help a little bit, but we're going to need a bit more info from you, please.

Chosenchief

So the original estimate covered ‘full refurbishment of 2 bedroom flat’ and is broken down by room with estimates for labour and materials after each section. I’m not sure how granular you need me to go or whether I can share photos of these docs here but the estimate is for £20317 in total. Work began July 16th. The other day 20th September I received an email invoice with the total balance showing £34159.18. This invoice is broken down but in a way that doesn’t make it obvious when compared with the estimate. I would also dispute the number of hours being billed as there were 5 weeks where the majority of his team were away ‘on holiday’ through this period. I’d say on average over the timeframe there has 2.5 persons on site. Most of the work has been done and I don’t have many significant problems with how it looks overall. My main annoyance is that at no point have I been advised that we are about to exceed or have exceeded the estimate (let alone that it’s almost doubled!). When I budget for work I do of course expect there may be additions but he hasn’t talked me though what has been done additionally and never agreed any coatings for these works with me prior to undertaking

Chosenchief

That should read *costings not coatings

Chosenchief

Hi shel, obviously I’m aware an estimate shouldn’t be treated as set in stone but on various research I’ve done o was told to expect perhaps 10-20% on top as the invoice should be more or less in line but to have £15k on top with the work yet to be completed and more to come seems pretty extreme

dunroving

Did the estimate include VAT? Could some of the mismatch be due to the invoice including VAT, but the estimate being exc. VAT?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

dunroving wrote: »

Did the estimate include VAT? Could some of the mismatch be due to the invoice including VAT, but the estimate being exc. VAT?

Prices for consumers should include VAT where applicable but even if the estimate didn't the VAT on 20 is 4.

OP all you can do is sit down with the builder and ask for a breakdown of the invoice and why this far exceeds the estimate.

Did you get any estimates from anyone else for the work?

Anything crop up during the work that had to be done on top of the original plan?

It's tricky as you don't want to sour the relationship before work finishes but if you don't question it now the builder may assume you are happy with the price at this stage.