Builder trying to charge for extras which were installed without asking us or agreeing cost

joeflaherty

Good morning all,

We have just had our loft converted, and we are broadly happy with the results (as, thankfully, are Building Control). However, we've hit a road bump with the final account, which I haven't paid yet pending agreement of the numbers.

The builder is trying to charge us for six fire doors, at £253 each (labour and materials) which they say were not included in the original quote (full quote, not a rough estimate).

I have checked the quote again, and it included two FD30 doors at £90 each.

However, at no point did the builder raise the additional four doors with us, or mention that Building Control needed them. I have since confirmed with BC that they were required but this was only yesterday. The doors simply arrived at site about a month ago and were installed without any mention of the requirement and without agreeing the cost of this with us first.

I have pointed out to them that two were included in the quote, and that they should have quoted us the cost of the remaining four before ordering and installing them.

I have offered to pay £253 for one of them, which also included some stud work to block up a hallway opening, as this was required by BC and £253 for thwe . I've also offered £90 (as per the original quote) as a gesture of goodwill for the remaining three, as they are ultimately needed.

I'm expecting some pushback on this - any advice here would be greatly appreciated!

joeflaherty

joeflaherty said:

I have offered to pay £253 for one of them, which also included some stud work to block up a hallway opening, as this was required by BC and £253 for thwe .

Sorry, should read: "I have offered to pay £253 for one of them, which also included some stud work to block up a hallway opening, as this was required by BC and £253 for this seems reasonable"

Aylesbury_Duck

If they were required, you would have to pay for them anyway, so what's the issue?  You couldn't have completed the conversion without them, so what would you have done if the builder had provided the quote beforehand?

I agree it's not great that they didn't notify you beforehand, but ultimately it hasn't made any difference to the cost you face.   I don't think you're being reasonable by offering what you are.  I'm not surprised you're expecting some pushback!

Original quote: 2 doors @ £90 = £180
Invoice: 6 doors @ £253 = £1518
You've offered £343 for what is £1518 of required costs?  

What would you do if the builder wasn't happy with your offer and removed the doors you're not prepared to pay for?  He'd be entitled to do so.

joeflaherty

The sums are slightly different (I probably hadn't explained myself very well).
Invoice is 6 doors @ £253 so £1,518 as you say.
Two were in the original quote at £90. I've offered to pay for one of them at £253 as it involved some additional stud work and I've offered the quoted cost per door of £90 each for the other three. So £253 + £270 = £523. 
What is galling is that firstly, they're trying to charge me nearly three times the cost per door in their quote (£253 vs. £90) and secondly, they went ahead, ordered and installed them without asking me and without agreeing the quote. 
I only found out from BC that these doors were required about a month after they had installed them, so if the builder had knew that they would be required, I think it would have been germane to have passed on this information. 

tacpot12

I think the builder should have showed more consideration and alerted you to the additional cost sooner, but I think you will end up having to pay most of this. You might negotiate on the builder over the cost as it was unexpected, you might get them to absorb some of the cost themselves, you might ask for more time to pay, but I think you will end up paying most of this.  

maisie_cat

It isn't clear, are the doors a different spec to the quote?
When we had work done the calcs for the steel were wrong so a much bigger one was purchased and fitted. It wasn't the builders fault, in fact it was him that spotted the error, and we had no choice.
If the builder made a mistake on the pricing of the 2 doors but the spec was right I would pay, but you may wish to negotiate.
The other 4 doors were a clear add on and you should pay for them. given the nature of the disputed items, you may find they are removed because they still belong to the builder. 

theoretica

So you expected 4 openings and two doors and the builder has installed 6 doors?  Who drew up the plans, because they should have met building regulations.  Were the £90 doors adequate for fire regulations so you have an increase in both number and specification? 

joeflaherty

maisie_cat said:

It isn't clear, are the doors a different spec to the quote?

Not as far as I can tell. When we were asked to specify the types of doors, staircase, architraves, etc etc. that we wanted, it was clear which items came at an additional cost to the quote. The doors we chose were not at an additional cost from the quote (or so we thought at the time).  They are standard 4-panel FD30 doors.

maisie_cat said:

If the builder made a mistake on the pricing of the 2 doors but the spec was right I would pay, but you may wish to negotiate. 

That's what I'm proposing. I'm proposing to pay his full inflated cost of £253 for one of them, which involved extra stud work, and the quote cost of £90 each for the other three. 

What I am objecting to is being charged nearly 3x the quoted price per door.

JamoLew

Hes charging for 6 - you want to pay for 4 -- where did the other 2 go ?

joeflaherty

JamoLew said:

Hes charging for 6 - you want to pay for 4 -- where did the other 2 go ?

Two were in the original quotation for the whole loft, which we accepted. 

JamoLew

gotcha - i think hes been a bit cheeky quoting £90 a door then trying to charge you £253 a door -- thats a big difference.
Have you asked why the prices are so different ?
So these were additional doors not originally included in the initial quote ?