Dispute with Builder's Invoice - Please Advise

Ryan_King95

Hi All,
Back in January we hired a builder to complete a renovation on our new house in SW Scotland (Semi Detached, 4 Bed, 1 Bath, 1 Kitchen, 1 Living/dining room, 1 Garage). He was tasked with the below works:

• Complete re-wire of house and garage, including adding in new sockets and modern items such as NEST thermostat/Ring doorbell, USB Sockets, Networking etc.
• Re-plastering of all walls and ceilings in house
• New windows/back door
• New internal doors, skirtings, architraves, stair Bannister
• Removal of old bathroom and kitchen
• Install coving throughout

He was initially tasked with buying/installing a new bathroom & kitchen and installing new laminate flooring throughout, however we eventually took this into our own hands due to the builders availability to do the work. We made the mistake of not getting a written, detailed estimate beforehand (a big mistake I know now), but he verbally gave an estimate of £30,000 for all work to be completed, including £5000 for windows, £5000 for electrical work and £5000 for plaster work. It should also be noted that at the time this estimate included him doing the flooring and bathroom as well, which we eventually done separately anyway.

After chasing him for two months for the final invoice after he finished work in August (delayed due to lockdown), the final bill comes to £44,000 exc VAT. The re-wiring alone comes to almost £9000 exc VAT. Do I have any ability to dispute this final invoice given we don't have a detailed written estimate from before the work was started? At no point during the work did he advise that the cost had increased so much, and we actually expected it to be under the £30k with the removal of the bathroom/flooring work.

Any advise on this would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

Flight3287462

Cost of materials has gone up quite a bit. But you should ask him to itemise his bill.

It isn't an Ayr based company is it?

Aylesbury_Duck

You're probably best off posting this on the In my Home DIY section of the forum.  There are some helpful, experienced tradespeople on there that answer queries like this all the time.

My heart sank when I read the bit about not getting a proper, itemised quote, schedule of works, contract, etc.  For such a large job and large sum, that's an absolutely essential starting point.  I fear that will be your undoing because if this ends up in dispute, and the builder is able to show his costs were reasonable, you'll be pursued for the sum.

Yes he's partially culpable for not providing these things himself, but so are you for appointing him and allowing him to start and complete the job without them in place.  I think your best approach is negotiation, starting with making sure you have a detailed breakdown of the works undertaken, materials supplied, etc.

Ryan_King95

Hunyani_Flight_825 said:

Cost of materials has gone up quite a bit. But you should ask him to itemise his bill.

It isn't an Ayr based company is it?

No it's a Dumfries based company

Ryan_King95

Aylesbury_Duck said:

You're probably best off posting this on the In my Home DIY section of the forum.  There are some helpful, experienced tradespeople on there that answer queries like this all the time.

My heart sank when I read the bit about not getting a proper, itemised quote, schedule of works, contract, etc.  For such a large job and large sum, that's an absolutely essential starting point.  I fear that will be your undoing because if this ends up in dispute, and the builder is able to show his costs were reasonable, you'll be pursued for the sum.

Yes he's partially culpable for not providing these things himself, but so are you for appointing him and allowing him to start and complete the job without them in place.  I think your best approach is negotiation, starting with making sure you have a detailed breakdown of the works undertaken, materials supplied, etc.

Thanks for the input - i've posted this on the DIY section as per your advise - think you're right on that one.

I know we're in a bit of a rut without having an initial estimate. We'd used him many years ago and he did a good job and is a really nice guy - so we put our trust in him...I don't think we'll be able to dispute most of the bill, but he has provided an detailed invoice itemised by date and the hours work/materials bought, and there's at least £2000 worth of work that we completely disagree with. I'm hoping we can at least get some of this taken off but he's unwilling to negotiate at all and is threatening court action...