Kitchen Fitter wants more money from original quote

jackll88

Hi All

First time post - looking for help and advice 

We recently bought a kitchen from Wren, and got 3 quotes from 3 different companies which all came in at around £200 apart. The company we went with wasn't the cheaper of the 3 but seemed most equipped to do a good job and came recommended from the person who sold us the kitchen from Wren. 

The quote they gave us, which does have caveats which say any additional work to be done will be agreed prior to any doing numerous times throughout. There were also some elements which we agreed we'd decide once the work commenced such as spotlights but in the quote it's stated they cost £65 per light. 

The quote was then agreed and confirmed at £4600 which included some of elements that had caveats against them and I followed up on the quote to say the total price of the kitchen work is £4600. 

Once the work begun, we did encounter some unexpected things such a leak which rotted our underlay and floorboard which we agreed for them to replace. As the work was almost finished and there were only final elements left to be done the builder mentioned he will send us the bill for the additional work which we expected to be for the flooring and other snagging bits which we agreed on however the bill has come in for an extra £3500 which he's broken down and it includes a lot of work which we didn't even know that they've done which goes against what they stated in their quote. I looked through this new bill and their prices have increased for things they originally stated in the quote e.g. spotlights in quote 1 were £65 each but quote 2 has them down at £170. We've already paid a significant amount of the original bill in cash and received a receipt and I've pushed back to say we didn't agree to the bulk of this work.

We're at crossroads now in that the work has been done which we're really happy with but don't think it's fair that we should pay for work that we've not agree on and not sure what our legal/consumer rights are. 

Thanks

welshmoneylover

I would pay it myself as a lot of issues arise plus building costs are going up.
if you are happy with the work , then I wouldn’t personally cause a fuss over it.
just be glad it wasn’t a cowboy job then you will be full of wrath ! Lol

joe90mitch

I don't think there'd be anything wrong with you going back to them and querying this. Three and a half grand extra is a LOT of money. If it's written in the first quote that they will inform you of any additional costs then definitely go back to them and ask why this didn't happen. If there are certain items you feel comfortable that the additional cost is fair (e.g. the rotten flooring replacement) then state that you're happy to pay for those but want to query the other items. You're also well within your rights to query why spotlights have over doubled in price, again reminding them that the original quote said you'd be informed of any increases in price.

When you say "quote 2"  - do you mean you actually received a second quote prior to the work? Or is this the bill you received most recently?

jackll88

Quote 2 is the bill we received after the job for the additional work.

I agree that we should pay for the work we agreed too but feel that we had no say in the rest and also don’t know whether this has actually been done and it defeats the purpose of having a quote and it’s almost double what we were originally quoted for.

joe90mitch

jackll88 said:

Quote 2 is the bill we received after the job for the additional work.

I agree that we should pay for the work we agreed too but feel that we had no say in the rest and also don’t know whether this has actually been done and it defeats the purpose of having a quote and it’s almost double what we were originally quoted for.

I'd definitely be going back and querying anything that wasn't agreed, albeit in a polite and calm manner. You have it in writing from the first quote that any new costs need to be agreed and this hasn't happened. It may be that they've made a mistake (or are chancers) and when you push back they immediately remove the "extra" items. If they don't, then I would imagine you're still in a good place as they won't be able to show any proof of you agreeing to the extra costs, presumably. Though this may ride on the wording of any quotes/written agreements between yourselves. Other people on here will probably be able to give better advice if it comes to that though.

TELLIT01

Certainly get clarification of what was done to cause the increased cost.  It is possible that there was no option but to do some additional work and the job couldn't be completed without doing so.  Yes they should have spoken to you first but essential work is precisely that.  There may have been some miscommunication about the lights.  The figure quoted may have been the unit cost - not the installed cost.

You won't know until you ask the question.

As an example of essential work, when we had our kitchen done the plan was simply to install a few extra power points, but when the electrician saw the wiring in the kitchen he refused to touch it and installed a complete new ring main for the kitchen.  He couldn't have known in advance but the work had to be done.  I wasn't asked if I wanted it done, and to be fair the bill wasn't excessive in my opinion.

Apjs87

welshmoneylover said:

I would pay it myself as a lot of issues arise plus building costs are going up.
if you are happy with the work , then I wouldn’t personally cause a fuss over it.
just be glad it wasn’t a cowboy job then you will be full of wrath ! Lol

Easy to say if you have an extra 3.5k spare?

I'd personally query this as it doesn't sound right. 

jackll88

Hi All
Apologies as I didn't update.
We went back and forth with the builder a few times, we did acknowledge some of the additional cost we had ask for and argued against a fair bit of the others. We came to a middle ground way much less that 3.5k which was a result. 
Thanks for the kind words and advice (and apologies for coming back to you all so late)
Thanks

mug2007

Great result.  We have had some jaw dropping unexpected bills come our way and have always managed to discuss it, try to understand if it is justified and reach an agreement.