Additional costs being sought by bathroom showroom on bathroom refurb (advice needed please)

jones1328

We’ve recently had our bathroom renovated and have been hit with additional costs on top of the original quotation, which I’d be interested in gauging people’s opinions on.

For reference, the bathroom showroom we went with gave us a quote in May 2024 to carry out the work and this quote was emailed across to us., with work subsequently starting in early October 2024.

As part of the bathroom refurb, the position of the toilet was to be altered which meant the soil pipe would need to be removed (with the hole in the external wall ‘made good’) and a new hole drilled through the external wall to accommodate the new toilet position and associated soil pipe. This was all made clear to the bathroom showroom owner who visited our house to provide the quote, and he noted “fit new soil pipe” when he supplied his quotation.

There was also an even older soil pipe that had been left in place (from the previous bathroom renovation 20+ years ago) and was penetrating the external wall, that I asked the bathroom fitter to remove and brick up as part of the bathroom refurb works, which he agreed to do.

All in all, the bathroom fitter supplied and fitted 8 red frogged common bricks (£1.29 per brick from B&Q)) to ‘make good’ the redundant soil pipe penetrations to our external wall.

We also had another issue where the quote we received included/allowed for herringbone style tiling to be installed. We were told by the Bathroom Showroom that the bathroom fitter could install our tiles in a herringbone style but when the fitter started to install the tiles in a herringbone pattern it transpired that he hadn’t installed tiles in a herringbone pattern before and he quickly ran into problems. In the end we ended up going with a simpler ‘brick style’ tile pattern, as we were felt we were left with little choice but to go down that route.

I think I'm fair in saying that the issues were as a result of the fitter not starting the herringbone tiling in the correct manner, which resulted him running into issues fairly early on in the the tiling process.

For reference, the chap fitting our bathroom (who was a nice guy to be fair) acts as a sole trader and runs his own business but sub-contracts for the Bathroom Showroom we obtained the quote from. As a result, once the work was finished, he sent me an invoice for his labour costs on the project. Separately, the Bathroom Showroom owner (the guy who visited our house and sent us the quote in May 2024) then sent his invoice to cover materials costs, the new bathroom suite etc and minus the labour costs to be paid directly to the fitter.

As part of this invoice, the bathroom showroom owner was requesting additional (labour and materials) costs of £155 for brickwork and materials (for 8 bricks and mortar) associated with the bricking up of the old/redundant soil pipes, and £185 to cover the costs associated with the bathroom fitter having to take the tiles off the wall (after the failed attempt to install in a herringbone pattern) to allow all tiles to be installed in a simple ‘brick style’ pattern)

As the bathroom fitter had already invoiced me for his full labour costs on the project, I queried the additional costs with the bathroom showroom owner as the only ‘material costs’ as such I could see would be for the bricks and mortar, and I felt as if I was paying £155 for the supply of 8 bricks, which seemed very excessive. I also stated I wasn’t willing to pay the additional £185 being sought for ‘retiling the walls’ from herringbone to brick-style, as this was ultimately an error by the bathroom fitter that I shouldn’t have to bear the costs of.

The bathroom showroom owner then replied to state that the £155 brickwork and materials costs included for 0.5 days labour (even though the bathroom fitter had invoiced me his full labour costs) and likewise, the £185 retiling of the walls covered labour costs (again, even though the bathroom fitter had invoiced me his full labour costs separately).

I also queried the fact that the original quote included for tiling to be installed in herringbone but we ultimately ended up with a simpler brick style tile pattern, which was less labour intensive/time consuming, so would there be a cost saving associated with that?

The bathroom showroom owner then went on to state that “if I continued” querying these additional costs he would add £500-£700 extra on top of the already increased invoice, as his materials costs have gone up by 12% since he sent across his quote in May 2024. And that’s effectively where it’s been left at the time of posting this.

So, am I being unreasonable in querying these additional costs that the bathroom showroom has added to their original quote?

From a legal point of view, can the bathroom showroom add £500-£700 onto our current invoice because their materials costs have gone up at least 12% since May 2024?

Am I being unreasonable in querying whether a cost saving should be applied as we’ve ended up with brick style tiling rather than the herringbone that was originally quoted for?

DE_612183

What does it say on your original quote - does it allow for additional costs based on the costs of materials?

As for the other stuff, I think you are right to query - have you got it in writing that he is going to add more of if you continue to query the costs - that sounds like blackmail to me..

jones1328

Nope, doesn't mention additional costs for the cost of materials. Just spoke to the bathroom owner and he's agreed to waive some of the additional costs I was disputing.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Generally a quote is a quote unless something is changed after the quote and were there a change the trader should provide a cost. 

If you have paid the fitter separately you might have a contract with the fitter for labour and the showroom for materials. You could ask the showroom to clarify. 

If the tiles couldn't be fitted as stated in the quote you should be seeking a price reduction for this, probably from the fitter. 

The showroom's material price increase is their problem, again quote is a quote, and really so is the extra requested, as in to enforce it they'd have to take you to small claims and justify their position. 

I would point out the charge for tiling is due to the contract not being performed with due care and skill so you won't be paying, state you are happy to pay for the bricks and mortar but will be seeking a price reduction under Section 56 of the Consumer Rights Act for the tiling but are equally happy to call it even for the bricks and mortar. 

Jenni_D

Did the quote you received in May '24 have any deadline date/period of validity? If not then any change in cost is the trader's issue not yours, especially if there were no T&Cs to cover cost changes.

TELLIT01

If a contractor is asked to do any additional work without it being detailed and costed, the person requesting the work is leaving themselves wide open to being hit with large additional costs.  I would be surprised if the figure supplied for the original work was not an estimate or a quote with a caveat to cover any unforseen items/work.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

TELLIT01 said:

 the person requesting the work is leaving themselves wide open to being hit with large additional costs.  

If it is a service and no price is given only a "reasonable" price is payable. 

If goods I'm not sure how it works but the CCRs require the trader to give the consumer a price (or how it's to be calculated) before the consumer bound by the contract, but as I've said before I don't know what that means exactly.