Builders charging more after quote agreed!!!

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yvonkey

Registered User
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We hired some guys to do some work in our house, they assessed what needed to be done and gave us a quote based on that. Now they have said that they need to charge more as they had to replaster some of the walls.

I would have thought that they should have known what needed to be done from the offset when they gave the quote?? Do I have to pay them the additional amount??

Any advise would be great please, thanks :D
 
If there was extra work that they spotted along the way, they should have made you aware of it, allowed you to make a decision on it, given you a quote for it and not done anything about it until you had accepted or otherwise.

Did they have to re-plaster a wall that they had already plastered or was it an old wall? Either way my first sentence is true.
 
Did they give you a detailed, written quotation with a precise schedule of works and bills of quantities or was it a phone call with "around the 10 grand mark" thrown in at the end?
 
It wasn't too detailed, it listed the work required and a price for each job... I don't mind paying a little more for materials etc but I think they are charging a little too much more....
 
If what was done needed to be done and you're happy with the result, then maybe you should agree what you think would be a fair price with them, if for no other reason than to avoid hassle. I still think they should have made you aware of it before they carried out the extra works and I would say this to them too.
 
Thanks for the advise!!! I will ask for a breakdown on what the additional work carried out and hopefully meet them in the middle. It was a old wall by the way, when they took away some tiles some of the plaster came away with it.

Just out of curiosity... how much would a plastering job cost??

Thanks again ;)
 
yvonkey said:
Thanks for the advise!!! I will ask for a breakdown on what the additional work carried out and hopefully meet them in the middle. It was a old wall by the way, when they took away some tiles some of the plaster came away with it.

Just out of curiosity... how much would a plastering job cost??

Thanks again ;)
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It sounds like it was a fair enough job, though you would think that they would realise that some remedial work would need to be done if taking down tiles was part of the original job. No idea on plastering prices, but a small job like that shouldn't cost too much if they were already plastering other walls in the house.
 
I am over 30 years in trades and when a price is given that is the price, a lot of people have to arrange loans for these projects, even if not they are prepared to pay for what they have budgeted for, they simply cant decide to do extra work and then bill you.I would certainly like to see their faces if you simply said it was not in the price, it is not in your budget , you did not ask for it to be done and you do not have the money to pay for it. Just read last post, really a joke, I have stripped 1000,s of bathrooms and kitchen walls of tiles and I have never seen a surface left that you could paint over. That definitely has to be covered in the original quote. They either think that you are a " soft touch" or they were not experienced enough to realise what happens when you strip tiles.
 
Ah that is very interesting Skingtile!!! Thanks for your reply.... I will allow for extra materials.... to be fair but I really can't afford any more than that!!

They also want final payment before work is finished... I really think that they probably do see me as a soft touch... thank god for "askaboutmoney" :D
 
they really seem a bit cowboyish , hope you have not paid too much to date, be careful,good luck to you ,let us know how you get on.
 
With reference to a lot of postings about how cheap you can get 'tradesmen' these days there is always a difference between a professional tradesman and a cowboy tradesman. Highlighted in this case with the 'unforseen extras'.

A la skingtile, these are more than a bit cowboyish, esp re full payment before completion!!!

yvonkey, my advice, get the job finished, pay the agreed price and split the difference on the extras and get rid of these guys.
 
Sconhome said:
With reference to a lot of postings about how cheap you can get 'tradesmen' these days there is always a difference between a professional tradesman and a cowboy tradesman. Highlighted in this case with the 'unforseen extras'.

A la skingtile, these are more than a bit cowboyish, esp re full payment before completion!!!

yvonkey, my advice, get the job finished, pay the agreed price and split the difference on the extras and get rid of these guys.
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'Unforseen extras' are something we in trades all come up against.

I'm currently in a job where the cowboys before me 20 years ago removed the wooden lintles above the sash windows and left the complete frames swinging in the breeze :eek::eek::eek:

I did not envisage a situation where I would end up having to repair work done by a cowboy 20 years ago but it has to be done.......no if buts or maybe nots........I could just have done what I said I was going to do but that would be going against what I have trained myself for.

All too often people come on this site to be told that tradesmen are ripping them off and all too often its by people who don't know what they are talking about.

yvonkey can you give a breakdown of the work done what it cost and what the extras are and how much?
 
SLF I hope you have not misunderstood my meaning.
Unforseen extras without quotes do happen, all the time. A professional will provide a certain contingency in the pricing for this, sometimes like in your case, there is ridiculous situation that you are following. Reason will dictate that you explain the situation and a reasonable client will understand.
My pop is at the tradesmen who deliberately undercut, go in on the cheap and develop the 'unforseen extra' problem. Thus making a twit out of the relatively 'expensive' professional and attempting to fool the unsuspecting client.
I pride myself on doing the right thing and resolving such issues in the course of my work. I dont have all the answers but do have the wit to acknowledge what I don't know and learn from that too.
 
Sconhome said:
SLF I hope you have not misunderstood my meaning.
Unforseen extras without quotes do happen, all the time. A professional will provide a certain contingency in the pricing for this, sometimes like in your case, there is ridiculous situation that you are following. Reason will dictate that you explain the situation and a reasonable client will understand.
My pop is at the tradesmen who deliberately undercut, go in on the cheap and develop the 'unforseen extra' problem. Thus making a twit out of the relatively 'expensive' professional and attempting to fool the unsuspecting client.
I pride myself on doing the right thing and resolving such issues in the course of my work. I dont have all the answers but do have the wit to acknowledge what I don't know and learn from that too.
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Sconhome I wasn't having a crack at you, I agree with you about those cowboys who deliberately undercut and then build the extras up to boost their price.

I hate them they give all of us a bad name.

This is why I always tell people to get refs and check them.
 
skingtile said:
Just read last post, really a joke, I have stripped 1000,s of bathrooms and kitchen walls of tiles and I have never seen a surface left that you could paint over. That definitely has to be covered in the original quote. They either think that you are a " soft touch" or they were not experienced enough to realise what happens when you strip tiles.
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Definitely should have included costs of making good wall after removal of tiles.. think they are taking you for a bit of a ride!
 
geez baldyman 27 think you were in a bad mood last night, the post that i was referring to was the 8.32 one , yours came in at 8.35 , dont crucify me if i cant type for whatever, and i did phrase it badly, it was not the post that was a joke ,it was the tile removal aspect,
 
skingtile said:
geez baldyman 27 think you were in a bad mood last night, the post that i was referring to was the 8.32 one , yours came in at 8.35 , dont crucify me if i cant type for whatever, and i did phrase it badly, it was not the post that was a joke ,it was the tile removal aspect,
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It was the OP who wrote that post at 8.32.

People come here for advice not to have their posts called jokes.

My advice to you would be to edit your previous post

The one at 8.58
 
Last edited by a moderator:
S.L.F., maybe our posts got kind of crossed as well,
Originally Posted by skingtile http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?p=850640#post850640
geez baldyman 27 think you were in a bad mood last night, the post that i was referring to was the 8.32 one , yours came in at 8.35 , dont crucify me if i cant type for whatever, and i did phrase it badly, it was not the post that was a joke ,it was the tile removal aspect, sorry op if my bad phrasing offended you, only meant to be helpful.
 
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