To be wary of this tradesman?

[steppedonlego]

I’m having a kitchen fitted, got half a dozen quotes and eventually went with a guy who wasn’t the cheapest, but who I felt was enthusiastic and would do the job well.

He later asked about undercounter light fittings, and I confirmed that there was currently no electicity behind the cupboards, and he bumped up his quote by a couple of hundred, which as the time waved red flags as I felt that he should have asked those questions at the time but I gave him the benefit of the doubt as I felt it was an honest mistake and paid a deposit. He said he’d come back to me with suggestions for lighting.

I messaged today (a week later) asking if he’d managed to look into lighting, and he replied saying that he hadn’t as he had been busy, and that he might have to put back out kitchen by a week, as the client he is working for at the moment keeps adding work onto the project he is doing and he may not be finished in time.

Am I being unreasonable in thinking that this is unacceptable? I have booked time off work which I will now be unable to reschedule, as well as having already paid for the kitchen and a delivery date planned. He has said that he may be able to come and do it over a weekend, but I am also wary of that as he has previously said it wouldn’t be five days work and I find it hard to believe he can fit five days into two.

Unfortunately these things are not an exact science.
A tradesman can only give an estimate of time and cost.
Obviously the end price cannot be exorbitant but there has to be a margin of manoeuvre.

Quite often when job is commenced there are unforeseen costs.
You may change your mind on some aspect of original agreement for instance you may want an extra socket or two.

With regard to lighting issue your tradesman is not psychic and therefore was unable to quote you for it.

It is unfortunate that he will not now be available at your agreed time and this is something I would have an issue with.

I sometimes feel that people think that all tradesmen are trying to exploit them and always trying to get more money. While this is true of rogue traders it should not be true of reputable builders etc. If you feel you have researched your builder/ tradesman sufficiently there should be no reason to distrust him.

Sounds normal to me, this always happens. I just think they can't know exactly how long each job will run without a crystal ball so any booking is more of an estimated start date than an actual firm appointment.