To refuse to pick up the extra cost from builder?

[notsogranddesigns]

We are 14 months into a full house renovation and extension project that is nearly finished. We have a generally good relationship with our building firm but have had some issues with the manager having slightly poor communication skills and lacking detail particularly regarding prices.

They are supplying a new front door for us which their window supplier will fit. The price quoted to us will include a payment to the builder for arranging this and I don’t have the contact details to go to the fitter direct. I originally sent an email saying something like ‘please could you give me a cost for this door. It is an xyz style with these accessories in this colour. I may change the design and colour but this would give me an idea of price’. He then gave me an estimate.

A few weeks later I sent another email saying ‘here is the final door design and colour. Please could you order this one?’

I didn’t receive a reply but that is not unusual. He usually only emails me if I have asked a direct question of if he needs something from me.

Fast forward 4 months and just as the door was due to be delivered I thought I’d better double check the details by resending the final door design at which point he said he’d missed that email and ordered the original one. We would therefore have to have the one ordered as it had already been collected but they could respray it the correct colour for £400.

We can live with the style not being quite what we wanted but we had to have it resprayed as we have fitted other elements to match the front door. He hasn’t invoiced us for the door yet but would I be unreasonable to not agree to pay the additional £400 for respraying the door?

He offered me £100 off as if he was doing me a favour but he doesn’t think it is his fault. I think that because my original email was not definitive and said that the design might change he should have confirmed the details with me before ordering. This is not the first time he has made mistakes or missed things that have cost us more.

Didn’t someone just get killed by their builder 😳

He doesn't sound great. If you sent him the message with the door picture, definitively saying this is the one we want. Did he not respond to that specific message at all? I'm trying to see if there is some contract relating to you having that specific door. I would be appalled at paying an extra £400. There must be something in writing/ email that can show the full price you are willing to pay. They cannot then amend that contract at a later date I don't think.

I think you have to take some of the blame here, you didn’t get a reply to your original e mail and you left it until it was too late to ‘double check’.

I wouldn't touch a resprayed door op - unless it's a wooden one and paint is the original finish. There are too many shitty peeled off painted upvc doors around after the COVID diy boom to put me off for life.

And no, you emailed with the correct design giving plenty of time. Fault is with the builder.

You asked him to order a specific door, he has admitted to not reading the email. I wouldn’t be accepting a door I didn’t want or paying for painting.

IP asked for a quote . She did not give the go ahead to order that door. The builder wrongly assumed and did not ask OP if she accepted that quote.

OP then emailed a confirmed choice . That door should have been ordered. In my view the builder should either ask OP if she will accept the first door at a discounted price or the builder sucks it up and pays for the correct door.

I wish I would have followed up after I didn’t get a reply but he doesn’t like communicating over email so I usually only get a response if I ask a question that needs an immediate response so I assumed he’d read it and didn’t need to say anything further. I‘m annoyed that he didn’t check the design before ordering especially as my original email said that the design wasn’t final but I just wanted an idea of price.

Also, we’ve paid this builder £300k for this project. Every extra penny he tries to get out of us is galling.

Why can't he return the door he ordered? I wouldn't be paying. He needs to sort it

Was the ‘go ahead’ in the same email as the changed/updated details?

if so- then he is clearly at fault- either he ordered a door without your go ahead, or he saw the go ahead and didn’t read the email. I’d want to see the date of the order he placed.

If you still have other bits of the job to finish- sorting this out may prove tricky.

The door was made to order and non refundable. The builder would have still had to pay for it and then order us the correct one. To avoid that he offered to get it resprayed at a cost to us.

The original email was not a ‘go ahead’ it was a ‘please can you give me an idea of price’. The second email was the go ahead but he thinks that as he missed that email it was not his fault for ordering the first one as he thought that was the only email from me about it.

I'd not be paying that £400. It would piss me off every time I saw the door probably not helpful

Well if you said that you just wanted an idea of price- then that’s not a go ahead.

When did he order the door? After the first email or after the second where you said ‘this is the door we want’?

Aftee the first?
That might give a clue, but it doesn’t sound to me like he has a leg to stand on:

After the second- he saw the email but didn’t read it properly/deal with it.

Either way- his fault BUT from painful experience, if it’s not the last thing he is doing for you, it’s not as easy as that.

We had similar when a trade used parts from one room in another ( incorrectly) the cost to re-order was a couple of hundred.

By sheer coincidence, the cost of the ‘extras’ he charged for was exactly the amount of the issue he caused.

I’d not be happy to settle for a door I didn’t want because he is disorganised.

He never got the go ahead for the first door and should have checked before he ordered.

Why have you let him respray the door if you don't want to pay the £400.

The correct thing to do would have been to actually get confirmation of which door he ordered but you didn't do that.

The 2nd thing to have done was actually follow up which door he ordered when he didn't reply but obviously you didn't do that.

The 3rd thing to do would have been to tell him you didn't want that door when it arrived but you didn't do that either.

Instead you have let him spray it and are now going to argue over £300 and potential upset him and risk him bodging what you have left.

You should pay him the £300 and think of it as a stupid tax because you didn't bother to check.

Do you work for our building company?

I told him we didn’t want the door but We had to go ahead with it as there are other tradesmen waiting for it to go in to finish plastering, rendering and painting and to re-order the correct door would have taken weeks and set everything back. The builder wanted us to go with this door otherwise we would be arguing about who paid for the replacement instead of £300.

I didn’t know when he was ordering it, I told him
what I wanted and waited to hear from him if there was any question or issue.

Why on earth did you accept the respray of a door you didn't want?? So you've paid for a door you didn't want and a respray? That's ridiculous. I'd have refused the door and pointed out that I asked for a price, the go ahead was given on the door design you actually wanted but he apparently missed-his problem.

Because we have been waiting and waiting for the door to arrive because the renderer and plasterer and painter are all queued up waiting for it to be in so they can finish. If we’d have refused the door he would have charged us for the wrong door and the replacement and set the whole project back.

The only other option would have been to accept the door and paint it ourselves but he said respraying it would give a better finish.

For not delaying the project and for not following up I would swallow the money to be honest. It’s a drop in the ocean of 300k.

Then you're going to have to suck it up and pay.

He should've fitted the wrong door so the other trades could continue, order you the door you want at his cost (as it was his mistake ordering the wrong door) then swap them when the correct one arrives at his expense. He sells the old one or uses it for another job. However, I don't think you can do that now you have accepted the wrong door and agreed a respray. I own a building company and this is the route I would've taken to keep the customer happy, especially such a valuable one!