Advice on kitchen fitting contract

[Iwouldratherbemuckingout]

Sorry if this is long I didn't want to drip feed.

I have recently had a new kitchen fitted. The work included removal of old kitchen, fitting of new (including electrical work), plastering, tiling and decorating of both the kitchen and front room. The kitchen fitter quoted a price, but only verbally. On chasing I received a text which said "based on 8 hours per day, the price is £1700". I have always been clear I wanted a fixed price, and there has been no conversation regarding either hourly or daily rates.

We agreed to go ahead, and agreed a 2 week period. Just before the work started it was clear he wasn't a qualified electrician, which I was not happy with, and it was agreed I would bring in an electrician and they would work together. Dates/times were agreed. No price change discussed. There was also a change to the plan, but it was agreed it could be done within the price. The only price change we agreed was for overtime working one weekend, however despite several requests he did not provide details of the additional cost. This was agreed for 1 weekend only.

It turned into a nightmare - 10 weeks later and the work is half complete. I have received a bill for £2500 - the kitchen is fitted (but plinths not installed), plastering done but no tiling or decorating. He also left my house in a terrible mess with debris everywhere. He wants a further £800 to finish the work. The work completed is good, no complaints. But I do know he spent a full 2 days putting knobs on and shelves in -- there are 5 cupboards and 4 built in appliances! Its only small.

My question is am I legally entitled to rely on the text re fixed price and not pay the invoice? For a number of reasons I do not want him to complete the work - I am prepared to pay the £1700 to bring this to a close, but I need to know if this is a reasonable course of action. I want to be fair.

My other question is surely is it was a day rate estimate this would be written down and surely an almost 100% increase with no discussion prior to the invoice is unreasonable?

For completeness, I have used him for other jobs, only 1-2 days and that was on an agreed hourly rate. However, there were no conversations regarding hourly rates.

Advice greatly received as for other reasons, this is likely to have a big impact on my personal life and I want to make sure I'm on solid ground with this.

Has he provided a detailed breakdown of how he has arrived at that amount? If not, my first move Woolf be to request (insist) that he provides it in writing.

I would certainly not commence with offering him the full amount agreed at this early stage.

I'd get there tradespeople in to quote for finishing the job, and then after you've paid them deduct that cost from the £1,700. Sounds like your local trading standards needs to hear about him.

Thanks for the replies, very much appreciated. He's provided an invoice detailing a list of dates worked (not work completed) and charged an hourly rate! I didn't want to get into a debate about hours, as that could indicate I accepted the premise of a day rate contract, which I don't.

Given he has asked for £800 to complete the work I did wonder about deducting that. This is made more complicated that he is the partner of a dear friend, and it looks like I'm going to lose the friendship over it, this is definitely colouring my view of giving him £1700.

Don’t pay him anymore.
Contact Trading Standards for more advice.
Get quotes to finish off the work outstanding.

The work included removal of old kitchen, fitting of new (including electrical work), plastering, tiling and decorating of both the kitchen and front room.

So he wants to charge an extra £800 for a job that has taken 10 weeks and despite he hasn’t done the tiling and decorating. Why has it taken so long? This man is ridiculous and a cowboy.

I wouldn’t even be paying him the original £1700.

Don’t be taken for a fool here OP.

It sounds like a disaster but unfortunately you may have to put this down to a lesson learned the hard way - without a proper signed contract I don't think you can make any official case that you insisted on a fixed price rather than day rate. I would pay him his £1,700, maximum, and get the job finished properly by someone else - and accept the hit on your friendship. Yes it will cost you more than you originally wanted to pay but he's made a mess of this whole thing and I'm not sure I'd trust him to finish it properly - and you could still be waiting in another two months...

without a proper signed contract I don't think you can make any official case that you insisted on a fixed price rather than day rate.

Not correct. The text is sufficient evidence.

Have you gone back to him and stated that your understanding was that £1700 was a fixed price and asked him to explain why it has taken so much longer to do only half the job?
Also, do you have in text anywhere that you requested a fixed price?
I personally wouldn't pay the full £1700, he has only completed half the work and unless there is any additional work that came up as part of the job that was not included in the original quote there is no justification for this increase (and no reasonable explanation as to why the hours he completed were not sufficient to complete the job).

Not correct. The text is sufficient evidence.

But the text doesn't confirm a fixed rate - he could argue that he worked more or less than eight hours per day.

Do you not have a quotation stating exactly the work he was supposed to complete for his £1,700?

The text confirms a fixed price.

If you don’t want him back, send him the following message/email:

‘I refer to your text message of [date] for all the work as discussed. You will be aware that the work is incomplete. I have never seen nor agreed to the hourly rate you have now referred to in you invoice. That rate does not form part of the contract.

The work has over-run. Regardless, I am happy to pay you the original fixed price as agreed and I do not require you to return to site. Assuming that you are happy to agree that that this forms the completion of the contract for both parties, I will pay £1700 into your account within the next 48hours.’

He’s fucked in law. He should grab the £1700 with both hands.