Builders sending a big invoice months after the build is finished

[CatchCatchThePigeon]

We had a very long building project that finished in April when we moved back in to our house. It was a renovation project.

We are new to the area so appointed an architect who ran the tender process to choose the builders. We picked the firm that they had the strongest recommendation for and they had worked with them before.

Long story short, the builders were a mare. The head foreman was barely on site, they missed a lot of things they shouldn't have done. Head guy would insist work had been done when it hadn't - only on our photo evidence did he finally admit certain tasks weren't done and when he finally admitted this, he would get things done.

We eventually complained to the architects who said that one of the 2 main people who run this building firm had retired without them realising and without this person, the firm was not run as well as it had been in the past. They have removed them from their recommended list.

So the works finished and there were lots of disputes about what was done/not done and I paid what I thought was the final bill in April.

The architect called me this morning to say that the builders have issued another final bill. It's several thousands of pounds (which I don't have now as I thought we had paid the final bill). She has certified the bill and says the charges are for actual works. I have pushed back and said it's ridiculous, it's too late and we weren't expecting it. The architect is now panicking because we are on a fixed price contract with the builders and she insists this is due. But as so many things overran, the final cost bears no resemblance to the final bill anyway so I had no idea we still owed money. The majority of the cost they've billed now is for a general cost x the weeks it overran (9) which is essentially a cost of the workers. It was an 8 month project so a long one.

We've said we're not paying it but I want to understand what recourse we will have. It's essentially 3 months since we moved in and the builders left and the only extra cost we were expecting was for small things like sundries that hadn't been totted up not 9 weeks of Labour cost. Incidentally during the building work, we were issued with weekly progress payments that were supposed to equal the build works that had taken place so this has come as a real shock!

You can go to arbitration with the Builders Confederation . A supplier/builder has up to 6 years to submit a bill.

If the architect has certified the bill you are contractually obliged to pay it or they can take it to arbitration. The fact you mistakenly thought you'd had the last bill is neither here nor there.

You may have a claim against your architect if they have failed to administer the contract properly.

If you were on a fixed price contract did it clearly set out what work was included within the fixed price. Arguably you should only be charged extra for anything which was outside the scope of the fixed price works and anything outside that would need to be approved by you. Was it definitely a fixed quote rather than an estimate?

yes it was a fixed price contract. We were told the final bill was in April and the only things left outstanding were sundries (like e.g. they had estimated the cost of the bathroom fittings in the fixed price contract and then the cost came in £600 over). We knew all of those costs as the contract was being monitored throughout the job.

What seems to have been missed by everyone was 9 weeks of labour which is not an insignificant amount. The architect says it is due but I cannot understand how, if we were paying for progress throughout the project, they happened to miss this out and why no one told me back in April that there were 9 weeks of labour missing when all we expected were the sundry costs.

I suspect in April they hadn't worked this out, as they were all over the place, and now they have realised they are short of profit on this job and have billed what they should have billed at the time. I had a number in my mind - X plus the sundries - and that's all I had put aside and there is nothing left as I wasn't anticipating such a large bill at the end.

We had to approve and sign off all extra charges (like the bathroom cost etc.). We did not sign off on 9 weeks extra of labour but I think they will argue that we knew it had overrun and therefore by default, we had agreed. No one gave us a cost estimate for this at the time though :(. I have already said we did not sign off on this to be met with steely silence from both the architect and the builder.

Thanks, we will speak to the architect. The builders have issued the invoice and are already chasing aggressively! I have no idea where I will find the money from if I have to pay it!

Your architect should be supplying you with a calculation that show the initial fixed price plus/minus agreed variations (itemised list by date), plus/minus provisional cost adjustments, the total due and the total paid. Ask them for this and check to see where things actually are at. Usually variations have to be costed and agreed in writing.

If delivering the job to initial specification took 9 weeks longer but the scope of work did not substantially change, that is a cost/loss the builder should bear.

Find an experienced construction lawyer and gate some initial legal advice (as I am not a lawyer and the above is not legal advice but from my experience with civil construction projects).

“Get” not “gate”

I'd be arguing that it over ran due to the amount of work that they said was done but you subsequently had to prove it wasn't

It all comes down to what your contract states and any variations you agreed to. In essence, from what you said, you are liable for the fixed price you agreed, plus variations plus materials which were estimated and you have already agreed. If there is no clause relating to the additional labour then refused to pay it.

The architect is more not wanting the hassle. Require the builder to state what aspect of the contact they are claiming the additional charges from

Why did it overrun by 9 weeks?

A fixed price contract doesn’t mean that it’s a fixed price no matter no how long it takes. It should be a fixed price for a scope and duration. If it overruns, whether or not they get paid depends on why it overran, and what your contract says.

Seems strange to have a contract based on the time taken rather than the jobs done. As you are not responsible for the time taken, but you do have responsibility for the scope and the existing state of the building.
I would question why you are being charged for time rather than jobs done.
I think flat refusing to pay is risky because they can just take you to court, if even your architect is saying it's due, then it's less likely to be a made up cost. Definitely engage and clarify exactly where the cost is from. The architect if they are involved with the costs throughout the contract should know exactly what was done and what was invoiced.
Good luck!