Not doing the job quoted for - Help!

[cakeandcustard]

Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We needed to get the front of our house re-rendered got a range of quotes. Our options were to patch the damaged render or replace the whole front section of the house. We opted for doing the whole section so as not to be faced with further crumbling render a few years down the line.

So the plasterer started work today. He did some investigation and found an insulating layer under the existing render and said he could take render back to that and then plaster over the top which we agreed to. However now it is evident that he is only removing patches of crumbling render and intends to plaster over the top of the insulation and the existing render - basically patching it up . He says the existing render is too hard to remove without damaging the insulation underneath.

We want a proper job done (obviously) and as far as we're concerned we're paying the going rate for the full job going on the other quotes we received. Either he needs to take all the render off as agreed or re-quote for patching. However he's telling us that the extra materials he needs for his patch job means the quote doesn't change.

I am useless at dealing with this stuff. I have absolutely no idea if what he's telling us is true. Are we within our rights to get him to stop work until we can come to an agreement that we're happy with. How do we work out if what he's doing should be costing as much as the original quote?

Yes, tell him to stop. Do not try to be nice about it. Just get him to leave the render alone and go home. It is very unlikely that the render is too hard to remove but anyone else who comes round to quote can easily see it and test it themselves before quoting.

It's a shame that you have to deal with this stuff but unfortunately you do. Channel your inner John Wayne and go out there don't take any nonsense.

I would not know what to do in that situation either, I hope you told him to go home.

DON'T PAY HIM!!

The quote you agreed to is the commitment both you and he made - if he wants a new agreement, it's a new quote. If you'd agree to go down the patching route, you can then get other comparable quotes and start again.

As him to require based on the fact it is a patch up job

Re quote rather

Presumably when the others quoted though, they didn't know about the insulation underneath either. He might be right that it is very difficult to remove the render without the insulation - we have insulation under our render and it's basically polystyrene.

So he's saying that the extra materials for the patching prior to re-rendering are equal to the smaller amount of labour involved now that he doesn't need to remove all the existing render? That I do find difficult to believe.

I would ask him to stop and say that as the job has changed then you need a new quote from him which covers the new job to allow you to compare it with other quotes for doing the new, changed job. You can then also consult other people about whether you really can't remove all of the existing render.