Sorry, this is a long one. I have loads rattling round in my head and am upset and frustrated by it all, so this will waffle!
We are towards the end of what should be a simple single storey extension to our 1920s semi. The old kitchen, which was in a lean to, was pulled down and we've extended across the back of the house.
We have a signed contract with our building firm with all sorts of clauses in it. It's their 'standard' contract. How much weight does this hold legally? Not that I'm getting into legal proceedings with them but I want to be informed when it comes to the discussion about money that will be happening soon. I'll explain.
When they initially came to give us a price, we were given an itemised quotation. There were a few things not listed that I queried and asked to be included and the price was amended. We have never changed the basis of what we asked for - the size of extension and internal work is exactly the same. So we instructed them, but I knew nothing about building work at all, I have two DC, one who was only 2 months old when the work started, I just wanted someone to competently manage the build with the tradespeople they had (on staff). Instead there have been delays, different 'site managers', lots of subcontractors and extra expenses. Honestly I'd have been better doing the whole thing myself!
Now we're almost at the end and the building company (who I'll moan about separately most likely!) are emailing saying "oh, the plastering is now going to be more than the provisional sum in your quote - we'll advise you how much in due course," and "your boiler fitting will be more than we quoted your for".
Can they do that?
I'm not daft, I've watched enough property telly to know that build projects almost always go over on cost and unexpected things happen! But I can't help the feeling that they're trying to shaft us with these changes to "provisional" sums.
We've already paid for extra skips, paid for some of the plumbing materials and due to their error, have not had the boiler where I wanted it (in the utility, it's now in the kitchen). I'm not against paying a fair price for the work we've had done but I feel like they deliberately under-quoted to get the job (not that they were the cheapest quote we had!). If the plastering was going to cost £1000 instead of the £750 in the job price, just say so, not change things.
Apologies for the rant. It's giving me sleepless nights (and with a bf little baby sleep is precious as it is!) and money worries. I don't know if we've been stupid, naive...urgh. I hate it. Whose idea was it to buy a 'project' anyway?!!!