Builder nightmare!!

[Leicesterpiggott]

I wrote an earlier thread about how our builder had taken much longer than expected while redoing a kitchen and en suite bathroom. He quoted us £10k for the work. It was a detailed quote. The work
Is pretty much finished. This morning he sent us a final invoice for £14k because of extra work done. We tried the shower this morning. It makes a loud noise and the water doesn’t drain properly from the tray. It obviously wasn’t fitted properly. He says he’ll come back and look into it. Can he try and charge us more to put it right? He still needs to fit splashback and extractor fab in kitchen. I don’t want things to be awkward but he didn’t tell us as he was going along that anything extra would have cost so much more. If he had, we might have made different choices. We are now really anxious about it all. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this?

I think this is a bit naughty. A quote, especially a detailed one, is exactly that. If there were unforseen extra costs (which can happen) he should have discussed this with you at the time. If something is fitted incorrectly, they should correct it at their expense. It is usual with large jobs to not pay all of the cost (say 10 percent retained by the customer for a snagging period), but your job may not be large enough for this. Tell him you want a detailed written account of where the extra costs have come from. Just a thought though, did the quote include vat? Although I see he has already said it was for extra work. Your builder is being very unprofessional.

Hanging re read your post, did you increase the spec on some of your fittings? This would account for the cost, but you still need to see that cost properly accounted for.

Get him to send you a detailed breakdown showing the difference between what was quoted and what was installed, line by line.

Then you can review each item that has changed and see if you genuinely asked for it or if he has changed it because it's made his life easier/ what he quoted wasn't available/what he quoted wouldn't have worked etc.

He should have agreed with you as the work proceeded what items were going to cost more. At the moment i'd be inclined to pay him the original £10k less all the items still to install. What sort of T&C's did you sign (if any?)

Knock some money off for the shower not working as well.

We had this with the bathroom at our old house. No mention of a couple of things costing more and after quoting for full tiling, he then wanted to put some MDF shite in the window recesses, which of course was quicker and easier for him, but not what he quoted for! We also had four boxes of tiles go missing (anal I know, but I counted them when I thought one wall couldn't possibly have taken ten boxes of tiles). I don't know if he just took them or had an accident and damaged them and took the evidence away with him. Anyway DP refused to pay him the increased amount - it was 20% more and he backed down. If the guy had come clean over the tiles and said he got his quote wrong then our view would have been different.

If it is a quote then it should stay that amount. If it is an estimate then it is just that a guess at what it might be.

As regards the invoice do not pay him until all the work is done or at the very least hold back an amount large enough to ensure he comes back to finish the work and rectify any snagging issues such as the shower tray.

You see 10 boxes of average tiles say £25 would be a nice £250 cash free bonus

Why are you worried about things being awkward?

If Tesco tried to bump the price at the till you'd want clarification wouldn't you? They bank on it being awkward!!!

Don't forget they get 20% vat back and trades discounts on top

I would insist on paying the original quote that you agreed to and not a penny more. Unless he has approached you during the building process to advise you of extra work that would be required, and received your approval to go ahead, then he is not entitled to add extra charges. I'd also expect him to fix the shower free of charge as he has not done the work you paid for to an adequate standard.