Kitchen tradesman went over budget...WWYD

[runjumpclimbswim]

Hi,
A father that goes to my kids school quoted for the job to rip out our kitchen, WC and move our washer under the stairs. This included elec, plumbing, tiling and carpentry. He is a carpenter, so he was project managing the job but not adding a mark up (other than his time) onto their trade prices. All the trades people are small too so they're not charging VAT. All seemed well.

The plumber was the weak link and really held things up. It took 6 weeks! So long that the carpenter had holiday booked with his family and left for the last week, leaving me to deal with the trades people and clean up after them. All rather annoying but not the end of the world.

However, we've now received all the invoices and the total is 20% MORE than was quoted. Nothing special came up on the job, there was no crazy disaster, while the plumbers were slow/didn't turn up etc nothing crazy happened. I'm really upset as this is far outside of our budget and we were quite careful with our money. I appreciate that 'things' can come up, but nothing did. So why is it so much more?

I had to pay the trades while he was away and tried to contact him, he messaged and said he'd be back on the 20th and deal with it then. I called him and spoke to him and he said just to pay the trades whatever I felt was fair and leave them to get the rest from him. I felt awkward doing that. So I paid the plumber and the tiler, and have only paid half of the carpenters final invoice - as there is still significant snagging for him to come sort out.

DH is rather exhausted by the process and just wants to have the sort the bits out and go away. I am pissed that it's coming to £1700 MORE than we'd agreed -and feel that based on a quote he should be the one to eat that cost. Or at the very least we should split it/he should do some extra work for us to compensate.

Anyone been here, what would you do?

Are you sure the extra 20% isn't VAT?

If he's done it at cost price then it would still have been far cheaper than getting a main contractor in who would add contingency profit and more than likely vat.
He has no cushion built in... pay the invoice

Did you agree to a cash job with no VAT with every tradesman? Seems like its the VAT cost to me. Did you have a breakdown of costs for each tradesman? Its a bit risky trying to do a job like that on the cheap. You're better off doing it through the books so you have a guarantee, which you won't have if its a cash job with no tax being paid. What happens if something goes wrong? You'll have no comeback!

I'm sure its not VAT as none of the trades are VAT registered. They're all one-man bands. We got invoices from each of them but they're just small time guys. But yes, the carpenter didn't build in a cushion, other than charging for his time.

I think he just underestimated some of the trades (the tiler for sure and the plumber, who had to do things 3x so cost more!). And then his own time as well, which is the most disappointing because he should have been able to estimate his own time I feel.

It was cheaper than quotes we had from big outfits that we had quote for the job, but then it took 3x as long and was quite a headache....

If the job is going to cost more than the quote (which you should of got in writing) then the tradesman / project manager should of agreed the increase in costs before they started the work (in effect they are otherwise spending your money without your agreement).

You need to sit down with the project lead and the original quote to understand where the increased costs are from.

DO NOT pay the final sum before all the snagging is complete / you are happy with the final works (you won’t get them back once you’ve paid then).

I’m a PT property developer and any projects tend to come in around 10% - 20% over quote. There are always unforeseen things.

There are often unseen problems especially with kitchens. eg it is impossible to see behind the units. Out of date electrics can easily bump up the price for example. If the original costings was an estimate rather than a quote -which is common- an estimate has less legal weight than a quote

Did you employ him as a contractor or a project manager?

If you employed him as a contractor then you agreed a set price with him and it's up to him to pay the trades/materials etc

If you employed him as a project manager then you would be responsible for paying for the trades/materials directly. But his job would involve informing you of any additional costs and getting your agreement.

The whole point of a quote as apposed to an estimate is a quote is final and binding - if his tradesmen over charge him - that's his fault not yours - when all snagging complete pay up to the quote value and no more.

NorthernSpirits advice sounds good.