Electrical work price changing mid-job

[Blankiefan]

I'm having some outside lights fitted. There are two new ones and three replacing ones that haven't worked for a while. I explained when the guy came to see the job that they worked a few years ago but stopped working and I didn't know why.

So he's put up the new ones and expected to connect them to the old one but they don't work. He thinks one has fused at the connection box (?) So went into the crawl space to find it.

The poor guy had a terrible time in there, fighting his way through a load of insulation but couldn't find the fuse box. He had a bit of a panic in there and he's asthmatic which didn't help. I suggested he had a shower and bagged up his old jumper and loaned him a clean one.

So - post panic he's looking at how to solve the issue. He wants to cable outside from another socket which I'll accept if it's tidy. It's along the roof line so will need a lot of cable and I'd imagine will take him a good bit of time.

But - as he was leaving he said he'd re-price the work and send me a new quote.

I don't want to be a dick about it but his original quote just said "replace two back garden lights and one front light". It didn't specify a method of work. My feeling is that he has priced the job and should deliver it. The new solution isn't my ideal but will be acceptable and I appreciate it's cost him time (and an unpleasant experience in the crawl space) but surely that's foreseeable for an electrician.

So - should I pay more for his new solution?

Erm yes. He gave a quote assuming you had a fuse box and decent wiring (reasonable given you told him the lights worked recently). You don’t. He’s spent time today investigating the issue and it will take further time and new kit to give you what you want. The job has changed to a bigger more costly one. Decide if you still want it done or if you just want to pay for the time he’s already spent.

I can obviously see that from his perspective but he didn't agree a specific way of working with me. Surely that's licence for any tradesperson to change their price mid job - that it didn't turn out as expected.

I saw a similar sounding job on MyBuilder recently...problem with giving a quite for work like this is the reason the lights don't work is an unknown. If I were pricing this myself I would quote the two new lights and advise an hourly rate to discover why the other lights aren't working be it lamp failure, fitting failure or a fault on the circuit. I always include a caveat that circuits must be safe for alteration. I honestly think your electrician needs to find the fault on these lights as leaving a unknown issue would be bad practice imo. Does the electrician show up here: www.electricalcompetentperson.co.uk if not it may be worth sacking them off for someone who is.

We're in Scotland so I don't think the competent person is a thing up here

NICEIC and SELECT keep a register of Scottish electricians. No idea if they are required to register tho.
www.select.org.uk/for-the-public/find-a-contractor/
www.niceic.com/find-a-contractor

Under those circumstances I'd expect to pay more as the nature of the job has now changed

Of course you should pay more

You ought to get the inherent wiring problem fixed - what else might be affected ?

Can he run a new cable from consumer unit (which is normally near entrance to building) to the lights?