Builders qoute

[Ljhens]

We are in the process of having an extension built, the builder has given us a price for the job, he has now realised that he has underpriced himself and has added more on top of the original. The problem is the builder and my hubby are friends so he was doing it discounted anyway but we have budgeted around the price he gave us plus a little more for extra (which we have the money for) but not the extra man hours he has decided to add on. We have paid him about 2 thirds of his bill but was holding the rest till completion. What would you d/say to him?

Explain that and ask if there's any scope for value engineering (changing the spec) to save the money and split the difference somewhat. It is complicated by the mates rates thing which you could have done without, but in a normal situation the builder can work on a time taken basis or they can prove the job. Normally the way to make money is find a job that's worth more than the cost to do it, price the job and then try to do it even quicker than the average builder and with lower material cost.
Sounds like the builder has priced the job at mates rates which should probably have been time and materials, and the job has ended up in trouble with a job worth less than the cost and the difference has to come from somewhere

"Price the job" not prove the job

I think if he was doing it as a favour with mates rates and the increase is genuine you should pay it. It would be beyond shitty to put him out of pocket for it.

The increase is double, at no point has he mentioned he would be adding to his original quote (apart from some extra materials) until he gave us his bill last week. He has mentioned every once in a while "if you want this done it'll cost ya" but my husband has done everything bar building the actual walls. Hope that makes sense

For starters I'd ask for a very detailed break down of the quote so you can see where every penny is exactly going. Presumably he hasn't got a reputation as being dodgy?

We have a breakdown of everything. He's good at what he does. We are willing to pay most of it just the extra labour he's charging for that we disagree with plus he added on estimated 5 days to finish, we just assumed the price he gave would be for finishing, we even asked before he started if he wanted to do a day rate or price for the job and he said and I quote "I will do a price then I might get it done quicker"

Sounds like his pricing strategy is based on optimism rather than sound principles, I'm guessing this person is a good builder rather than a good project manager/business person
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Double is really extreme and i think you're in a stick situation. It may be worth getting some mediation, I'm sure there are lots of professionals who could mediate and create a solution that everyone could deal with and hopefully not wreck the friendship and ruin anyone financially.

Did you get other quotes before you went with this guy? How do the costs compare?

No we didn't get other quotes, the builder is a friend of my husband so he knows his work and he is good at what he does, I can see them falling out over it tho